CRESTVIEW — Tons of dirt driven by spring rains fill retired forester John McMahon’s 10-acre wetland off Texas Parkway.
“We received more than 10,000 square feet of dirt and trash that washed on our property,” McMahon said. “It’s ironic, me preaching the environment, that I would be the recipient of environmental pollution.”
McMahon, who founded the city’s McMahon Environmental Center park, said the damage began before the April 29 rains and continued with May and June's subsequent deluges.
What was a small stream 30 years ago when McMahon bought the property has since been incorporated into the city’s storm water runoff system, bringing water from as far away as the Crestview High School area, McMahon said.
“That’s part of the problem,” he said. “Over the years we got more erosion. The latest rains were the most destructive.”
STREET WASHOUT
Several years ago runoff washed out part of Phillips Drive between Gil-Ava Street and Texas Parkway, forming a large gully that the Public Works department and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service tried to mitigate.
This spring’s heavy rains further eroded the gully, bypassing the erosion control structure built by NRCS, bringing the washout within feet of Gil-Ava Street and a Phillips Drive home’s side yard, and dumping more sand and debris in McMahon’s property.
“The weight of saturated soil and the force and weight of water is just unbelievably strong,” McMahon said.
Saturated soil weighs 100 pounds per square foot, he said, meaning his land received more than 1 million pounds of debris, or in excess of 500 tons.
“When I bought the property, it was a beautiful spring-fed stream,” McMahon said. “It has received serious damage to a wetland area, which environmentally is a no-no.”
PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE
Public Works Director Wayne Steele said the city is seeking funding from FEMA and the NRCS to address the recent erosion, but it can’t clean up McMahon’s property because it is private and the city was not negligent, Steele said.
“Because this is a natural disaster, Mr. McMahon is eligible to get funding (from FEMA) to clean it up, if he qualifies,” Steele said.
McMahon said the county tax assessor’s office estimated the damage to his property at $20,000.
“It does impact the environmental conditions of the wetland,” Steele said. “It’s not something that can’t be mitigated, but we don’t have the funding. FEMA and NRCS won’t give us funding to do the clean-up on private property, but the owner can get assistance to do it.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Federal mitigation funds sought by city can’t be used on private land