The New Madrid County Soil and Water Conservation District will be preparing a needs assessment of New Madrid County. The needs assessment will provide the state Soil and Water Districts Commission with information about soil erosion and water quality concerns in the county. This will assist the commission in allocating cost-share funds to the district next year.
The Soil and Water Districts Commission is charged with allocating appropriations to districts based upon the district’s needs. In order to do this, the commission is requesting that each district perform a five-year needs assessment of their county.
Beginning in July of 2009, the district's cost-share allocation will be partly distributed based on a needs assessment developed by each district. The needs assessment will be a comprehensive, multi-year report of the cost-share needs in the district based on resource concerns. During this process, the district board will break down the resource needs of the district based on seven resource concerns: Sheet, Rill and Gully Erosion; Irrigation Management, Grazing Management, Sensitive Areas, Woodland Erosion, Nutrient and Pest Management; and Animal Waste Management.
In order to determine which concerns are priorities and what level of funding to allocate to each concern, districts will use a variety of methods including the University of Missouri’s website for Missouri County Profiles, landowner surveys, informational meetings and analyzing past cost-share usage. This information will be reviewed and presented to the commission next year, who will then consider this information when making a decision on how best to allocate the available cost-share dollars to districts for the following fiscal year.
Missouri’s 114 soil and water conservation districts work with agricultural landowners and the public to conserve the state’s soil and water resources. The districts are funded by the one-tenth-of-one-percent parks, soils and water sales tax.
For more information, contact Emily Wilson or Butch Williams at the New Madrid County Soil & Water Conservation District at (573) 748-5245 ext. 3.