Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 9, Number 3 • May-June 2001
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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by Sandra Wilmore
Legislators Appropriate $2 million for Private Lands Conservation, Clean Water Indiana
Indianapolis – On Friday, May 11, 2001, Governor Frank O’Bannon allowed the budget bill, passed by the Indiana General Assembly, to become law. The state’s budget included $1 million per year, for the next two years, for the Clean Water Indiana program. In 1999, the General Assembly passed legislation creating Clean Water Indiana, but appropriated no funds for the program. Clean Water Indiana provides funds to Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), to address locally identified natural resource concerns.
SWCD Supervisors, SWCD customers, and coalition members worked to secure the needed funding. The Clean Water Indiana Coalition includes many organizations, representing diverse interests. Coalition members include the Indiana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Crooked Lake Association, Indiana Beef Cattle Association, Indiana Corn Growers Association, Indiana Farm Bureau, Pheasants Forever, Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, and The Nature Conservancy.
The Clean Water Indiana program addresses water quality concerns by providing the needed support. Since 97% of rainwater falls on private lands, Indiana needs the voluntary cooperation of landowners to implement conservation practices on private lands to effectively control non-point source pollution. In most cases, the expense of implementing conservation practices proves cost-prohibitive for the landowner. The Clean Water Indiana program provides funds to share these costs with private landowners. Additionally, Indiana’s 92 SWCDs locally identify natural resource concerns for their county, and carry out projects to address those concerns. The Clean Water Indiana program will match local funds provided to Soil and Water Conservation Districts to address local non-point source pollution concerns.
Also, Indiana will use Clean Water Indiana funds to gain federal funding for conservation. The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) provides incentives to landowners in priority watersheds, to install conservation practices. The CREP program matches state investments in conservation at a rate of 4 federal dollars for 1 state dollar. The Indiana Chapter of The Nature Conservancy announced they would provide an additional $2.5 million if legislators fund Clean Water Indiana. The Nature Conservancy will spend the $2.5 million in the Tippecanoe River Watershed, a priority area for the organization.
For information about Clean Water Indiana, visit www.iaswcd.org, or contact: April Ingle, Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (317-692-7519).
Indiana’s Lake Michigan Coastal Program
Indiana is developing the Lake Michigan Coastal Program to participate in the national initiative with 33 other coastal states to protect, restore, and responsibly develop Indiana’s coastal areas.
The beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline runs for 45 miles inside Indiana’s boundary, is home to rare species (such as the Peregrine Falcon and the Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake), and more than 1,400 types of plants. Indiana’s shoreline is also home to Indiana’s International Port at Burns Harbor, one of the busiest shipping ports on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. In 1999, more than 2 million tons of goods passed through the port.
After Indiana has created a Lake Michigan Coastal Program, it will be eligible to join the federal Coastal Zone Management Program and receive more than $600,000 each year to help with coastal projects. These projects could include developing a regional trail system, restoring local park habitats, and planning for economic development. The Coastal Zone Management Program, established in 1972 through a partnership between coastal states and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is active in 33 of the nation’s coastal states.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which is leading the development of the Indiana Lake Michigan Coastal Program, has worked with local and state agencies and organizations to identify priorities for Indiana’s coastal region. These priorities are outlined in a draft plan of the program that is available at www.state.in.us/dnr/lakemich. The draft plan explains how Indiana can meet these regional priorities through the state’s existing laws and management structure.
The Department of Natural Resources is seeking public input on the draft plan. The department will hold six public input meetings in Northwest Indiana to give the public an opportunity to learn more about the draft plan. Comments from these meetings will be recorded and included in a draft Environmental Impact Statement before a final impact statement is developed. The draft plan was developed with the input of the Northwest Indiana Public Workgroups and the Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel.