Mesa County hopes to get more than a half-million dollars in a federal grant to help mitigate watershed damage done during last summerâs Pine Gulch Fire, the third largest in the stateâs history.
The county has applied for, and is poised to receive, $570,000 in a matching grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency that provides technical and financial assistance to private landowners to better manage agricultural and forest lands.
The county is putting $120,000 toward the grant, money thatâs already included in this yearâs budget.
Andrew Martsolf, the countyâs emergency services director, said the money is needed to help protect numerous creeks and watershed left bare by the fire, subjecting them to massive erosion if work isnât done to mitigate that damage.
The city of Fruita has provided a $10,000 grant to Food Bank of the Rockies to help the four local food pantries provide assistance to those in the community in
The Fruita City Council approved an application for a new RV park in the city near the intersection of the Little Salt Wash Trail and Riverfront Trail at its Tuesday meeting.
The park, which will be off Greenway Drive is proposed to cover around 15 acres in the cityâs industrial zone and will provide 142 spaces for RVs. Planner Henry Hemphill said this application had been approved in 2016, but no work was done and Council needed to reapprove the plan.
The park will include picnic tables and fire rings at RV sites, as well as individual access to water, sewer and electricity at 127 sites. It will include bathrooms, landscaping, an irrigation pond, playground, convenience store and game room, Hemphill said. Robert Jones with Vortex Engineering represented the applicant at Tuesdayâs meeting.