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Three projects within the Great Miami Watershed received $700,000 in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enhance water quality. The watershed received one of 20 grants available nationwide, totaling $15 million.

Regional and national experts selected the winners from a "highly competitive field of more than 176 nominations and were chosen because they best demonstrate the ability to achieve on-the-ground environmental results in a short time frame," according to information released by Sarah Hippensteel, watershed coordinator for the Miami Conservancy District in southwest Ohio. Awards ranged from $300,000 to $1 million.

Of the three projects funded in Ohio, two directly relate to agriculture, Hippensteel said. The projects would:

• Reduce nutrient and sediment impairment in the Stillwater River sub-watershed through performance-based cost share payments to provide incentive for load reduction;
• Reduce nutrient and sediment impairment in the Loramie Creek sub-watershed through the use of two-stage ditches; and
• Implement sustainable watershed management strategies within local communities within the Miami Conservancy District.

"The whole idea behind even applying (for the grant money) is that the money all goes back to the local groups (doing the work within the individual sub-watersheds)," Hippensteel said, adding that the Miami Conservancy contributed another $300,000 to the fund. "This is the best way to get local problems solved locally."

OFBF Director of Environmental Research Larry Antosch said, "OFBF policies encourage members to participate in the activities of local watershed groups and supports the use of scientifically based and economically sound conservation practices to protect surface and ground water. The projects being developed and implemented within the Stillwater River and Loramie Creek watersheds provide this opportunity. I invite Farm Bureau members to participate in these innovative programs."

The U.S. EPA Watershed Initiative was announced about a year ago with a request for proposals from watersheds that already had some projects in progress. "They wanted to put some money into projects that would have a direct impact on water quality improvement right away," Hippensteel said.

The Miami Conservancy District brought together representatives from every community based watershed program in the Great Miami Watershed , "and that group decided on priorities for the watershed that would make a difference right away," she said.

The project in the Stillwater River area will encourage landowners to work together to implement programs that will keep sediment out of the river. Testing down river will determine if those landowners get bonus payments for meeting the goals set out at the start of the project. Cooperating landowners are being sought now. For information, contact Nikki Reese at 937-548-1715.

Goals for the Loramie Creek watershed are to reduce runoff through county road ditches. Two-stage ditches will be constructed and will act as buffer strips as well as drainage ditches. Cooperating landowners are being sought for this project as well. For information, contact Jason Bruns at 937-492-6520.

The third program will look at how communities can reduce stormwater runoff. For more information, contact Hippensteel at 937-223-1271

"It’s pretty exciting in that all those groups (within the district) are now working together on a level that they probably wouldn’t have otherwise," Hippensteel said.