[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Director Owens Announces $92, 294 Water Quality Improvement Grant to Help Protect Eagle Creek Watershed in Greenlee County

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Director Owens Announces $92,294 Water Quality Improvement Grant to
Help Protect Eagle Creek Watershed in Greenlee County

PHOENIX (July 23, 2008) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Director Steve Owens announced today that a $92,294 water quality
improvement grant has been awarded to a group of Greenlee County
ranchers who have been working to restore Eagle Creek Watershed.

The grant is the third phase of funding for the Coronado Resource
Conservation and Development Council (CRCDC), a nonprofit organization
that assists local communities to improve their use of natural
resources.

"Protecting Eagle Creek is a very high priority," Director Owens said.
"This is a great partnership among ranchers, concerned citizens and
local officials, and we are pleased to continue to support this
important effort."

Owens said that the CRCDC will use the funding to prevent erosion on
161,172 acres of grazing land located within the Eagle Creek Watershed
and primarily leased by the ranchers from the U.S. Forest Service.

The CRCDC will work with local ranchers to install fences on the Double
Circles Ranch, located near Morenci, as part of a rotational grazing
system that will prevent soil runoff into Eagle Creek and exclude cattle
from the creek and Sheep's Spring.

Last year, ADEQ awarded a $95,100 grant to CRCDC for the second phase of
the project. In 2006, ADEQ awarded a grant for $360,930 to the Upper
Eagle Creek Watershed Association for a variety of actions to prevent
run-off into Eagle Creek, including fencing, alternative grazing
practices and alternative water sources for livestock.

The grant is funded with federal dollars provided to ADEQ under the
Clean Water Act.

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News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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