St Joseph River Watershed Initiative Partnership

Water quality monitoring of the St. Joseph River and its tributaries is done annually with samples collected and analyzed weekly during the recreational season from april through october. The Initiative conducted the water quality monitoring in conjunction with the allen county soil and water conservation district, purdue university at fort wayne, the tri-state Watershed alliance, and fort wayne city utilities. The Initiative also planned and oversaw on-going improvements to an online database that houses the water quality data and makes it available to professionals and the public for use in researching water quality.

Watershed management plans have been developed for the St. Joseph River Watershed and all of its subwatersheds. These plans form the basis for all of the Initiative's outreach and education messages. The Initiative developed a proposal to implement education and outreach programs targeting urban and rural property owners in the lower St. Joseph and bear creek watersheds. The programs, along with a cost-share program to help property owners implement water quality bmps, form the basis of an application for grant funding that will help bring state funds into the region using the Initiative's resources as leverage.

Educational programs were conducted to educate the public and landowners throughout the Watershed about the sources of and ways to address water pollution coming from point and non-point sources. These events included: 1.water quality database demonstration and staffed educational display at health fair event in fort wayne, in 2.flow the St. joe - canoe and kayak trip with 22 participants held in association with the leo-cedarville freedom fest 3.board meetings were held in five communities within the Watershed with local officials invited to participate. 4.annual meeting and education event held in allen county, in in addition, three existing educational brochures were updated and republished, the Initiative's website and social media presence were kept updated, and informational display materials were updated.

As part of the upper St. Joseph Watershed management plan grant, a cost- share program was developed and implemented. Thrity-one people participated int he cost-share program. Sixteen participants installed shoreline protection projects on clear lake. Seven participants installed cover crops on agricultural land. One participant did an equipment modification/riduced tillage project. The participants installed rain barrels. The participants installed native plantings along the shoreline at clear lake.