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County hears NRCS outline for federal Emergency Watershed Protection help after Lee and Elk fires
Summary
Natural Resources Conservation Service staff described the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, funding shares and sponsor responsibilities and urged the county or conservation district to request assistance within 60 days to start damage surveys after the Aug. 25 Rio Blanco fires.
The Rio Blanco County Board of Commissioners heard a detailed briefing Sept. 10 from the Natural Resources Conservation Service on how the agency’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP) could help repair erosion and flood risk caused by the Lee and Elk fires and subsequent runoff.
Todd Bolt, who identified himself as an NRCS manager for Colorado, told commissioners that “the Emergency Watershed Protection Program is set up to relieve imminent hazards to life and property caused by a watershed impairment.” He said the program’s main goals are to reduce erosion, sedimentation and the threat from future flooding to life and property.
Bolt walked commissioners through the sponsor-driven process: a unit of local government must submit a written request to the NRCS state conservationist (Clint Evans) within 60 days after access is available to damaged sites; NRCS then convenes a damage…
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