PHOENIX, AZ, July 24, 2008 -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens announced that the agency is granting $32,289 to Mingus Springs Camp & Outdoor Learning Center for water quality improvement projects in Yavapai County.
The learning center is located on Mingus Mountain, near U.S. 89A, between Cottonwood and Prescott.
The project will help protect the headwaters of Ash Creek on the Upper Agua Fria watershed from water pollution caused by increased prescribed burning, illegal off-road vehicles, a planned timber sale, and traffic of up to 100 logging trucks a week.
To control erosion threats to the waters, the project will install sediment traps and retaining walls, re-seed the area with vegetation, close illegal roads and off-highway vehicle trails, and improve the main road.
"We are pleased to support this important local effort to protect a critical drainage area for the Upper Agua Fria watershed," Director Owens said. "A number of steps need to be taken to help prevent runoff and further pollution of the watershed."
The grant is funded with federal dollars provided to ADEQ under the Clean Water Act.
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