EQIP and Buffalo Rapids: A Continuing Partnership

Planning, cooperation, and persistence pay off for the Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District.

The Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District is progressive and proactive when it comes to maintaining and updating its irrigation system. In 1993, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) began working with the district to develop and implement a large-scale improvement project on the entire Buffalo Rapids system, which is located along the Yellowstone River in Custer, Prairie, and Dawson counties.

NRCS has provided both technical and financial assistance to the project. NRCS has been involved from inventory and assessments to project design and implementation. “NRCS has matched very well with our project and they’ve contributed nearly $2.4 million toward the project through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program,” said Dave Schwarz, general manager of the Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District.

In 1998, the Buffalo Rapids irrigation project was designated as a priority area under EQIP. Priority areas were identified at the local level, and all priority areas in the state shared 65 percent of the EQIP funds. The priority area provision was eliminated when EQIP was reauthorized in the 2002 Farm Bill. However, landowners within former priority areas can still apply for EQIP funds individually.

Planning

Before the Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District applied for priority area status, NRCS conducted a thorough inventory of resource conditions and an assessment of the irrigation system. “We have concrete numbers on efficiency and water quality improvements because we started with a good inventory and have continued with good monitoring according to project objectives,” said Mark Zuber, NRCS agricultural engineer.

Planning indicated the project would reduce the amount of water pumped out of the Yellowstone River, improve water quality, reduce sedimentation from irrigated fields, reduce nitrates entering the Yellowstone River, reduce water loss in open earth ditches, and also decrease electrical costs. “The first plan for this project was initiated and developed by Buffalo Rapids, and this helped promote ownership of the project by the group,” said David Pratt, NRCS assistant state conservationist for field operations. “They also knew what they needed to do and could compete for funding options that matched individual projects as they became available.”

Implementation

To date, about 32 miles of pipeline, 27 miles of gated pipe, 27 surge valves, and 5,900 acres of irrigation water management have been implemented along with other conservation practices. It is estimated that this work on 16 of the 46 laterals in the system will save more than 7,000 acre feet of water per year and more than 11,500 tons of soil per year on the 7,665 acres served by these sections of the irrigation system. Upon completion of the currently contracted projects nearly 50 percent of the total length of open earth ditches will have been treated within the project.

Results

In addition, the Glendive district of the Buffalo Rapids project was able to reduce the power costs of running their five water pumps by 25 percent during 2003. This is due in part to the fact that one of these pumps was only needed during the 1.5 months of peak water use as opposed to the 3.5 months that it normally runs. “Realizing savings like this is amazing during a dry year like 2003,” said Schwarz.

“Since work started, we have been able to see change right way, and it wasn’t just on paper,” said Schwarz. “We estimate that upon completion of the project, the district will see about $105,000 in annual savings in the operation and maintenance of the district. The irrigated acres within the district are already benefiting from the improved irrigation efficiencies and those numbers will continue to increase over the life of the project.”

Landowner Participation

“With the open ditch we used a lot more water and had a lot more seepage and weeds. I think that on a year with normal moisture, we’d also see a lot higher crop yields,” said Wayne Haas, a landowner on the Buffalo Rapids system who has had ditches replaced by pipeline and is now receiving incentives through EQIP to use polyacrylamide (PAM) on his furrow irrigation. PAM is an additive to irrigation water that binds loose soil particles, causing larger clumps to settle to the soil surface. These larger clumps are more resistant to moving with water down a furrow. Haas says, “With PAM we get less erosion, retain furrow integrity, and get better saturation.”

Haas was part of the Furrow Erosion Study that was done in 1997 during the planning phase of the Buffalo Rapids Priority Area project. Information form this study was used to establish benchmark conditions within the project area and to develop alternative treatments for irritation-induced erosion.

Funding

Funding for the improvement project came from many different sources. NRCS, the Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District, landowners, the Water Quality Bureau, Extension Service, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, county weed boards, and the Bureau of Reclamation all provided some funding. The estimated total cost for completion of the project is approximately $7.8 million. However, as work continues and the plan evolves, new sources of funding are continually explored.

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Last Modified: 04/21/2005