Significant conservation investment in Dillon Creek area

SYRACUSE - The Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation has spent $645,000 for projects to control runoff into Dillon Creek, which enters Lake Wawasee on the lake's east side through the Enchanted Hills subdivision.

"Enchanted Hills' subwatershed is Wawasee's No. 1 hot spot," said WACF coordinator Heather Harwood, "with big, muddy plumes of sediment that extend out into the lake area after a storm event."

In 2002:

• WACF received a $52,000 grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for sediment control in Dillon Creek based on a recommendation in the Lake Wawasee Engineering Feasibility Study.

• The DNR released $30,000 toward the Land Treatment Project as a result of a grant application to treat runoff in the Dillon Creek area.

In 2001:

• WACF received a $60,000 grant from the IDNR for a design study based on the Lake Wawasee Engineering Feasibility Study recommendations, including enhanced wetlands at Dillon Creek and Bayshore and check dams at Dillon Creek and Martin Creek.

In 2001:

• WACF received a $60,000 grant from the IDNR for an Engineering Feasibility Study on areas around Lake Wawasee that were identified as threats to water quality in the Diagnostic Field Study. These areas include problems with agricultural erosion, development erosion, runoff, bank and grade stability and stream relocation to original flow. Solutions include sediment traps, constructed wetlands and stormwater retention.

In 1996:

• WACF was awarded an IDNR $60,000 grant for a Watershed Diagnostic Feasibility study examining the health of the lakes and streams, including a Watershed Management Plan identifying threats to water quality, and presented a plan to preserve the watershed.

• Spearheaded a Enchanted Hills Task Force leading to a $383,000 IDNR funding of a Watershed Land Treatment Grant, putting many acres into conservation reserve plan to keep soil out of waterways.