Protecting water quality in Barry County is the goal of a pair of grants from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
Kaleigh Winkler is with the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, which will add 150 acres of wetlands in Barry County to its list of land it monitors, thanks to a nearly a $240,000 grant from EGLE.
Winkler said the water quality at these two parcels is already high. The funds will allow the conservancy to prevent the degradation of natural features in these areas, which protect waterbodies from pollutants.
“Wetlands act like giant sponges and they filter out pollutants. They prevent flooding from happening. We're also protecting stream and river buffers.”
Winkler added that the group is able to do this through conservation easements, which the grant is helping to fund.
These easements allow the land conservancy to prevent activities on the land that might pollute nearby water.
“We're eliminating development to specified areas, which would reduce runoff and erosion, and we are also reducing the fertilizer, pesticide, and chemicals that might be running off into those water bodies.”
Through the same program, the Barry Conservation District in Hastings received nearly $340,000 to reduce the levels of harmful bacteria like E. coli in Thornapple River.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
