Area projects employ stimulus funds

Four watershed projects in Adair County are among the first to use the money.

By RENEE FITE

STILWELL – Four watershed projects in Adair County are being rehabilitated to last for the next100 years.

One of the projects is the first upstream flood control dam in the nation to receive stimulus funds for rehabilitation.

Water supply, flooding, soil erosion, fish and wildlife habitat, wetlands and irrigation water management are some of the issues watersheds help control.

The projects total cost is $7,531,957.

“This allows us to redo the watersheds, add value to the lake, and protect the area for another hundred years,” said District Conservationist Andy Inman.

Three of the projects were recently completed and inspected Friday, Inman said.

The cost of Sallisaw Creek Sites No. 15, 16 and 20 was $3,510,221 for the rehabilitation work by C. Watts and Sons Construction Company of Oklahoma City. Federal watershed rehabilitation funding was used for these three.

Dahlonegah School, Cave Springs School, the Cherokee Children’s Mission, railroad tracks and a number of homes are protected from flooding by these dams.

Chain link fence will be installed between Dahlonegah and the watershed to keep children safe, he said.

Inman said they’re also making efforts at “going green.”

“Giant canary reed grass is being planted on these completed projects,” Inman said, “We’ll wait until the spring to finish. The rip rap and vegetation protect the dirt.”

A groundbreaking was held in September with the local, state and federal agencies that worked together on the project represented, including Adair County Conservation District, the City of Stilwell, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission.

Earth Builders Inc. of Decatur, Texas, received the contract for rehabilitation construction for $4,021,736 for Sallisaw site 18 M.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds were used for this project, for a lake which also supplies Stilwell and area rural water districts with water.

Steel pylons will be set to create an artificial dam during construction, so water supplies will not be disrupted while a new pipe is run through the watershed. It will stair-step down to a concrete basin, over some rip rap into a natural stream, Inman said.

About 8,000 people receive water from this lake supply.

“There’s not a lot of work being done out there yet,” he said. “They’ve been clearing off the area. And they lowered the lake about 10 feet to do the rehab.”

The lake is lowered so the principle spillway tower can be closed during construction and bypassed with a temporary coffer dam.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service staff helped acquire the easements from landowners that surround the project about six months ago, Inman said.

“The City of Stilwell gave the most easements, and then the Cherokee Nation, along with five landowners,” said Inman.

The lake has 188 surface acres, Inman said, “the rehabilitation is important. There are 4,697 acres of runoff that goes into Stilwell City Lake.”

“They weren’t built to be fished, if they held water that was a bonus,” he said. “They were designed to slow it down, flood control is the major purpose.”

The first watershed dam was built in Oklahoma in 1948 in Washita County. Within 64 counties, there are 129 USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service-assisted watershed projects. But Oklahoma has 321 watershed dams that will reach their 50-year design life in 2009, with another 806 reaching that milestone in 2013.

The combined projects also created about 180 jobs in construction, fence building, finish work that adds to the economy, with the crew staying in the local motel, using fuel and eating.

“This is so good for us,” said Mildred Hamilton, chairman of the Adair County Conservation District.

“It will give protection to the landowners for the next 100 years.”

Besides the benefit to the community, Hamilton reminds landowners the conservation district is always available to help.

“We want landowners to be aware of any help available to them and any technical advice as to how to go about getting assistance,” she said.

Inman has been with the conservation district about 20 years, and said this is the first rehab of this kind he’s ever seen.

“We’ll be in 100 percent safe standards now,” Inman said. “We’ll do maintenance every year and check for vandalism, but our ears and eyes are the public. They let us know.”