The Muchakinock Creek Watershed Project is currently in its fifth year and project partners are very pleased with the efforts local landowners are making to improve the streams water quality.

Due to the exemplary efforts of the local landowners, the project obtained an extension with additional funding through June 30, 2012.

Muchakinock Creek, which starts just southeast of Pella and meets the Des Moines River near Eddyville, is on the state’s impaired waters list. The watershed, or area that drains into the creek, is 49,200 acres that are dominated by land planted to row crops. This has led to excessive sediment reaching the creek, which has made it difficult for aquatic life to thrive in the stream.

The focus of the Muchakinock Creek Watershed Project is to work with local landowners to install terraces, basins and grade stabilization structures on their property to control soil erosion, and prevent excessive sediment from reaching the stream. The project provides up to 75 percent cost-share to assist eligible landowners in constructing conservation practices.

Watershed landowners can be proud of the fact that since the project’s beginning, 19.3 miles of terraces have been installed which reduced sediment loading into the stream by approximately 3,145 tons per year. That adds up to approximately 210 dump truck loads of soil. Along with terraces, there have been many sediment basins and ponds installed at a soil savings of 2,026 tons per year.

Along with the assistance for the above mentioned conservation practices, there is a thriving partnership between the Mahaska County Soil and Water Conservation District, Iowa Department of Agriculture, USDA NRCS, Pathfinders RC&D, Iowa Watershed Improvement Review Board and Pheasants Forever that is working to reclaim abandoned coal mine sites in the watershed. These abandoned mine sites, while relatively small in size, contribute the highest amount of sediment per acre. These sites are typically highly acidic which further deteriorates soil and water quality. The reclamation practices on these sites work to make them safer, improve soils through liming and seedings, construct erosion control structures to prevent soil from leaving the site, and make the areas more appealing to the eye.

To learn more about the Muchakinock Creek Watershed Project, visit http://www.iowadnr.gov/water/watershed/projects/wis_muchakinock.pdf or contact Sorem at: (641)-673-3476 ext 3, or visit the Mahaska County Soil and Water Conservation District office at 2503 Todd St. in Oskaloosa. The office is located in the USDA-Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service building.