The state is awarding 30 grants that will improve lakes and rivers in 33 counties, including several in Kosciusko County.

Of $1.1 million in grants, $236,455 will go to Kosciusko County projects.

The grants, which supplement local budgets for local projects, will help fund lake and watershed diagnostic studies, lake and watershed management plans, post-construction monitoring, engineering feasibility studies, design and construction and land treatment projects.

The grant monies come from annual fees for boat registration. Five dollars from each registration is reserved for the DNR grant program. The grants are approved by the State Soil Conservation Board and administered by the DNR Division of Soil Conservation.

The grants continue a 13-year program that provides technical and financial assistance to local units of government and organizations. The projects address soil erosion- and nutrient-related problems affecting public-access lakes and streams.

The counties with projects receiving grants are: Allen, Brown, Cass, Clinton, Decatur, Fulton, Greene, Howard, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jennings, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lawrence, Marshall, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Newton, Noble, Orange, Parke, Posey, Pulaski, Randolph, Ripley, Scott, Steuben, Sullivan, Wayne, White and Whitley.

The projects improve water quality through the installation of grass cover, filter strips and projects such as wetlands to reduce sedimentation and nutrient runoff. The grants will also fund studies to document water-related problems and solutions.

The 2001 grants bring to 230 the number of projects that have received state boating-funded monies since 1988. Those projects have enhanced 133 rivers, lakes and streams and 65 watersheds in 51 counties.

Kosciusko County grant recipients, grouped by type of project, are:

Post-construction monitoring:

Kosciusko County (Lake Tippecanoe): $48,000 to the Tippecanoe Environmental Lake and Watershed Foundation to conduct performance appraisals for four grant-funded pollutant control projects, including the Kuhn Ditch sediment trap/wetland, Henwood Creek stabilization structures, Indian Creek nutrient/stormwater control basins, and Hanna B. Walker Drain sediment trap.

Engineering feasibility studies:

Kosciusko County (Little Barbee Lake): $16,200 to the Barbee Lakes Property Owners Association to investigate the feasibility of a wetland restoration adjacent to Putney Ditch.

Kosciusko County (Webster Lake): $5,400 to the Webster Lake Conservation Association Inc. to explore the feasibility of retrofitting 11 storm water drains in the town of North Webster with some type of pollutant removal filters and to prepare design specifications and plans for the structures.

Kosciusko County (Webster/Backwaters Lake and Tippecanoe River): $21,600 to Webster Lake Conservation Association Inc. to determine the feasibility of constructing a storm water filter or wetland area at the northwest corner of Webster Lake.

Design studies:

Kosciusko County (Lake Wawasee): $54,000 to the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation to carry out design work for an enhanced wetland along Dillon Creek, a sediment trap in the Bayshore Channel, check dams along Dillon Creek and check dams along Martin Ditch.

Kosciusko County (Lake Tippecanoe): $63,750 to the Tippecanoe Environmental Lake and Watershed Foundation to transform a highly erodible 10-acre crop field into an approximately five-acre wetland on Smith Drain with five areas of adjacent grassed prairie buffer.

Aquatic vegetation management plans:

Kosciusko County (Webster Lake chain): $27,495 to Aquatic Control Inc. to develop a GIS-based comprehensive aquatic vegetation management plan that would be applied to the seven lakes within the 50-square mile watershed terminating at the Webster Lake dam. [[In-content Ad]]