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Many landowners in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) have had problems over the years with the conservancy district board and its policies. These problems led Carroll, Harrison and Tuscarawas County Farm Bureaus to create policies concerning the MWCD board and its accountability to the people they serve.

The MWCD was originally created to manage flood control. However, many landowners in the district feel the MWCD board pays too much attention to recreational ideas for the district and not flood control. The MWCD board has proposed a multi-tier assessment on landowners in the conservancy district. Landowners who are directly at risk of flooding would be assessed the greatest amount, followed by a lesser risk based assessment and ending with those who are not at all at risk.

The county Farm Bureaus asked the MWCD why would a landowner above the floodplain, who has no benefit from the flood control operations be assessed. The answer they received from the board was that everyone in the district benefits from the aesthetic beauty of living in the lake region.

"This is a real stretch from the original mission of the MWCD," said Chris Henney, OFBF organization director for Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson and Tuscarawas counties. "The MWCD was not created for recreational or aesthetic reasons. Our members agree that the watershed was created first and foremost for flood control."

The three county Farm Bureaus have proposed the MWCD board increase from five to 11 board members. Harrison County FB members would like to see the MWCD board members serve three-year terms with representation from each watershed district as well as the agricultural community. Carroll and Tuscarawas County Farm Bureaus would like to see four of the proposed new board members to be appointed by a legislative committee. They would like the remaining two to be a resident lessee and an agricultural lessee appointed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

"This has been a long fight for our landowners, and hopefully we’ll get what we deserve," Henney said. "More than anything, our members want increased accountability of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District to the people it serves."

CAPTION: Morris Buxton, Harrison County Farm Bureau member, and Jayne Wallace, Harrison County Farm Bureau president, stand on land that was originally part of Buxton’s family farm but was purchased by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.