Region eligible for watershed recovery funds

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved the funding as part of the fiscal 2007 emergency supplemental bill. The funds, provided through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, will go to the state, and counties eligible to receive money are Barry, Dade, Greene, Lawrence, McDonald, Newton, Polk and Webster.

The funding will help cover costs of removing logjams and debris from streams and adjacent areas to protect destabilized stream banks, according to a news release from U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, who helped secure the funding. U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Congressman Roy Blunt also played a role in obtaining assistance.

“These funds are another step in the recovery process for those landowners that have streams and creeks important to drainage of the area,” Blunt said in the release. “Removing limbs, brush and other debris will reduce the threat of erosion and enable landowners to stabilize areas and prevent more damage to forests, pasturelands and stream beds.”