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Public Meetings Seek Input on Chestnut Creek Watershed Clean-Up

Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge, via fws.gov

  Nonprofit group Friends of Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge is trying to figure out how best to clean up Marshall County’s Chestnut Creek Watershed and wants the public’s help.

The group received a $200,000+ federal grant in 2013 towards clean-up after a Murray State University study found high levels of E. coli and sediment in the creek. Project manager Teresa Stainfield says one of the solutions is going to be shoring up erosion.

“We need to plant trees all along it and there’s supposed to be vegetation growing," Stainfield said. "That helps to keep down the fertilizer and pollutants from going into the stream and it also helps with erosion.”

Stainfield said the 2010 MSU study showed that the creek’s bacteria levels were a danger to invertebrates like crayfish. She said the study also reported that the creek was unsuitable for recreational activities like wading or swimming.

The group will ask for the public’s input at a meeting next Thursday, August 27, at the Marshall County Public Library in Benton. The meeting gets underway at 6 p.m.

John Null is the host and creator of Left of the Dial. From 2013-2016, he also served as a reporter in the WKMS newsroom.
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