By Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com Reporter
MOUNT VERNON — Overall, the four ditch drainage and storm water projects on assessment for county maintenance are not in bad shape, according to Rob Clendening of the Knox Soil and Water Conservation District.
In a meeting Thursday with County Commissioners Teresa Bemiller and Roger Reed, Clendening said the ditches mostly needed simple mowing and spraying to control undesirable woody and broad-leafed vegetation. The Sycamore Meadows Ditch on Sycamore-Vanata Road does need to be dredged due to excessive sediment in the ditch channel. About 1,570 feet will be dredged. The Kokosing Plantation storm detention project on Martinsburg Road needs a small amount of rip-rap placed at the outlet end of the culverts.
Under the program, landowners, singly or in groups, can request the county to maintain a drainage ditch; the county assesses the landowners a maintenance fee with the landowners’ consent. The fee is discontinued when the fund has excess money and reinstituted when the balance gets low.
Clendening also reported that inspections of CAUV (Current Agricultural Use Value) parcels will begin next week. The KSWCD, in cooperation with the commissioners’ and county auditor’s offices, will review each parcel to determine its eligibility for CAUV designation. The parcels are required to be evaluated each year.
The Ohio nutrient record keeping app designed by the KSWCD now has just over 700 registered users. Clendening said the Farm Bureau is actively working to promote the app to other states. “Ohio is the first state to adopt private regulations for fertilizer apps. It’s probably a tipping point; once you have [regulation] somewhere, other places follow,” said Clendening.
Clendening said the cover crop incentive program administered by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District has had a phenomenal response with over 9,000 acres signed up so far. “Nine thousand is an incredible amount of interest in cover crop. Unfortunately, we’re not going to get funding for 9,000 acres,” he told the commissioners. “Three thousand acres is the initial cap.”
The program encourages landowners who grow soybeans or corn for silage to sow a cover crop after harvest is complete in order to control soil erosion. Producers accepted into the program will receive a cover crop share incentive of $13 an acre; producers are capped at 200 acres each. Applications are scored on a variety of factors such as proximity to a scenic river, waterway or stream; soil test; soil slope; and nutrient management.
Clendening also told the commissioners that state matching funds for fiscal year July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017, will be in the range of 70 percent.