The Rural Voice, 2001-10, Page 27The water flows off the hillside for
a considerable distance, picking up
speed and momentum as it goes and
washing the soil away, he explains.
In three of the past six years (1995,
1996 and 2000) there were damaging
rains and significant erosion, he says.
He tried grassed waterways but they
tended to fill up with eroded soil to
the point he couldn't drive through
them.
He'd experimented with berms in
one area of the farm and thinks they
are the solution to the problem.
"You have to stop the water at the
top of the hill." he says. If you can
hold the soil behind a berm near its
original location then at least you
have the opportunity to move it back
where it belongs.
"When you do have a heavy rain
you're going to have some erosion
but when the storm's over the soil is
there and you can take it back," he
\ays. '
Monk says such erosion
management projects as the
Van Wyks' are popular
after the damaging conditions of
2000's wet summer with torrential
rains. Grassed waterways, berms and
drop inlets are among the popular
items in applications.
Also among the applications are
repairs to septic systems, if they are
providing a potential for
environmental harm. There are many
older septic systems, Monk says, and
over time they've broken sometime
with septage breaking out to the
surface and making its way into
drains. If a new system will eliminate
such a problem it may be eligible for
funding.
It's the kind of funding farm
groups have been calling for as
theyve come under the microscope
because of public perception that
farming practices can be damaging to
the environment. Some hope the
Huron project will be a prototype for
a province -wide program to fund
farm environmental projects.
The county had estimated a total
of 400 projects would be assisted by
the grant program over two years.
When the grant was cut back from
$2.9 million to $2.5 million,
controversy was created in local
political circles. In order to try to
spread the remaining money as far as
possible, a system of service fees will
be deducted from the successful
applicants' funding in order to help
cover the costs of.administering the
program and still leave enough
money to undertake as many projects
as originally envisioned.
Some councillors at the September
meeting of county council objected
to those fees. Bill Dowson,
councillor from Bluewater .claimed:
"The county just wants to keep
control of everything." He said the
conservation authorities could handle
the job on their own \\ ithout the
county being involved.
But Lynn Murray, county clerk
administrator, said the province
requires that all funding and
administration go through the county.
There's a lot of paperwork required
for grants under the project, Murray
said, because the province doesn't
want a repeat of the kind of
embarrassment suffered by Jane
Stewart, federal minister of human
resources and development over
loose supervision of grants.
Farmers found a surprising ally in
Goderich Mayor Deb Shewfelt who
has expressed concern over the past
few years about the quality of water
in the Maitland River that empties
into Goderich harbour and has caused
Goderich beaches to be closed after
rain storms flushed bacteria into Lake
Huron. Shewfelt wondered if the
county mightn't be better to pick up
the full administrative cost in order to
encourage farmers to make
environmental improvements.
"We look a little cheap," he said.
Environmental projects by farmers
can benefit everyone in a watershed,
he said, so the county would be
justified in picking up the
administration tab.
The fee would average $250 for the
400 applicants. Murray said the
county is concerned about trying to
reduce the size of the fee for smaller
projects. The maximum grant for
eligible costs for each of the projects
will also be increased by 50 per cent
to help cover the fee.
Political squabbles aside, the
avalanche of applications for the
program makes it obvious that
farmers want to get on with making
environmental improvements if
someone will just give them a little
incentive and a helping hand.°
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