FFA Chapter receives grant

The Oak Harbor FFA Chapter has recently received word that a grant written by FFA Advisor, Mr. Mark Starkey has been accepted by the National FFA Organization's Living 2 Serve committee, and will be funded by the United States Department of Agriculture for 2010.

The grant will involve FFA Members, community leaders, Ottawa Soil Water Conservation District office workers, and other civic organizations in central Ottawa County - and centers around a Water Quality study of the Portage River.

The Chapter leadership team for this event will be meeting with Carol Benner of the Ottawa SWCD, to get prepared to gather water quality sample this spring, and announce the findings at a Water Quality Emposium that is conducted at Bowling Green State University in May, 2009.

The local Chapter is planning of gathering macroinvertebrates from the Portage River to indicate quality of life, and quality of the water running through our county.

The gathering of these macroinvertebrates will be done near Brush Wellman Inc, near Elmore. The Chapter also plans to take water samples at designated spots along the River from Brush Wellman to Lake Erie. The Chapter currently plans to gather samples from each edge of the river, at the designated areas both this spring, and then again this fall.

Comparisons will be made and findings recorded with local department of Health, Ohio EPA, and BGSU Water Quality Emposium.

This is one of 6 grants that were awarded to schools in Ohio from the United States Department of Agriculture in this National FFA Activity. The local members are beginning to complete personal surveys, and any adult interested in helping with this educational activity, can contact the Oak Harbor High School at (419) 898-6216 and leave a message for either Louis Damschroder, or Noah Neiderhouse - as these Advisors will be heading up this activity for Mr. Starkey.

The local FFA members are anxious to learn about the quality of the water running through our county, and wish to thank Mr. Starkey for writing and obtaining this grant.