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A New Life For An Old Watershed
In this great Midwest, back in the good old days, Indian tribes and European settlers enjoyed a natural landscape of sweeping prairies, hardwood forests and beneficial wetlands. Everyone, native and settler, worked hard to eke out a daily existence against the forces of Mother Nature. As Jackson County, Missouri grew from the stepping off point to the far west, this area has become a major center of commerce, housing and transportation. Its urban development reaches ever outward, reducing the size of the forests and wetlands natural presence. It has been and always will be a story about the land and water that are called watersheds. We all live in a watershed.
Normally local governmental bodies manage watersheds. However, eastern Jackson County has never had local protective management from the adverse results of growing urbanization – until now. On June 17, 2008, the West Branch Sni-A-Bar Creek Watershed Consortium had its first organized meeting. The communities of Lake Lotawana, Grain Valley and Blue Springs plus representatives from the Lake Lotawana Association and the Carriage Oaks Homeowners Association along with Jackson County, the Missouri Department of Conservation and MARC formed a nonprofit group dedicated to promote and improve the sustainability, conservation, protection and cooperative management of the cultural and natural resources within the West Branch Sni-A-Bar Creek Watershed.Â
What is a watershed and why is it important? A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common body of water, such as a nearby creek, stream, river or lake. Watersheds cross city, county and state lines. When different communities share a watershed, the residents of all the cities and counties affected need to address issues like flooding and water quality together. The goal of watershed management is to plan and work toward an environmentally and economically healthy watershed that benefits all who live in it.
The water in the West Branch Sni-A-Bar Creek Watershed flows from eastern Jackson County farmland and the southern reaches of Blue Springs into Lake Lotawana and then onward to Grain Valley. The members have pledged mutual assistance and support to begin a formal planning process that will identify conservation problems and sponsor applications to the EPA for grants for possible solutions. The consortium has already negotiated with Blue Springs the funding for the first stage of wetlands development that will be included in the upcoming reconstruction of the 7 Highway and Colbern Road intersection. This effort is intended to reduce the silt that strangles the Carriage Oaks holding basin.
The Consortium officers include; President Jeff Fisher, Director of Public Works in Grain Valley, Vice President Carol Thompson, Manager Lake Lotawana Association, City Administrator in Lake Lotawana and Secretary Hank Jolly, President Carriage Oaks Homeowners Association. Blue Springs is represented by Oliver DeGrate and Jackson County by Tom Krahenbuhl. Consulting members include: Wendy Sangster, MO Dept of Conservation; Ginny Moore, MARC and Ted Hartsig of Olsson Associates.
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