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2005 Conservation Partnership Initiative Awards
Watershed Conservation
Resource Center
Arkansas -- $150,300
"West Fork White River
Watershed: Restoration of Priority Reaches"
The West Fork White River (WFWR) is a major tributary of Beaver Lake, the
primary drinking water source for over 300,000 people in Northwest Arkansas.
The WFWR is on the Arkansas 303(d) list of impaired waters due to high turbidity
levels and excessive sedimentation. This effort will develop a watershed
and community-based plan to address streambank erosion in the WFWR watershed to
target a small number of priority reaches. Agricultural land, which
comprises 29% of the WFWR watershed, both impacts and is impacted by accelerated
streambank erosion. Agricultural producers will be engaged to assist with the
development of the watershed plan, and eventual implementation of practices to
restore priority reaches.
Pit Resource Conservation District
California -- $72,652
"Cooperative Sagebrush Steppe
Restoration Initiative"
The past 130 years has seen a
ten-fold expansion of the range of the invasive Western juniper (Juniperus
occidentalis) in California. Thick stands of juniper alter the natural
state of sagebrush steppe ecosystems by out-competing native vegetation and
altering hydrologic conditions to the point of creating substantial wildfire
concerns. Resource agencies largely agree that invasive juniper has had
deleterious impacts on sage grouse, mule deer, elk and sand hill crane habitat.
The ultimate goal of this initiative is the eventual restoration of sagebrush
steppe ecosystems through the removal of invasive western juniper and
application of adaptive management techniques. Some producers have attempted
juniper removal and restoration techniques without the benefit of valuable
natural resource information and treatment alternatives. The planning phase of
this project is designed to engage producers and other partners to share
information, acquire data and develop the proper prescriptions for habitat
restoration.
Georgia Soil and Water
Conservation Commission
Georgia -- $150,000
"Nutrient Transfer for Water Quality Protection in the
Upper Chattahoochee River Watershed"
The Upper Chattahoochee
River (UCR) watershed is a critical resource which provides potable water, waste
assimilation, and recreation to North Georgia. The metropolitan Atlanta
region depends on the watershed for 80% of its water supply needs.
Phosphorus is the primary water quality concern in the UCR.
Animal operations are estimated to be an important contributor to phosphorus
loadings in the watershed. A recent analysis indicates a severe imbalance
between phosphorus generation and use, and a high risk of water quality
impairment in the UCR. This project will create a nutrient transfer incentive
program in the state of Georgia to facilitate the movement of animal waste
nutrients out of this watershed to watersheds in Georgia with
nutrient-poor soils. Each ton of litter transferred will remove
approximately 50 pounds of phosphorus that would otherwise have been
land-applied in the watershed.
Unity Barn Raisers
Maine -- $178,185
"Unity Wetlands Farm
Conservation"
The Unity Wetlands is a highly sensitive natural area that is of statewide
importance and contains approximately 50,000 largely undeveloped acres and
several rare and threatened plants and animals. The area includes wetlands,
woodlands, and working farms. This area is economically distressed but
maintains a critical mass of farm activity. This effort is designed to
engage producers in a locally-led planning process that will result in a
comprehensive and innovative conservation plan for the Unity Wetlands area.
The project's goal of protecting and improving the Unity Wetlands natural area
will be realized through adoption of farm practices that simultaneously enhance
the environment and improve farm viability.
Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
Minnesota -- $200,000
"Working Lands for Wildlife
and Water Quality: Leveraging Conservation Dollars in the Zumbro River
Watershed"
The Zumbro River watershed is a major 8-digit HUC watershed in the Upper
Mississippi River basin. Changes in agricultural land uses have led to
increasing degradation of major segments of the Zumbro River due to excessive
sedimentation and high fecal coliform levels. Unless strong steps are
taken to change prevailing land management practices, many tributaries to the
Zumbro are likely to be designated as impaired waters. The goal of this
effort is to reduce sedimentation into the Zumbro River in order to improve water
quality and aquatic habitat. The watershed is home to over 57 miles of
productive trout streams. The initial phase of the project will engage
agricultural producers to enhance the opportunity for success through eventual
implementation of the project plan.
North Central
Mississippi Resource Conservation
and Development
Council
Mississippi --
$27,863
"Tippah Creek Kudzu Control"
The U.S. Congress listed kudzu as a
federal noxious weed in 1998. Kudzu is also listed as noxious weed in the state
of Mississippi. Recent changes in land use, including the conversion of crop
and pasturelands to woodland and the planting of conservation buffers to trees,
has greatly increased potential spread of kudzu in North Mississippi. Control of
kudzu in Northern Mississippi has been considered too complex to address due to
expansive coverage, rate of growth and mixed land ownership. The North Central
Mississippi Resource Conservation & Development Council (RC&D) has formed a
coalition, which consists of state, local and federal agencies along with
conservation groups to address the problem. The Kudzu Coalition Partners have
selected the Upper and Lower Tippah Creek Watersheds in Benton and Tippah
Counties to develop a Tippah Creek Kudzu Control Plan. The project plan will
involve input from approximately 630 affected landowners, Soil & Water
Conservation Districts, utility companies, state, local and federal agencies,
and other conservation groups.
Center for Agricultural Partnerships
North Carolina -- $66,000
"Specialty Crop Growers, Integrated Pest Management,
and Resource Conservation"
The Neuse River Basin is the third largest river basin in North Carolina.
The watersheds within the basin are particularly vulnerable to water quality
degradation from nutrients and pesticides used in agricultural production.
Past water quality improvement efforts have addressed field crop production, but
there has been no comparable effort for specialty crop (fruits and vegetables)
producers in the Neuse Basin. A comprehensive partnership effort targeting
specialty crop producers will lay the foundation for the adoption of innovative
practices to reduce nutrient and pesticide loadings to improve resource
conservation. In addition, this partnership may serve as a model for other
groups of growers to engage in cooperative integrated pest management and
resource conservation efforts through the Southeastern United States.
Pennsylvania State
University, College of Agricultural Sciences
Pennsylvania -- $155,000
"Lancaster Farms: Finding
Solutions to Nutrient Challenges"
Traditional approaches to
agricultural conservation, which tend to rely on existing technologies and
approaches and a farm-by-farm approach, have and continue to produce significant
benefits around the country, but producers are being asked to address more and more
challenging and complex environmental challenges. In watersheds and regions with
an excess of agricultural nutrients, such as the Susquehanna River Basin in the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed, this approach is unlikely to get the job done
on its own. In many priority areas, today’s conservation challenges have
surpassed the ability of this traditional, farm-by-farm approach to meet
environmental goals because individual farms cannot make enough gains on their
own with existing tools. The proposed initiative will develop and demonstrate
the benefits of leveraging new tools and technologies and more coordinated
partnerships and strategies to advance efficient nutrient use both on-farm and
countywide.
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