April News from Friends of Lake MonroeShoreline cleanups, cost-share program update, Earth Day
Thank You For Rounding Up!
Thank you to everyone who rounded up for Friends of Lake Monroe at Bloomingfoods in January! We received $7,324.33 to continue our work protecting the lake. Our goal is to ensure that water in the lake remains fishable, swimmable, and drinkable.
Join Us for Earth Day
How will you celebrate Earth Day this spring? We will be tabling at Bloomington's Earth Day Celebration at Switchyard Park this Saturday April 19 from 12:00 to 4:00. Join us and enjoy live music, food and drinks, local vendors, prize drawings, tree giveaways, and more. Community members are encouraged to walk, bike, or take public transit if possible.
Volunteers Needed for Monthly Shoreline Cleanups
Want to help? Please register to join one of our monthly shoreline cleanups at Paynetown State Recreation Area! We will gather on the second Tuesday at 6:00pm.
We are excited to have several new board members this year including Trent Deckard, a member of the Monroe County Council. He comes from a nine-generation Monroe County family, many of which lived in and around Lake Monroe. He is also a faculty member at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. Trent spent time as a congressional aide to U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, state agency co-director, and chief of staff for a legislative caucus. Trent is married Kyla, and they have two daughters, Madeline and Lucy, Curry the cat, and a collection of 27,000 comic books he has collected since childhood.
A Few Surprises in Funding Conservation
Friends of Lake Monroe has been fortunate to receive continuous funding for our cost-share program, which reimburses farmers and other landowners for actions taken to reduce non-point source pollution in the Lake Monroe Watershed. This funding comes from the U.S. EPA and is administered by the State of Indiana. Due to the actions of the Trump administration, we are not certain that the funds that come from the EPA will be provided to the state (and then to FLM). In some states farmers have feared losing their farms because of a pause in the funding of large dollar federal energy grants. Like our cost-share program, these projects require the landowner to complete the project before getting reimbursed by the government.
To avoid causing undue stress to farmers and landowners who have taken the responsibility to protect the lake, the FLM board voted to guarantee payment to five landowners who have already signed a contract through our conservation cost-share program. This guarantee means we will reimburse them regardless of when or if we are reimbursed by the government. To support this guarantee, we established a cost-share guarantee fund that will serve as a backup to grant funded payments. Even if the government pauses our grant, our cost-share participants will be paid for their projects. If we are reimbursed through our grant, the grant money will go back into the guarantee fund to pay for future projects.
When we sent a letter to program participants reaffirming that we will pay for the projects in a timely manner, we received a surprising and very generous counteroffer from Sam and Phyllis Kazdan.
"We never started our project with the objective of seeking reimbursement for our efforts. The fact that your program was made known to us was ‘icing on the cake’ so to speak. We would prefer to take no reimbursement for our stream plantings and pass those savings along to those individuals or groups who are in greater need for this reimbursement. Further, we would like to begin making donations to Friends of Lake Monroe via our IRA contributions."
Phyllis and Sam’s generosity is greatly appreciated, and their donation will be added to our cost-share guarantee fund.
If you would like to ensure that we can continue our work implementing the Lake Monroe Watershed Management Plan and helping farmers add new soil and conservation projects, please consider making a donation. Even if our current grant is not impacted, it seems likely that there will be less funding available in the future due to budget cuts and program cancellations. (This is also a good time to call your state and federal representatives to let them know that you value clean water!)
Spring is mud season on many farms and a great time to think about adding conservation practices that will help limit soil erosion. For livestock operations, one of the best options is to add a heavy use area pad or HUAP. These pads are typically constructed with geotextile fabric at the bottom, then several inches of stone, and a top covering of agricultural lime. Combined, it makes a solid surface that can withstand lots of heavy trampling where animals gather. The farmer can also scrape off manure as it accumulates and apply it to fields as fertilizer or add it to a composting system.
Both the animals and the farmers enjoy having less mud to deal with! At our November field day at the Manuel Family Farm we got to see HUAPs on a rainy day. Dean Manuel shared that in past years he would sometimes have cows up to their bellies in the mud and how much nicer it is with a HUAP!
We have enjoyed attending the local Soil & Water Conservation District Annual Meetings to celebrate conservation work done last year and to talk with farmers about plans for next year. There is a lot of great work being done in our area and we are proud to be part of it. (Pictured: Katie Starr, Brown County SWCD; Sonja Scott, Brown County SWCD; Allison Shoaf, NRCS, Maggie Sullivan, Friends of Lake Monroe; Mary Callaghan, Purdue Extension.)
Get Involved
Interested in volunteering but not sure how? Contact our volunteer coordinator, Keith Bobay, at volunteer@friendsoflakemonroe!
Friends of Lake Monroe depends on members like you to keep our organization strong. Join today to help us keep the lake drinkable, swimmable, and fishable. Individual membership is only $25 annually.
