$2.3 Million Awarded To Local County Water Districts For Watershed Projects

ALBANY – More than $2 million in grants have been awarded to the Chautauqua County and Cattaraugus County Soil and Water Conservation Districts to help protect and improve local waters impacted by agricultural runoff and sediment.
The Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District received $809,370 to work with two farms in the Conewango Creek Watershed. The project aims to improve manure management on two farm facilities, implement riparian buffers on several crop fields to help reduce sediment and
phosphorus runoff and reduce sediment and phosphorus inputs into Conewango Creek.
The District also received $156,255 to work with one farm in the Clymer Water District which includes Hulbert/Clymer Pond. The project aims to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen inputs to the Clymer Aquifer and surface water resources, improve agricultural waste management and implement a riparian herbaceous buffer to filter nutrients and sediment from livestock pastures.
Cattaraugus County’s District received $572,204 to work with one farm in the Cattaraugus Creek Watershed. The project will reduce agricultural runoff and improve manure management and implement a riparian buffer for additional water quality protection.
A separate project will spend $779,900 to work with three farms in the Conewango Creek Watershed to significantly help reduce the impact of runoff, improve agricultural waste management and establish riparian buffers in sensitive areas to help reduce sediment and
phosphorus runoff.