A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 4, 1998 Tulpehocken Watershed Receives Conservation Funding (Continued from Pag* A 1) The only thing the program needs from the farmer is a proposal that describes the kind of work to be done. After an inventory and eva luation of each farm by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, a timetable for the conservation practice implementation will be set Under the auspices of the prog ram. farmers can take five years to sign up and another five years to implement the program, according to Kim Fies, conservation special ist with the Berks County Conser vation District The Berks office will act as a “clearinghouse” for proposals under the PL 566 prog ram. Fies will be the central con tact person for the program. “There are more than 300 farms in the watershed that can benefit from the program,” said Fies. Groundwork on the PL 566 program began about two years On the Tulpa-Canal farm owned by Floyd and Janice Mar* tin and family near Womelsdorf, a crossing over the Tulpe* hocken was Installed, together with stream bank fencing. Here, Kim Fles Inspects the crossing. year a clean water collection system, including six collec tion boxes and 1,500 feet of pipe, was Installed at a cost of ago, involving about 27 different federal, state, and local agencies, according to Charles Wertz of the Lebanon district This project is sponsored by the Berks County Conservation District and Berks County Conservancy. A variety of different agencies provided “multiple inputs” for the program. The sponsors received funding authorization approval in February this year and have been asked to seek landowners to sign up. In the past under programs of this son, according to Fies, cost sharing was in the amount of 65 percent But this program provides a hefty 75 percent cost sharing. An “assessment” of the program was mailed at the beginning of May to landowners in the Berks and Lebanon County Tulpehocken Watershed areas, with a self addressed reply requested. The responses, in some areas, have *■ oi jrm were, from It , Kim Fles, conservation spe cialist with the Berks County Conservation District; Richard Troutman, in back; Heather Rodriguez, ecology major from Mlllersvllte University; and Charles W. Wertz, district manager with the Lebanon County Conservation District. been good. About 25 landowners soil erosion goal of 5,700 acres for jcct on hold. Wertz believes the have responded with interest in the the program amounted to only park and turtle could co-exist with waste management systems area, 4,755 acres as of last week. design and implementation of a about 11 more than the goal of the In wetlands preservation, out of phu® made possible through the PL program for the planned timef- a goal of 30 acres, only eight acres 56(5 project rame. About 24 responded to inter- are in interest. k “Many farmers are accepting est in the barnyard runoff prog- These goals have been set as the need for buffers and their rams, twice more than planned for part of the federal program, impact on nutrient loads," accotd the same timeframe. according to Wertz. ing to the district manager. “It is However, for interest in the Wertz believes the program's 1101 costing (landowners) a lot nutrient management systems part fish and wildlife habitat compo- They are not seeing real estate val of the program, 4,500 acres was nents could help mitigate a diffi- ucs soing down the drain,” Many the projected goal. As of early last cult situation in Jackson Town- of these programs will work to week, only 4,213 acres were under ship, Lebanon County. Discovery abate sediment load in the Tulpe requests from landowners. The 0 f a bog turtle has put a park pro- ( Turn to p, O» A2l) I On the Troutman farm, projects were installed to help manage nutrients, ensure stream bank stability, stem soil erosion, and ultimately Improve herd health. A farm contains a concrete agricultural crossing structure Installed over a stream,
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