Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) Announced

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The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide additional funding for 12 projects to help Missouri crop producers implement conservation practices that target runoff from agricultural land. The 12 projects are among 75 in 12 states that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday.

"USDA is working aggressively to improve the health of the Mississippi River Basin," said Vilsack. "The funding will help producers implement a system of conservation practices that will control soil erosion, improve soil quality, and provide wildlife habitat."

Under the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI), USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide technical assistance and a total of $30 million of financial assistance during federal fiscal year 2010 for projects in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Missouri will have $6 million in Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) funds available this fiscal year for its 12 projects, and more than $22 million available for the five-year initiative. Partner organizations will contribute additional financial resources.

NRCS State Conservationist J.R. Flores attributes Missouri’s large number of approved projects to a strong cooperative effort between NRCS, the state Department of Natural Resources and local soil and water conservation districts.

“The reason we were so successful is because of the commitment of our partners who could foresee the benefits of getting assistance to stop runoff from reaching the Mississippi River, and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico,” Flores says.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says the federal assistance will benefit not only the river but also those who utilize it and the land within the watershed.

“This additional funding will provide a tremendous opportunity to make vital improvements in the basin of the Mississippi River, which is one of our most remarkable natural resources,” Nixon says. “The funds will allow Missourians to work together to better conserve, better protect, and better understand the great resources of an area that is central to the economic and cultural character of our state.”

These multi-year watershed projects were selected through a competitive process. Missouri’s approved proposals are:

North Fork Salt Watershed
·         Mark Twain Lake – Adair, Knox, Macon and Shelby counties

South Fork Salt Watershed
·         Goodwater Creek  – Audrain, Boone, Callaway and Monroe counties

Lower Grand Watershed
·         Livingston and Carroll – Livingston, Carroll, Chariton, Grundy and Linn counties (PDF, 259 KB)
·         Medicine and Muddy – Grundy, Sullivan, Linn and Livingston counties (PDF, 123 KB)
·         Show-Me Conservation – Chariton County (PDF, 135 KB)
·         Headquarters Medicine Creek and Buckworth Creek – Putnam County, Missouri, and Wayne County, Iowa (PDF, 135 KB)
·         Locust Creek – Linn, Sullivan, Putnam, Chariton and Livingston counties (236 KB)
·         Upper Little Medicine Creek – Mercer County, Missouri, and Wayne County, Iowa (PDF, 144 KB)

Cache Creek Watershed
·         Butler County – Butler County

The MRBI will help NRCS and its partners expand their capacity to improve water quality throughout the basin. CCPI will use a conservation systems approach to manage nitrogen and phosphorous, which will minimize runoff and reduce downstream nutrient loading.

The Missouri projects will focus primarily on improving water quality by reducing nutrient and sediment contamination due to soil runoff from cropland fields and critically eroding areas, and on improving nutrient management methods on irrigated cropland.

For more information about the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, please visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/mrbi/mrbi_overview.html or your local NRCS office. 

NRCS is celebrating 75 years of helping people help the land in 2010. Since 1935, the NRCS conservation delivery system has advanced a unique partnership with state and local governments and private landowners delivering conservation based on specific, local conservation needs, while accommodating state and national interests.

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