HORSESHOE WATERSHED PROJECT AVAILABLE

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Plans and funding for a Horseshoe Lake watershed protection project have been approved.

Purpose of the project is to offer landowners an opportunity to create buffer strips along some critical, eroding sections of Pigeon Roost Hollow and Black Creek, said Brent Manning, director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

"This will be on a voluntary basis by the landowners," said Bev Welch of the Pulaski-Alexander Soil and Water Conservation District, a co-sponsor of the project. "As many as 40 landowners could be involved."

Landowners will have an opportunity to learn more about the project during an informational meeting Wednesday at Olive Branch Community Building. Officials from the conservation district and state will discuss the watershed project at the 8:30-a.m. meeting.

The project, sponsored by the conservation district and Shawnee Resource Conservation and Development Area Council, in cooperation with the DNR and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, will be funded through a $69,350 grant from the ecosystems program of Conservation 2000.

Conservation 2000 is Gov. Jim Edgar's comprehensive six-year initiative to protect Illinois' natural resources. The Horseshoe Lake watershed grant is one of 40 ecosystem projects totaling $1.6 million in Conservation 2000 funds approved for 1997.

Landowners will be able to enroll eligible land into permanent conservation easements at a per-acre rate to be established by a land appraisal plus 100 percent cost share on the establishment of buffer strips.