Dustin Vande Hoef
Communications Director
515/281-3375 or 515/326-1616 (cell)
or Dustin.VandeHoef@IowaAgriculture.gov
DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $14.1 million to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship as part of a total of $36 million awarded to Iowa through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative. The funds awarded to the Department will be used to support the restoration of 37 water quality wetlands in Iowa.
“These federal funds will support our effort to build on the success we have had in using wetlands to reduce the amount of nitrates in tile drainage and allow us to take the next steps to continue to improve the water quality in our state and down the Mississippi River,” Northey said.
The Department received the funding through the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) and will be used to support the restoration of 37 wetlands in seventeen watersheds in five counties in North Central Iowa.
The projects include:
Buena Vista County - 14 wetlands restored in the North Raccoon River Watershed
Mitchell County – 11 wetlands restored in the Upper Cedar River Watershed
Floyd County – 4 wetlands restored in the Upper Cedar River Watershed
Wright and Hamilton County – 8 wetlands restored in the Boone River Watershed
The wetlands to be restored will be modeled after nitrate removal wetlands that have been built through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).
Currently, 72 of these wetlands have been restored or are under development. Water quality testing by Iowa State University has shown that they remove 40-90% of the nitrate and 90+% of the herbicide in tile drainage water from upper-lying croplands. In addition to reducing nitrate loads to surface waters, the wetlands provide wildlife habitat and increased recreational opportunities.
The effectiveness of these wetlands were recognized by the Gulf of Mexico Program, which is underwritten by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is dedicated to protecting, restoring and maintaining the health and productivity of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.
As part of the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative, USDA also announced $22 million in funding to eight Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Iowa through the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI). The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is also providing staffing assistance grants to eight Districts that are receiving the funding. A press release from USDA announcing the details of the CCPI projects in Iowa follows here:
Iowa Selected for 18 Projects to Protect Natural Resources in the Mississippi River Basin
DES MOINES, IOWA, June 16, 2010 - USDA announced Iowa will receive funding for 18 projects that will help landowners and producers within the Mississippi River Basin voluntarily implement conservation and management practices that prevent, control and trap nutrient runoff from agricultural land. A total of 76 projects in 12 states received funding.
During the next five years these Iowa projects will receive a total of $36 million. This includes $14 million for Wetland Restoration and Enhancement Program funds for 10 projects coordinated by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship-Division of Soil Conservation.
The other eight projects are funded through the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) which is administered through the Conservation Stewardship Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program. Following are the CCPI funded projects in Iowa and their funding for fiscal year 2010:
Buena Vista SWCD ($200,000)
Dubuque County SWCD ($102,692)
Greene County SWCD ($296,457)
Hamilton SWCD ($377,824)
Jackson SWCD (Funding begins in 2011)
Jones SWCD ($161,000)
Mitchell County SWCD ($9,500)
Webster County SWCD ($462,319)
"USDA is working aggressively to improve the health of the Mississippi River Basin," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "The funding will help producers implement a system of conservation practices that will control soil erosion, improve soil quality, and provide wildlife habitat."
Under the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide technical assistance and a total of $30 million of financial assistance during federal fiscal year 2010 for projects in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
Partner organizations will contribute additional financial resources to each of the 18 projects. These multi-year watershed projects were selected through a competitive process. A listing of the projects by state, and additional information about the MRBI, are available at: www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/mrbi/mrbi_overview.html.
The MRBI will help NRCS and its partners expand their capacity to improve water quality throughout the basin. CCPI will use a conservation systems approach to manage nitrogen and phosphorous, which will minimize runoff and reduce downstream nutrient loading. WREP will encourage strategic placement of wetland restoration projects.
NRCS is celebrating 75 years of helping people help the land in 2010. Since 1935, the NRCS conservation delivery system has advanced a unique partnership with state and local governments and private landowners delivering conservation based on specific, local conservation needs, while accommodating state and national interests. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or 202-720-6382 (TDD)
