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Project name: Mink Creek
Watershed size: 12,348 acres
Year began: 2004
Year Complete: Ongoing
SWCD Contact: Fayette
Phone: (563) 422-3868
Purpose: Improve water quality
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Soil and Water Conservation District(s): Fayette, Clayton
Other partners: Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Farm Service Agency, Iowa State University Extension, Northeast Iowa Resource, Conservation & Development |
Conservationists were scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to best fit contour buffers to John Moore’s farm that would stretch nearly a mile. Moore wanted the buffers to stretch from one end of the farm to the other, winding around the hills on the contour.
They were successful in establishing farmable buffers, but Moore then opted for even better land protection. “I could see the hills needed terraces––better protection than the buffers––even though I farm this land no-till,” he says. Using cost-share from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship through the Mink Creek Watershed Project, he recently built nearly two miles of terraces on the steepest land to replace the buffers. He now has about 40 percent of the field terraced, and likes the field with its conservation practices. “With these long rows, it farms nice. If you could buy or rent another farm like this one, you would,” Moore says.
The Mink Creek Watershed Project was begun to help reverse the negative trend in water quality and resulting downward trend in fishermen visits to Mink Creek.
One indication of producer interest in conservation is the level of enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). More than 800 acres of cropland––10% of cropland acres in the watershed––was enrolled or re-enrolled in the CRP in the first 5 years of the project. More than a dozen conservation practices are being used.
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John Moore (on right, above) talks with William Bennett and Carrie Davis of the Fayette County Soil and Water Conservation District about his conservation buffers. He likes the buffers, but with help from the Mink Creek Watershed Project, he’s converting the buffers to terraces (below), which offer better protection for his land against soil erosion and resulting better water quality in Mink Creek.
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