Drainage ditch issues resurface

By Sara QuamRock County Commissioners turned down requests Tuesday to allow more landowners into Judicial Ditch 2.The ditch in northern Rock County is at capacity as it is, the board ruled, and can’t handle any additional water.Kevin Hunstad and Ryan Hunstad together turned in one petition, Kevin Hunstad turned in one, and Orin Oye turned in another.Ditches direct water drained from agricultural properties in order to make them more productive.The area of Ditch 2 is labeled as the "Big Marsh" on historic maps, and Kevin Hunstad testified in a hearing Tuesday that that’s still the case today."I’m willing to pay into it," he said. Hunstad said he loses crops and is working on a tiling bid for improvements to his property, so time is money for him.He can’t improve his situation, however, until he gets approval to join the ditch that was originally constructed in 1912.The commissioners said they understood his issues, but the ditch can’t handle more water and it will have to be improved before more landowners can use it.Ditch 2 is in parts of Rose Dell and Denver Townships.Commissioners voted against the property owners joining the ditch partly based on a recommendation from the Ditch Advisory Board.Commissioner Ken Hoime said, "I hope we can open this up and find out what we can do to improve it."An improvement in 1982 met with opposition from some landowners and the full recommended improvements were not done.Landowners are assessed for ditch improvements.Hoime said, "I encourage them to file for improvements. I feel for the people who are in this situation."The county itself can’t initiate an improvement.The Rock County Board of Commissioners scheduled another hearing for a petition to improve Ditch 3. That will be at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 21, in the Family Services building.Prairie Ecology BusChrystal Dunker, executive director of the Prairie Ecology Bus Center met with commissioners Tuesday.The bus comes to Rock County for some programming, but not as often as Dunker would like."You have the state park, Touch the Sky Prairie and the Rock River. Those all present us with great educational locations."The bus is a traveling science lab that exposes children from kindergarten through high school to various environmental lessons and information.She said that sponsors from Rock County are needed in order to bring the bus more often. It has been at the county fair. Workers from Prairie Ecology Bus Center also give recycling lessons to Luverne students, but they don’t get the outdoor activities that Dunker said are more important.On one trip to Luverne, students hand-harvested seeds from prairie plants to be planted elsewhere on Touch the Sky.Dunker said it’s important for young people to know about where they live and to relate concepts of the natural environment to their lives."It’s not just agriculture here. We’ve got these other pockets of unique environment around the agriculture," she said.The bus is based out of Lakefield. In other county business Tuesday, commissioners:
Entered into an agreement to receive Federal-aid Safety Funds. The county will put the $18,000 toward a study by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which will look into safety issues on three Rock County intersections.County Engineer Mark Sehr selected the intersections that will have safety audits. They are: the intersection of County Road 4 and 9 by the radio station; the intersection of County Road 4 and 17, known as the Manley corner, and the intersection of Highway 75 and County Road 5 by the Luverne High School.
Received a gravel tax collection report from County Auditor/Treasurer Gloria Rolfs. In 2005, local gravel companies paid a total of $36,364.17 in county gravel tax.Of that total, the road and bridge fund received $21,818.51. The special reserve fund received $3,636.40. Townships in the county received $10,909.26.