What can I do to help?
For landowners in the Rathbun Lake watershed, there are many unique opportunities to help improve the lake. Velvet
Buckingham, project coordinator, can work with you to evaluate your land and identify
practices that can help both the lake and your property. Buckingham can also help find financial assistance
to install those practices. Landowners participating in the watershed project can get up to 75 percent cost share in
targeted areas.
The Rathbun Lake Watershed Alliance (RLWA) is working to promote safe conservation practices by hanging up signs to direct interest in the Rathbun Lake watershed and also conducts field days
for farmers and acreage owners to show how different conservation practices work.
The RLWA has educated school districts around Appanoose County by talking to high school Future Farmers of America
(FFA) groups and hopes to make the transition to educating elementary and middle school students in the near future.
Since the 1990s, the Iowa DNR, Iowa State University and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have conducted water quality
monitoring for pesticides, nutrients, bacteria and sediment in Rathbun Lake and the lake's tributaries. The monitoring
program consists of monthly and event sample collection and analysis from 15 tributary sites in the watershed, four
sites in the lake and one site at the lake outlet in the Chariton River.
Back to top
What is the future of Rathbun Lake?
Once most of the projects are completed, the public will be able to see a drastic difference in water quality
at Rathbun Lake.With the completion of Honey Creek Resort State Park in late summer 2008, visitors will enjoy a one-of-a-kind experience at Rathbun Lake.
