EKU has received $7,000 to help conduct a stream restoration and reforestation project along a section of Muddy Creek that runs through the University's Meadowbrook Farm in eastern Madison County.

The Bluegrass PRIDE Community Grant will be used to purchase native trees that will be planted in a mile-long "riparian corridor" along the stream to prevent erosion and reduce sediment pollution. Members of the campus community and public will be invited to participate in a daylong gala at the farm next spring to plant the tree seedlings.

EKU's Center for Appalachian Studies is collaborating with the University's Division of Farms and the Division of Facilities Services to oversee the project, and is seeking additional funds to install fencing along the creek corridor to reduce cattle access to the creek, which will further reduce erosion and fecal coliform contamination.

Dr. Alan Banks, director of the Center, termed the site "ideal for a demonstration project of best management practices" for several reasons:

** The location on a university farm will allow for "innumerable" educational opportunities, for EKU and local K-12 students.

** The Muddy Creek Watershed is one of five "megasites" identified by the Kentucky Chapter of the Nature Conservancy for landscape-scale conservation efforts, and one of only two sites where the Conservancy has partnered with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife to hire a basin-wide conservation manager.

** The site is in the middle of a series of stream meanders, which produce highly diverse ecosystems. "Therefore, restoration efforts should have a high payoff in terms of preservation and conservation of aquatic species."

** Because the site is located downstream from the Blue Grass Army Depot and a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Management Area, the collaborative partnerships permit a "unique opportunity to produce dramatic improvements in water quality in a relatively short time frame," possibly as soon as 2-3 years, Banks said.

"We're all coming to realize the importance of water," Banks said, "and that water is the litmus test for everything that goes on all around it."

Farmers are "the original environmentalists," said Michael Judge, EKU director of farms. "We base our livelihoods on renewable resources. Even so, we still need to take the lead on using environmentally sound practices. Being affiliated with the University, it is our responsibility to take a leadership role in new and sometimes controversial projects. By doing this project, we will not only help protect the Muddy Creek watershed, but we will be setting an example for others to follow."

Judge said area agriculturalists are invited to see the work, research the results and "see how this can fit into their own situations."

Previously, the University received a $17,000 grant from the Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute to launch a project, "Linking Land Use to Water Quality in the Muddy Creek Subbasin of the Kentucky River." The grant enabled a partnership between several EKU faculty members and Tom Edwards of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife/Nature Conservancy.

Five students from four different academic disciplines are working as research assistants on the Muddy Creek project: a geography major is developing a series of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) maps; two earth science students are collecting water samples; a chemistry major is helping to analyze the water samples; and a wildlife management major will join the team soon to help identify and map locations of remnant patches of native prairie grass in the county.

In addition, 16 students in Dr. Alice Jones' spring semester class on Land Use and Environmental Planning examined the Watershed locations where growth and development threatened to destroy native prairie grasses.

An introductory science class will also be involved later this semester.

Such projects "make textbook learning more relevant," Jones said, "and help students integrate knowledge rather than memorize it and spit it back. This is the first year that I've taught the Land Use class as a field-based class, and the difference in student interest, attitude and performance was remarkable. Dealing with real issues - and knowing that their final presentation would really be given to community members - raised the bar on their enthusiasm and performance.

"The experience better reflected the interdisciplinary nature of the real world that these students will be entering after college," Jones added. "They had to gain an appreciation of each other's specialized knowledge, and then learn to combine their knowledge in order to make the project work out."

More details about the community workday will be announced next spring. Individuals and groups interested in helping may contact Banks at 859-622-1622 or Judge at 859-622-1310.