NRCS Improves Irrigation at Utah Heritage Center

WELLSVILLE -- Owners of the American West Heritage Center don't worry about finding enough irrigation water for the 160-acre facility.

Accessing it, however, can be a different matter.

Currently, portions of the canal on the Heritage Center's ground snake through areas choked by thick weeds that make the water impossible to get to in some places.

Now, on the strength of a $250,000 grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Heritage Center is in the midst of an irrigation improvement project that will divert all its water shares into a collection pond on site, allowing easy access to it.

"We have needed a new culvert under the bridge on our property to overcome present drainage concerns in certain areas," said site manager Chansey McKendrick.

Matt Dahl, executive director of the Heritage Center, said the project won't interfere with the water shares of downstream users.

"It'll still be filtered down to the users below us, but it's going to beautify the south end of the valley," he said.

Story by Adam Benson, The Herald Journal.