Rock Island, Ill. -- (Jan. 19, 2012) The media is invited to the Indian Creek Pilot Study Workshop 1 at the City of Marion Council Chambers at City Hall in Marion, Iowa, Thursday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The workshop hosts stakeholders from the Indian Creek Watershed including local government, agricultural and environmental organizations; elected officials; researchers and other interested parties. It will be led by the Iowa-Cedar Interagency Coordination Team consisting of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, The Nature Conservancy, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and many other partners.
The workshop will foster and clarify community visions for an ecologically, economically and socially sustainable watershed; exchange information about efforts to improve the Indian Creek watershed and identify stakeholders willing to explore alternatives to meet identified objectives.
The workshop is a pilot component of a larger effort to develop a Comprehensive Plan based on the Iowa-Cedar River Basin and the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The plan was developed following the devastating floods of 2008 in an effort to reduce flood risk while increasing the social, economic and environmental values of the basin’s land and water resources.
The Indian Creek Watershed includes 93 square miles of land that drains into Indian Creek and its tributaries Dry and Squaw creeks. Urban areas include Hiawatha, Alburnett, Robins, Marion, and a northeast portion of Cedar Rapids. The watershed is affected by how the land is used, and affects those basins downstream including the Cedar River and the Mississippi River.
In addition to the workshop there will be a Public Open House from 3-6 p.m.
On the Internet @ http://iowacedarbasin.org/
Release no. 12-01-10