Kickapoo Watershed Project
Money still available for
landowners interested in
Kickapoo Watershed Project
Sign-up
deadline June 10
By Ted Pennekamp
Karyl Fritsche of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the District Conservationist-Crawford County, along with Crawford County Conservationist Dave Troester said there is still a significant amount of money this year available for farmers and other landowners who wish to participate in the $5.3 million Kickapoo River Watershed Project.
Fritsche and Troester said that $847,000 is scheduled to be invested in 2016, and the deadline to sign up for the project this year is June 10. There is $2.2 million tentatively available for 2017 and $2.1 million for 2018.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will invest $30 million this year in 33 new projects and 40 existing projects to improve water quality in high priority watersheds in the Mississippi River Basin. These projects reduce loss of nutrients and sediment to waters that eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico.
One of these projects will involve the Kickapoo River Watershed in parts of Vernon and Crawford counties. NRCS will work with the Crawford and Vernon County Land Conservation Departments and others to assist landowners and producers in addressing nutrient and sediment losses from cropland and degraded pastures. Citizen water quality monitoring from Valley Stewardship Network volunteers will provide data to support load-reduction goals.
The project is going to cover the following watersheds within the Kickapoo Watershed.
Crawford County: Halls Branch, Caswell Hollow-Kickapoo River, Trout Creek-Kickapoo River, and Tainter Creek.
Vernon County: Tainter Creek, Goose Creek-Kickapoo River, West Fork-Kickapoo River, Otter Creek, Weister Creek, Plum Run-Kickapoo River, and Knapp Creek-West Fork Kickapoo River.
“I would like to stress that landowners should call as soon as possible if they are interested,” said Fritsche, who noted that there is still money available following a sign-up that took place prior to or on March 4.
The Kickapoo Watershed project is intended to reduce non-point source pollution, namely soil erosion, to improve water quality and reduce phosphorus loading in the hypoxia zone. There will be an emphasis on rotational grazing and streambank stabilization, but it will include other conservation practices including cover crop, prairie restoration, invasive species control, and manure storage.
One major goal is to see a total maximum daily loads (TMDL) reduction in the Halls Branch Watershed, currently listed on the 303D impaired waterbody list.
These 33 new projects and the 40 existing projects in the Mississippi River Basin are funded through NRCS’ Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), which uses several Farm Bill conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), to help farmers adopt conservation systems to improve water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, and restore wetlands. Since MRBI’s start in 2009, NRCS has worked with more than 600 partners and 5,000 farmers to make conservation improvements on more than 1 million acres in the region.
Through these partnerships, the initiative more than quadrupled the number of contracts addressing water quality concerns in targeted project areas. NRCS will invest $30 million per year over the next three years, as part of a $100 million commitment from the 2014 Farm Bill.
For more information or to sign up for the project, interested landowners can contact Fritsche at (608) 326-7179 extension 109 or by email at karyl.fritsche@wi.usda.gov. Dave Troester can be contacted at (608) 326-0270 or at dtroester@crawfordcountywi.org.
