CHARLES CITY, Iowa -The first step toward establishing an Upper Cedar Watershed Management Improvement Authority was taken Feb. 24 in the Charles City Library.
Representatives from county boards, city councils and soil and water conservation districts in Black Hawk, Bremer, Butler, Chickasaw, Floyd, Mitchell and Worth counties along with farm and conservation groups got together to learn more about the process.
Floyd County is one of six local governments in Iowa to receive federal disaster funding to establish a Watershed Management Authority. The intent is for the areas to be models for the rest of the state, said Floyd County supervisor and farmer Mark Kuhn, who moderated the meeting. Entities that establish a Watershed Management Authority will be eligible to apply for additional funding later this year.
The Upper Cedar group agreed to meet at 6:30 p.m. March 8 at the Charles City Library to begin creating an intergovernmental agreement know as a 28E Agreement.
"That's legislative lingo for cities, counties and soil and water conservation districts working together to prevent future flooding and improve water quality in a watershed," said Kuhn.
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Watershed authority activities may include assessing options for reducing flood risk in the watershed, monitoring flood risk planning and activities, educating residents, allocating funds made available through the authority and entering into contracts and agreements necessary to perform the authority's duties, said Susan Judkins Josten of MSA Professional Services of Ankeny.
Judkins Josten leads the consultant team Floyd County hired to help create the Upper Cedar River Watershed Management Improvement Authority. She previously worked as the intergovernmental affairs director for the Rebuild Iowa office, established to help the state recover from the 2008 flood. She will work with Kurt Hoeft, who has a history of technical leadership through his work with the Cedar Valley RC&D and soil and water conservation districts in the watershed.
A Watershed Management Authority forms when two or more political subdivisions within a Hydrologic Unit Code 8 watershed forge an intergovernmental agreement to focus on watershed improvements, Judkins Josten said. The proposed Upper Cedar group is the largest watershed authority of this type allowed.
All city councils, county boards and soil and water conservation districts in the Upper Cedar Watershed, which extends from northern Mitchell and Worth counties to northern Black Hawk County, were invited to join the authority, but no entity is required to do so, Judkins Josten said. The authority has no taxing power and no one is being asked to dedicate any money.
Judkins Josten said a benefit of establishing a WMA within the next few months is that the Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Economic Development Authority will award grants to three WMAs this summer to prepare a watershed plan. Areas that successfully establish a WMA will be well positioned to receive future state and federal watershed funding.
