Adair County Conservation District Watershed Rehabilitation Among Top 100 Recovery Projects

Breaking ground on Sept. 24, 2009, for rehabilitation construction on Sallisaw 18M are, from left, OACD President Trey Lam; Adair County CD Vice Chair Kenneth Snodgrass; NRCS State Conservationist Ron Hilliard; City Stilwell Utilities Manager Mike Doublehead; state Senator Jim Wilson; OCC Area III Commissioner George Stunkard; Congressman Dan Boren's representative Steve Hines; Cherokee Nation representative Joel Bean; and Mike Henley of Earth Builders, Inc.

On Sept. 17 Vice President Joe Biden released a new report, “100 Recovery Act Projects that are Changing America.”  The report highlights some of the most innovative and effective Recovery Act projects across the country that are not only putting people back to work now, but helping transform our economy for years to come. Number 100 on the list is the rehabilitation of Sallisaw Site No. 18M, a small watershed flood control dam in Adair County Conservation District.

“With Recovery Act projects like these, we’re starting to turn the page on a decade of failed economic policies and rebuild our economy on a new foundation that creates good middle class jobs for American families,” said Vice President Biden.  “And we’re not engineering this transformation alone – Recovery Act projects like these are drawing billions in private capital off the sidelines to help recharge our economy.”

Sallisaw 18M is the first upstream flood control dam in the nation to be rehabilitated using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds. The Adair County Conservation District, City of Stilwell, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission held a groundbreaking event at the site near the city of Stilwell on Sept. 24, 2009.

 The report, 100 Recovery Act Projects that are Changing America, can be viewed in full HERE.