NRDP-ACOE Partnerships
Here are some of the successful partnerships that State Councils have had
with the Army Corps of Engineers. For more information, please contact
Rick Wetherill in the Office of
Community Development.
The Indiana Rural Development Council (IRDC), together with its partners, created the Environmental Infrastructure Working Group in 1995, and has facilitated its meetings since then. Originally begun as a program to help address the needs of the community of Fishersburg, the group has since expanded to address the needs and concerns of other rural communities. In 2001, 16 communities participated in the program. This program would not have been successful if it were not for the dedication of the participating agencies: USDA Rural Development, the Economic Development Administration, the Indiana Department of Commerce, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the State Budget Agency, and the Rural Community Assistance Program. In 2001, the following organizations agreed to participate each month: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Alliance for Indiana Rural Water, and the Indiana Rural Water Association.
Minnesota Rural Partners convened Council partners with interests in the Minnesota River Watershed specifically related to the growing of trees. These individuals met numerous times to develop a strategy, which became the Minnesota River Agro-Forestry Initiative to promote agroforestry. The Army Corps of Engineers is a long-standing, active partner in MRP and in this initiative. Trees reduce silt entering the river which benefits the ACE navigation management work along the Mississippi River into which the Minnesota River flows. The strategy has resulted the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources-Forestry Division promoting agroforestry in the riparian areas by recruiting landowners interested in planing trees on their CRP acres. Demonstrations are being conducted throughout the basin. Prairie County and Wes-Min RC&D have hosted many demonstration site visits and conducted training session for landowners and others. With funds from USDA Forestry Rural Development Grant, MRP produced a video to promote collaborative processes using the Minnesota River agroforestry example.
Oklahoma Rural Development Council has created eighteen multi-county coalitions made up of all the local "players" to strategically address regional issues, including adequate clean water supply, tourism, economic development, and other issues on which RC&Ds are working. Each coalition pursues its own projects, but the ORDC serves as a connection among the coalitions for sharing of information, successes and challenges. An example is the Tenkiller Lake Coalition formed in 1994. This region has 29 separate water districts, some with inadequate water treatment facilities, and approximately 30 percent of the citizens are not being served by any system. Many of the underserved are Native Americans. The ORDC assisted by assembling a resource team of federal and state experts to conduct an inventory and analysis process. The first two phases of a three-phase study has been completed by the Army Corps of Engineers. ACE studied the feasibility of a large scale, non-profit water organization to supply regional water systems with affordable clean water via a state-of-the-art wholesale treatment and conveyance system. Phase three was completed in 2000. Funding for the study was a collaboration of three rural electric cooperatives, three rural water associations, the Tahlequah Public Works Authority, the Cherokee Hills RC&D and the Cherokee Nation to match planning assistance to states Section 22 Funds from the ACE.
