Codurus Creek receives $12,000 in conservation funding BY JOYCE BUPP Staff Correspondent YORK - York County’s South 0 Branch watershed of the Codorus Creek has the dubious honor of being selected one of the state’s top ten erosion-prone areas. The watershed’s flooding and washproblems have garnered state interest in the creek’s drainage area, in the form of a $12,000 allottment from the state ASCS Pennsylvania’s #1 Agri-Business Bank American Bank has been committed to helping fanners since the turn of the century. Because of our close association, we’re making a special limited 4-week offer of a fixed-rate Crop Builder Loan. This loan can be used to finance the growing of field crops for later sale or for use on the farm as feed. The advantages of our Crop Builder Loan are many. Once your loan has been approved, you’ll be assured of getting the money you need, when you need it And since the rate is fixed, you won’t have committee, to be used toward erosion control measures. However, that' amount is nowhere near the estimated |167,000 cost that a statewide Soil Conservation Service study says is needed to do a thorough erosion control on the flood-prone South Branch. “We hope the project will attract additional funding,” says Peggyann Carnill, head of the Commitment to fanners. Its the American Bank advantage. American Bank and Trust Co. of Pa. with offices in Berks, Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomeiy and Schuylkill Counties. A mere drop-in-the-biicket f.«hw,M*r<. y .Win, iM2-«3s York Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. An estimated 375 farms are included in the total 44,000 acres of the watershed, which runs south and west of Interstate 83. Water from the springs in the rolling hills and creek valleys feed into the water supplies of the York Water Company, with its approximately 100,000 customers in York City and surrounding urban areas. American Bank A FULL SERVICE BANK • MEMBER FDIC Several objectives are listed as goals for the erosion-control project including increased overall farm income due to reduced soil losses within the watershed crop land. Non-point pollution would be reduced to more permissable levels, water quality and ground water levels would be improved, and the area would become a prime conservation example. Funds are being handled through the York County ASCS offices. to worry about the volatility of floating interest rates. This will help you in determining the cost of producing a crop and will reduce your risk in the crop investment the Crop Builder Loan is available to all farmers who are eligible. You don’t presently have to be an American Bank customer. 1b take advantage of this offer, in Lancaster and Lebanon counties contact Bob Zook at (717) 295-8577. In all other counties, contact Gene Richard or Bill Hughes at (215) 375-5993. Farmers from within the South Branch Codorus watershed will be invited in the near future to apply for up to 50 to 80 percent of the costs of runoff-control im provements such as diversion terraces and manure bolding pits, with a total fund limit per farm of $3,500. A similar study is now underway for the watershed area of the Conewago Creek in northern York County. An equal opportunity lender.