by Lissa Blake
The Upper Iowa River Watershed Management Authority (UIRWMA) is moving forward with plans to hire a new coordinator. At its quarterly meeting Wednesday, January 11, the UIRWMA Board approved a job description for the coordinator, which it hopes to hire within the next two months.
The UIRWMA recently was formed after the region was awarded $5.5 million as part of a National Disaster Resiliency Competition grant, which allocated a total of $96.9 million to nine watershed authorities across the state over the next five years.
The UIRWMA encompasses approximately 641,000 acres along the Upper Iowa River in Howard, Winneshiek and Allamakee counties and stretches from Leroy, MN to the Mississippi River in New Albin.
In March, Decorah’s John Beard was elected chairman of the organization, Rick Weymiller of New Albin was elected vice chairman and Mark Jensen of Winneshiek County Conservation was elected secretary.