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ACTIVITIES OF THE LINCOLN CONSERVATION DISTRICT
2010 – 2011



The Lincoln Conservation District provides assistance to:

The Lincoln Conservation District does these things for our citizens:

1. The LCD board has ongoing water quality responsibilities for residents in southern Lincoln County. Currently, the LCD board members will be working with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WyDEQ) to develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) rate for pH problems in the Hams fork River. The cities of Diamondville and Kemmerer will be involved in this process in order to address community sewage waste issues and storm water runoff.

2. The LCD board members will be working with the Cokeville Development Company, the Smiths Fork Irrigation Water Users and the Wyoming Water Development commission to complete a Level II Study for a small water storage reservoir in the Sublette Creek Watershed southeast of Cokeville, Wyoming.

3. The LCD board members have also been working closely with the Cities of Diamondville and Kemmerer and their Water and Waste Joint Powers Board, the Hams Fork Water Users Association, the Rocky Mountain Power Company, and the Wyoming Water Development Commission to complete a Level II study to enlarge Viva Naughton Reservoir or provide off channel water storage for the Cities of Kemmerer and Diamondville along with industrial and irrigation needs.

4. LCD board members will continue to sponsor meetings this year to implement Brucellosis awareness and prevention plan for district livestock producers. Coordination efforts will be taken with the Wyoming Livestock Board, the Animal Plan Health Inspection Service (APHIS) the Wyoming State Veterinarian Office and the local Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Office to implement incentive payments to install conservation practices to curtail the spread of Brucellosis between elk and cattle within the district.

5. The LCD Board will actively participate in Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) efforts to install conservation practices on a broad scale throughout Lincoln County. Currently WLCI money is being used to revamp antiquated irrigation systems within refuge boundaries south of Cokeville, Wyoming.

6. The LCD office sells conservation seedling trees and shrubs to interested individuals within Lincoln County each year to promote farmstead and hedge row wind breaks.

7. The LCD meets throughout the year with many different county, state, and federal agencies to promote sound natural resource management. Key agencies meetings that will be held this year will be with the Kemmerer BLM Office, Kemmerer U.S. Forest Service Office, Lincoln County Weed and Pest Control District, Bear Lake Regional Commission, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, and the Lincoln County Commissioners.

8. The LCD will once again sell fire wood and pole permits and Christmas tree permits for the Kemmerer U.S. Forest Service Office out of the Cokeville District Office.

9. Efforts will be undertaken to help the Lincoln County Weed and Pest Control District to dis- tribute chemicals to control weeds through the LCD field office in Cokeville.

10. As assigned by state law, the LCD will continue to complete new subdivision reviews. Natural resource concerns will be addressed in their report along with the suitability of the soils in the proposed subdivision for roads, septic systems, basements, and other structure foundations etc. Potential overland flooding issues will also be addressed in their report along with soil erosion issues.

11. The LCD board members will be working with the local NRCS Field Office and Trout Unlimited to install fish screens on Twin and Spring Creeks.

12. The LCD will continue to work with the local NRCS Field Office to implement a Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) for acquisition of conservation easements on the Bear River Drainage within southern Lincoln County.

13. Probably the most important undertaking of LCD board members is their involvement with the Coalition of Local Governments to address public and private land natural resource issues on federal and state lands. This is a grass roots organization that helps local agriculture producers stay on the ground.

14. Finally, another very important project the LCD board members are supporting is obtaining a published soil survey for southern Lincoln County. This will help everyone in land construction and management type activities.

Refer to the LCD 2010-2011 Annual Plan of Work for additional conservation activities scheduled for this year.