Government : Benton County Conservation Adjusts plans for derecho mulch

Benton County Conservation voted on Wednesday evening at a meeting held in conjunction with the Benton County Supervisors to abandon the project planning to bring wood chips to the property near the county home road.

The original plan was to bring derecho damaged wood that had been chipped to the property, covering 6 acres of land at a depth of 6 feet deep. The board will move forward as planned on the Fry property which is located near Hannen Lake. The wood chips are expected to break down quickly and there should be no runoff into the lake. The land there is high ground predominately grass and should not take away from the public use of the land. The public will be able to walk in the area if they desire to. In the next 5-10 years it is expected that the chips will break down organically and create healthy soil for the area or soil that can be moved to other areas in the county. The material is screened before it arrives on the property, Randy Scheel explained. Some of the pieces will range from 12-18 inches in length and up to 6 inches in diameter, it is not like mulch that you buy in a bag he explained.

Originally with the two properties, the county was to bring in $240,000, but with the one location off of the table, the amount will be less than half that amount. The Conservation Board had planned to use the monies from the project to pay down the debt on the Hart property that was purchased near Mt. Auburn. The Benton County Board of Supervisors agreed with this plan.

Shelby Williams shared that the company that the county is working with, Boomerang, will be making donations to local chapters including Pheasants Forever, Whitetails and Turkey, in an effort to support local conservation efforts in Benton County. Randy Scheel shared that the Blue Creek Springtime Monarch/NWTF will also be planting trees in the Hannen Lake area which sustained heavy damage in the derecho in August as well.