Nodaway River section tagged for bank stabilization
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced that it will allocate $1.2 million for stream bank stabilization on the Nodaway River west of Clearmont. Heavy rains and flooding last summer caused severe erosion along the riverbank, which could eventually undermine the Missouri Department of Transportation bridge on Route C pictured here.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced that it is providing $1.2 million in Emergency Watershed Protection Program funds to aid in riverbank stabilization in Nodaway County related to storm damage in the summer of 2015.
According to an NRCS release, the Missouri Department of Transportation has been designated project sponsor for the effort and will also provide funding in the form of a 25 percent match for repairs along a 2,000-foot stretch of the Nodaway River in the vicinity of Route C west of Clearmont.
“A terrible storm tore through Nodaway County in July of 2015,” said State Conservationist J.R. Flores in a prepared statement. “Flooding endangered an access road used to transport farm products to market and put several hundred people at risk. The funding we’re providing will help make the necessary repairs both up and downstream on the Nodaway River.”
Flores said Emergency Watershed Protection funds are allocated to help people rebuild after natural calamities, and that such efforts also pay for improvements designed to reduce the scope of damage that could be caused by future events.
He added that the program provides technical and financial assistance intended to reduce hazards to life and property from floods, ice storms, earthquakes, and tornadoes, or any other natural event causing watershed impairment.
NCRS District Conservationist Chris Rader said project design is currently under way, and that work should be completed in about six months.
Under current regulations, Emergency Watershed Protection projects must be sponsored by a state agency — such as MoDOT — or local governments like a city or county.
Late last year, Nodaway County used NRCS funds to carry out steam bank stabilization work at four locations.
Those projects included eroded banks near a bridge spanning Norvey Creek on Liberty Road southeast of Hopkins and three other bridge sites north of Maryville on the One Hundred and Two River east of Highway 148 at 220th, 190th, and 180th streets.
Cost of the combined projects was 710,000, which included a 25 percent match paid by the county.
South District County Commissioner Robert Stiens said Tuesday that the Nodaway River project, unlike the earlier work, is being undertaken solely by NRCS and MoDOT and does not involve county funds.
Nationally, NRCS will invest $93 million in EWP assistance this year related to flooding, hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters.
For more information on the initiative, go to the NRCS Missouri website at www.mo.nrcs.usda.gov or call the Maryville NRCS office at 660.582.7125.
