The Grays Harbor Conservation District (GHCD) is proud of the results from our continuing efforts to improve the water quality within Grays Harbor County. With the approval of numerous grants dealing with Salmon Habitat Restoration and Water Quality, the GHCD in cooperation with Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) formerly the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) has utilized Best Management Practices (BMP's) (NRCS national standards, practices and specifications) to accomplish this.
The main focus of these programs is to exclude livestock from waterways by fencing the stream corridors. Whenever fencing is proposed, alternative water sources have to be considered--especially if the livestock previously utilized the waterway as a watering site. The most used watering alternative is pasture pumps. These enable livestock to receive water from a source beyond the fence by using a diaphragm pump (similar to a pitcher pump) designed such a manner as to allow the livestock to pump their own water. These pumps can lift water 26 feet up a vertical slope and transport the same water horizontally up to 120 feet. (See attached photo).
GHCD utilizes funding for these projects from the follow grant sources: USF&W Chehalis Fisheries Restoration, USF&W Ecosystems, Washington State Conservation Commission Implementation, Washington Dept. of Ecology 319, Displaced Fisher Program, Jobs For the Environment and Weyerhaeuser Corporation. Also, in the past, the USDA Farm Service Agency has provided several other programs. The majority of these programs and grants have cost share components involved where landowners contribute toward a project either monetarily, labor and/or equipment usage.
The combination of all these agencies, programs, and private funding sources enables the GHCD to assist numerous landowners in three different but related areas or BMP'S. The majority is directed toward livestock exclusion.
The New Zealand style of fencing is utilized the majority of the time; the most important reason is cost and flexibility. Since the federal specifications allow for the use of bedlogs (using one post with a 4' block of wood underground) instead of double "H" braces for comers and line post spacings of up to 100 feet, the cost is reduced dramatically. This additional line post spacing provides increased flexibility in the fence which is needed in Western Washington because of the risk of floods annually along the waterways. The second aspect is for the incorporation of the pasture pumps as alternative watering devises. An aspect considered is the revegetation of denuded stream banks. This is needed to control not only the water temperature of the stream, but to assist in erosion control.
Since July of 1996 the GHCD has implemented 126, 663 linear feet of permanent power fencing, 8,705 linear feet of barbed wire fencing, 62,750 sq. Ft. of revegetation and 16,250 sq. Ft. of stream bank stabilization. Going back to the beginning when GHCD started offering these programs and obtaining grants in 1993, a total of 469,920 linear feet of permanent power fencing has been installed (or 89 miles). We consider these figures to be a major accomplishment towards the goal of improved water quality.
In past years we utilized three different labor forces for the construction of our projects. The first crews that we used were the Washington Dept. of Ecology Washington Conservation Corps. These crews are designed to employ and train youth that either dropped out of school or had problems finding jobs, and were between 18 to 21 years old. These crews were used during the formative years of the GHCD's implementation of water quality grants. The second and continuing crews that have been used are the Jobs For the Environment (Displaced Timber Workers) Program, which is currently being administered by the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources. This program is now accessible by annual grant applications. Another crew that was used were the Displaced Fisher Program, administered by the Washington State Conservation Commission through grant applications. At the present time the Displaced Fisher Program has expired and will not be reinstated, leaving us with the Jobs For the Environment crews as the only labor force to construct the BMP's . All three of these labor programs have been retraining for dislocated workers.
The GHCD employs the old adage of "get the most out of a dollar". This means utilizing different funding sources and sometimes combining several sources in order to stretch dollars to the maximum. We would at this time like to thank all of our cooperators who have allowed us to assist them in the implementation and management of water quality BMP'S. Without private landowners' interest and patience, these accomplishments would not exist and we could not have done our job to improve water quality.
For more information you can contact the Grays Harbor Conservation District at 360/249-5980
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