Derek Haines, KAWS Watershed Conservation Technician and Wes Fleming, Senior Environmental Consultant, Evergy lived this watershed partnership not only to benefit the overall water quality but also to meet the needs of Evergy’s Wolf Creek Generating Station.
Our John Redmond Watershed Conservation Technician is “boots on the ground” to implement wildlife habitat and erosion reduction practices. We have the relationships, equipment, and knowledge to get the job done. To fund this position, KAWS connected several partners with overlapping priorities. Their priorities align with the KAWS mission.
John Redmond Reservoir is filling up with sediment. This reduces space for water storage. Evergy purchases John Redmond Reservoir water as a back-up source to keep Wolf Creek Generating Station’s cooling lake full. They invest in KAWS to support efforts aimed at preserving and improving water quality and quantity in John Redmond Reservoir. This is important to Wolf Creek Generating Station, which is the largest carbon free electric power plant in the state of Kansas.
One limiting factor to wildlife habitat development on private land is actually implementing the practices prescribed by Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologists. National Wild Turkey Federation and Neosho Valley Quail Forever invest in KAWS to support efforts to accelerate wildlife habitat development in the John Redmond Watershed.
US Fish and Wildlife Service has office and equipment storage space centrally located in the watershed. They partnered on this project because they too prioritize the area and work to maintain and improve wildlife habitat, water quality and quantity.
Although this position is a KAWS employee Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks private land wildlife biologist has supervisory duties.
KAWS is the connector that brings these partners together.
