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Test Projects

Completed Projects

Completed Projects - Card Style

Completed Projects - List Style

Rain Garden at Valley Water Mill Park

Project Completed Spring 2008

The Watershed Committee has partnered with a local Sierra Club to construct a Rain Garden at Valley Water Mill Park. This project will aid in preventing stormwater runoff from entering Valley Water Mill Lake. Rain Gardens are desinged to slow down, capture and absorb water using elements similar to those in nature: plants, rocks, shallow swales and depressions that hold water temporarily rather than let it quickly run away. Rain Gardens will reduce drainage and flooding problems, keep pollutants out of the nearby streams, rivers and lakes and bring beauty and wildlife to the landscape.

There are two kinds of rain gardens: wet and dry. The wet rain garden holds water almost all of the time. The rain garden at Valley Water Mill is a dry rain garden and most water is absorbed within 48 hours…too soon for mosquito larvae to hatch. Wildlife prefers locally grown native plants. If you plant a rain garden, be sure to buy plants native to Missouri.

Streamside Learning Station

Project Completed 2007

The Streamside Learning Station, on the banks of the South Dry Sac River, was completed using a grant from the Community Foundation and a donation from the Griesemer. This station consists of twelve large limestone blocks cut from the historic Phenix Quarry in Greene County. These stones, in an amphitheater arrangement along the stream bank, allow students to sit or work as they study and sample the stream. The Streamside Learning Station was dedicated to the Griesemer Family.

Wetland/Curriculum Grant

Project Completed 2007

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks awarded the Watershed Committee $22,288 for the development of hands-on-education curriculum for the four outdoor classrooms at the Watershed Center. Two specific goals were to build a wetland learning station, allowing access through the wetland and designing a teacher friendly curriculum that corresponded with Missouri’s “Grade Level Expectations” or GLE’s.

MO Recreational Trails Grant

MO Recreational Trails Grant

The Department of Natural Resources Trails Grant provided funds to design and complete a trail loop around the Watershed Center site. Trails maps were designed and a small section of glassphalt trail was constructed to connect the Lakeside Learning Station to the fishing piers.

Valley Water Mill 319 Project

Projects Completed 2002-2007

The rapid pace of urban growth in the geologically sensitive Valley Water Mill sub-watershed led the Watershed Committee to apply for Clean Water Act Section 319 funds to address urban and suburban sources of nonpoint pollution, implement water-friendly practices as demonstrations and to build and design educational facilities where citizens learn about nonpoint source pollution and develop skills to address the problems.

Projects Include

Our Missouri Waters

The goal of Our Missouri Waters is to create a Healthy Watershed Plan

On May 1st, 2015 the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks was awarded the Our Missouri Waters Collaborative effort for the Sac River Watershed through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The goal of this project was to gather local input and identify water resource priorities through community meetings. A local watershed advisory committee was assembled to identify and develop resources to achieve those priorities. Citizens, community leaders, elected officials and anyone living in the watershed were invited in this process to share how they use their water and what’s needed to continue protecting and enhancing the Sac River watershed.

The grant was completed on October 31st 2016. The survey results, summary of the process and committee recommendations are outlined in the Sac River Healthy Watershed Plan found here. The plan will be a living, working document to help maximize resources and focus watershed priorities over the next five years.  Thank you to everyone that served on the committee and helped with this project! To learn more about the Our Missouri Waters statewide initiative visit: http://dnr.mo.gov/omw/

Stacey Armstrong Smith, Projects Manager

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