Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

More Grand Lake area farmers can seek funds

By Nancy Allen
The $1 million set aside by the USDA for watershed cleanup efforts announced in February has been expanded to cover the entire 71,862-acre Grand Lake Watershed.
The signup deadline also has been extended to April 11.
The funds are coming from the nationwide pot of funds in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill. The funds were leveraged by Congressman John Boehner and Senator Sherrod Brown. Both legislators have been working for some time to steer funding to the Grand Lake Watershed, which the Ohio EPA has deemed one of the most degraded in the state.
The signup deadline was extended because the deadline for the current Farm Bill, which Congress is deciding, was extended.
"We were working with a very short sign-up period to begin with and are excited to be able to extend the sign-up period by four weeks," said Terry Cosby, state conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Jim Will, district conservationist with NRCS in Mercer County, said the $1 million was opened to the entire watershed area in order to spend as much of the funds as possible. As of last week, $747,000 of the funds were still available.
"It was just too many dollars and too short a period of time to spend," Will said. "Since the whole watershed needs help, I think they decided to expand it and see if we could get more stuff done."
The original signup period was from Feb. 25 through March 14 and only covered land in the Chickasaw Creek subwatershed in Mercer County and the Barnes Creek subwatershed in Auglaize County, roughly 20,000 acres.
The funds are designated to help pay for planting of buffer strips along creeks running into Grand Lake and for planting winter cover crops.
Farmers also will be allowed to harvest hay from the buffer strips and plant them along existing grass waterways and filter strips and along roadside ditches, Will said. Existing USDA conservation programs do not allow harvesting of hay from filter strips nor do they pay for buffer strip planting along roadside ditches.
Incentive payments will cover a majority of farmers' planting costs, with the rest covered by the participating farmers, who must meet eligibility requirements established by EQIP.
The fact that producers will be able to harvest the hay from the buffer strips should make the program very attractive, Will added.
The $1 million includes a portion of money to monitor water quality in the area of the Chickasaw Creek and Barnes Creek subwatersheds. This would involve using existing water quality data and new data to determine a baseline measurement of the impairments. A monitoring station would be placed in the area of the two subwatersheds to continually gather water quality data so officials can compare before and after data, Will has said.
For more information contact district conservationist Steve McDevitt in Auglaize County at 419-738-4016 or Will in Mercer County at 419-586-2548.

If you go:
What: Free informational meeting on benefits and concerns of using cover crops, maximizing economic benefits of manure
When: 1-3 p.m. Friday
Where: St. Marys Township building, 10752 state Route 364
Presenters: Jim Hoorman, OSU Extension cover crop specialist, and Jon Rausch, OSU Extension manure management specialist
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Celina City Council members on Monday night approved first reading of a proposal to swap some land and build a new, safer entrance to Pullman Bay Park off Lake Shore Drive.
COLDWATER - The infantile stages of what eventually will be a $1 million to $2 million project to repair or replace the village sewer lines was discussed at a recent meeting of the village council's environmental committee.
ST. MARYS - The revised position of superintendent of solid waste operations will carry a decrease in pay classification due to reduced duties.
Cit
COLDWATER - Village Manager-Engineer Eric Thomas reports that work is underway at Memorial Park and Pool to get it ready for summer.
The pool has b
Celina baseball coach Drew Braun is preaching improvement this season for his Bulldogs.
After inheriting an eight-win team, Braun helped guide Celina to a 15-15 mark last year and the second-year Bulldog mentor is hoping to take another positive step this season.
The Celina softball team won 14 games last year and it left a bad taste in their mouth after a 2-7 showing in the Western Buckeye League as the Bulldogs were trying to defend their 2006 title.
The tradition of the Coldwater baseball program means that every season has a lot of promise with the Cavaliers being perennial powers in the Midwest Athletic Conference.
After a trip to the district finals last season, the Coldwater Cavaliers will look to reload its lineup and go for another run in winning the Midwest Athletic Conference.
A familiar face returns to the Fort Recovery baseball program as Shane McKibben returns for his second stint with the Indians.
While the Indians we
After a 4-17 season last year, Fort Recovery softball coach Marie Osterholt is hoping the old adage of what does not kill you only makes you stronger will translate into a solid 2008 campaign for the Indians.
MARIA STEIN - The Marion Local Flyers baseball team played plenty of youngsters a year ago and still emerged with a 14-11 record, so expectations around Maria Stein are rather high for this year's hardball squad.
MARIA STEIN - The Marion Local softball team will have a new coach this year, but due to a wealth of experience re-turning, he's about the only one new this year.
MINSTER - One year after their best baseball campaign in school history, the Minster Wildcats are eagerly awaiting the beginning of the 2008 spring season in order to defend their Midwest Athletic Conference championship.
MINSTER - With several different head coaches in the past few years, consistency has been the biggest opponent of the Minster Wildcats softball program.
NEW BREMEN - For the New Bremen High School baseball program, 2007 was a very interesting year.
In the spring, with a roster that featured just one
NEW BREMEN - Veteran New Bremen softball coach Craig Griesdorn hopes that success breeds success as his team approaches the 2008 season.
In the las
If there ever was "The Year" for the Parkway Panthers, this would be it.
After going 15-10 last season, 7-2 in the Midwest Athletic Conference, coa
After a 12-7 campaign, the Parkway softball team will look to rebound with a solid group of veterans back for 2008.
Veteran coach Mark Esselstein has both his pitchers and some other key players returning this season.
St. Henry baseball coach John Dorner admits that his team is young.
After losing the bulk of a lineup that went 20-6 last season, veteran coach John Dorner will still have some key players back but will rely on a corps of junior varsity players from 2007 to fill some very big shoes.
After a 15-11 campaign in 2007, the St. Henry softball team will have to do some retooling this season.
The Redskins have just 10 players on the roster, none of which are seniors.
Denny Pfeffenberger returned to coaching baseball for the first time after an 18-year absence and led St. Marys to an 11-11 campaign.
If the Roughriders are going push their record to above the .500 plateau, St. Marys will need a strong contribution from inexperienced players.
Improving upon a 24-2 season that included a Western Buckeye League championship and ended in the state finals is a tough task for any program.
However, St. Marys softball head coach Sue Grothause may have the right ingredients to make that possible this season.
After a 13-12 season in 2007, Versailles baseball coach Ted Blakeley will have a good mix of players to work with this season leaving the Tigers with confidence for the upcoming campaign.
Versailles softball coach Phil Cavin has a solid core coming back to play this season after advancing to the district finals a year ago and finishing the campaign 14-10.
It looks like another strong spring sports season for the Celina track teams.
The Bulldogs have veterans and depth for both the boys and girls teams leaving head coach Dan Otten to think good things about the upcoming season.
With plenty of numbers in the system, the Coldwater track teams looks to continue as contenders in the Midwest Athletic Conference. The boys were the MAC runners-up to St. Henry last year while the Cavalier ladies took sixth in the league rankings.
Brad Evers is the new head coach of a Fort Recovery track team that had some high points last season, including state qualifiers in both the boys and girls state meets last spring.
MARIA STEIN - The Marion Local track teams both will boast some decent numbers this year, but they'll also be looking at some underclassmen to fill the gaps left by some of last year's talented seniors that graduated.
MINSTER - When it comes to recipes for success, head coach Larry Topp doesn't alter much from his traditional game plan from year to year with the Minster boy's track and field program.
NEW BREMEN - Veteran New Bremen track and field coaches, girls coach Sue Burnell and boys mentor Gary Jones, have quietly built a pair of powers in their respective programs as they enter the 2008 season.
The Parkway track program brings back a mix of experience and some younger runners to the program this season.
Both teams have a returning state qualifier on the roster as well as some who made strides during last season.
Veteran St. Henry track coach Mike Eyink will have the mix of veterans and youth intertwined through his teams this season.
While the Lady Redskins
It will be a cautiously optimistic year for the St. Marys track teams according to head coach Dan Cook.
Cook feels that both teams, especially the girls, could crack the top half of the Western Buckeye League standings with some potential from returning letterwinners.
While the Versailles girls track team brings back a number of state qualifiers from last season, the boys team will be looking for a return trip to Columbus this year after getting shut out last season.
It's back to the drawing board for Celina tennis coach Jan Morrison.
With only one starter returning and no seniors likely to be in the 2008 starting lineup, it could be a rebuilding year for the Bulldogs.
A second-place finish in the Western Buckeye League last year with six starters returning means that the St. Marys Roughriders may be the favorite this season.