Soil and Water Conservation official reviews grants, outreach and planned watershed study

Ollie McCutchen of the Warrick County Soil & Water Conservation District provided the council with the district's annual-summary materials and briefed members on several ongoing grants and outreach efforts.

McCutchen said the district is working on multiple Clean Water Indiana grants (including a Dubois County-led mine-land project applicable to Warrick County mine lands), moving to close out a 319 watershed grant for Little Pigeon Creek, and deploying funds from an Alcoa grant across county projects. She said the district plans to apply for a Cypress Creek watershed study (the first comprehensive study there since the 1970s) and described upcoming programming: conservation-crusaders summer outreach at county parks, composting workshops (this weekend at the fairgrounds), and an invasive-species training with Newburgh at Overlook Park.

McCutchen thanked the council for approving a staff position last year and said the district's new natural resources specialist, Brie Schaer Fischer, had expanded outreach significantly. She also noted that Melissa Mitten was elected the district's new supervisor and that local poster-contest winners advanced to the state level.

Council members responded with thanks and brief comments about increased cover-crop use in the county. No formal action was required.