Ecology funds riparian fencing projects; A new U.S. Senate Ag Chair
Washington Ag Today September 10, 2009 Three projects to restore and protect shoreline environments in eastern Washington have received a financial boost from the Department of Ecology to ensure their successful completion. Funding for the projects comes from penalties people pay when they violate water quality laws. Jani Gilbert, spokesperson for Ecology, says two of the projects will provide fencing to keep livestock out of water. Gilbert: “So Stevens County will receive 85-hundred to install 45-hundred feet of fencing along Stranger Creek that‘s a tributary to Lake Roosevelt. That will keep livestock away. The same thing is going to be done in Adams County along the Palouse River and Union Creek Flat. They have been granted 28-thousand dollars. So this will really help water quality in those areas by keeping the livestock away.” The third project is receiving 50-thousand dollars and that is for the Tri-State Steelheaders debris project on the Touchet (TOO-she) River in Walla Walla County to stabilize banks and improve fish habitat. Arkansas’s senior U.S. Senator, Blanche Lincoln, has been tapped as the next Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. A farmers daughter, she is the first woman to serve as chair of the committee. Previous chairman, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is becoming chair of the Health Committee. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
