By John L. Moore
The Morning News

SPRINGDALE -- Farmers and conservationists could benefit from a federal program that would help improve water quality in the Illinois River watershed.

Members of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission voted Tuesday to use $191,000 of the gift received this summer from Arkansas poultry companies to match funds for an Environmental Protection Agency conservation reserve enhancement program.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson sued the poultry companies in June over pollution in the watershed and Edmondson has said the gift to the commission from the companies was an obvious ploy to make them look better in the courtroom.

"It's a tremendous victory for Oklahoma's scenic streams. The money doesn't know where it came and we're thrilled to death to have the commission unanimously approve the CREP program tonight," said Rick Stubblefield, outgoing chairman of the commission.

The enhancement program uses money to buy riparian easements or buffer zones along streams and rivers in the watershed from farmers.

Ed Fite, administrator of the commission, said in a telephone interview Tuesday night that the money from the commission would be used for stream bank stabilization and restoration projects along the river.

The money would also be used as leverage to get another $764,000 from the EPA through the reserve enhancement program.

Ed Butler, director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's water quality division, said in an earlier interview the Conservation Commission would apply for the EPA funds.

The easements would be fenced to keep cattle off the land and out of the streams. Trees and brush would be allowed to grow up along the river banks to help protect the banks from erosion and to filter sediment and nutrients from water running off fields, Butler said.

Sediment and nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, washed off the fields during heavy rain contribute to water quality problems in the Illinois River and other scenic streams in eastern Oklahoma, scientists say.

The program would include both the Illinois River and the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed. However, matching money from the Scenic Rivers Commission would not be used in the Eucha-Spavinaw area, he said. The Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority is supplying matching funds for that watershed. Tulsa's drinking water comes from two lakes in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed.

The Scenic Rivers Commission approved only 2006 funds for use as a match, but Fite said they can approve a similar amount each year over the next four years. The poultry companies agreed to provide the commission $1.1 million for conservation programs in the watershed over the next four years.

Commissioners at a special meeting earlier in the month voted against committing the money for four years after an attorney from Edmondson's office raised concern about committing money that had not yet been given.

Fite said the program may eventually bring in $4 million for riparian easement purchases that the commission would not have otherwise.