Project name: Loess Hills Watershed size: 40 acres Year began: 2002 Year Complete: Ongoing SWCD Contact: Mills Phone: (712) 624-8606
Purpose: Improve water quality, reduce flooding Soil and Water Conservation District(s): Mills Other partners: Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Mills County Board of Supervisors, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

A residential housing subdivision near Glenwood in Mills County is demonstrating how land can be developed with a design and practices that mimic nature’s way of storing and absorbing rainfall.

Rich Maaske, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) urban conservationist, says the goal is to hold water that falls onsite at the Woodfield subdivision, rather than whisk it off the hills to create flooding and erosion problems downstream.

The Mills County Soil and Water Conservation District is administering a $300,000 Watershed Protection Fund grant from the IDALS Division of Soil Conservation to Oak Ranch Development to offset costs of the practices.

While houses have not filled the development, the low impact development practices have been planned and most are in place. The practices include:

• Grass swales along streets that infiltrate rainfall rather than direct it through curbs to gutters and sewers.
• Streets built that follow the contour of the land.
• Landscaping with native plants with root systems that hold water like a sponge.
• Pervious walking trails that absorb water.
• Infiltration trenches that store water temporarily after heavy rains.
• Strategically placed rain gardens that capture runoff from roofs, driveways, and streets and use native vegetation to allow infiltration of runoff.
  

One in a series of summaries of watershed projects in Iowa carried out by local conservation districts, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Division of Soil Conservation, and other partners.

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