Big Walnut Watershed property owners may be eligible for grant

Property owners in the Big Walnut Watershed may be eligible for up to 75 percent reimbursement from cost-share funds for practices meeting Section 319 grant requirements.

Eligible best management practices cover agricultural operations and homeowners. Financial and technical assistance can combine with these clean water grants.

Top priority practices range from waterbody access control/fencing; conservation tillage (no till, reduced till and/or strip till); cover crops; field borders, buffer strips and riparian forest buffers; forage/biomass planting; streambank stabilization; and restricted or prescribed livestock grazing.

Additionally, heavy use area protection measures; nutrient or pest management; university fertilization recommendations; and soil testing.

The grants cover urban best management practices including raingarden and pollinator habitat installation.

Big Walnut headwaters begin in Boone County; the stream and its tributaries feed into Hendricks and Putnam Counties, and beyond. The grants target those three critical counties.

Relevant Hendricks County areas include farms, homeowner sites, North Salem and Lizton.

Once cost share percentages are calculated, landowners are responsible for either cash or in-kind service.

High priority funding areas are adjacent to streams, highly erodible soils, or in floodplains.

Caps apply for streambank stabilization, permeable pavement and equipment modifications.

Applications will be ranked using forms available at Hendricks, Putnam and Boone County Soil & Water Conservation District offices. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis on April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1.

For eligibility details and more information, contact Hendricks County SWCD in Danville at (317) 745-2555, ext. 3; or Putnam County SWCD, (765) 653-5716, ext. 3.