The Watershed Committee of the Ozarks was awarded the USDA Conservation Technical Assistance Grant for $49,0000 on September 15, 2018. The project is titled the Sac and James River Watershed Conservation Outreach Project and the objective of the project is to promote public awareness and implementation of Farm Bill activities, especially in historically underserved communities and in watersheds critical to drinking water supply. The project partners include the Greene, Polk, Cedar and Dade County NRCS and Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the Missouri Department of Conservation and the grant will end September 15, 2020.
As part of the grant WCO has created a survey to understand what knowledge farmers, producers and growers have of the farm bill practices and cost share programs currently available. A local contact list for the watershed is being generated to disperse the survey. As part of the grant milestones, outreach conservation workshops will be conducted focusing on soil health and managed grazing.