ADEM Director Lance LeFleur, second from left, presents a watershed restoration grant to Morgan County District 1 Commissioner Jeff Clark, Brad Bole, Morgan County District 3 Commissioner Don Stisher and State Sen. Arthur Orr, from left. | Clif Knight

The Flint Creek Watershed Conservancy has received a $241,200 grant from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to improve water quality in No Business Creek, which flows through a portion of Morgan County.

The grant was presented Tuesday morning to officers of the Morgan County Water and Conservation District, Flint Creek Watershed District and other stakeholders at a meeting at the Morgan County Agricultural Service Center. The presentation was made by ADEM Director Lance LeFleur.

The grant will be matched with local money bringing the total to $402,000. It will be used to help finance best management practices on the part of cooperating landowners whose property lies within the No Business Creek Watershed area, the objective being to reduce pollutant loadings and restore the creek to a more natural ecological condition.

Brad Bole, director of the Flint Creek Watershed Conservancy District, will oversee the project. He said practices qualifying for cost-share assistance over a three-year period would include fencing, pasture improvements in heavy use areas and stream bank forestation.

No Business Creek Watershed is located primarily in southwest Morgan County where agriculture and forestland practices dominate. The stream is 6.3 miles in length and is on ADEM’s list of impaired waters as not supporting state water quality standards. A watershed management plan was developed a year ago.

Bole said implementation of the project would be a voluntary effort.

“We’ll explain the project to land owners and it will be up to them to decide if they want to participate as a cost-share cooperator, he said. “In the past, we’ve had good participation from landowners and that is the main reason why we’ve been successful in promoting conservation measures.”

“This grant is a testimony to the leadership we have in Morgan County,” said State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur.

Other stakeholders in the project are: Morgan County Natural Resources Conservation Service, Morgan County Soil and Water Conservation District, Morgan County Department of Health, Morgan County Cooperative Extension System, Tennessee Valley Clean Water Partnership and Morgan County Commission.