First Phase of Boone County Water Quality Project Launched

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is partnering with Boone County and the Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District to launch the state’s latest “batch and build” project. The first phase of the project includes a goal of installing more than 20 edge-of-field conservation practices, including bioreactors, saturated buffers and multi-purpose oxbows. These science-based practices, which are outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, are proven to improve water quality and reduce the loss of nutrients into Iowa’s waterways.

“Bioreactors, saturated buffers and oxbows are proven practices that improve water quality, and installing them with the help of our partners, farmers and landowners in Boone County moves us closer to achieving Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals,” said Secretary Naig. “We are grateful to partner with Boone County and the Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District to get the first phase of this important water quality project moving, and we want to replicate this effort with many more partners in other priority watersheds across the state.”

The project builds on the success of the similar “batch and build” model that has been highly successful in efficiently installing water quality practices in Polk, Dallas and Story Counties as well as in the Middle Cedar Watershed of Linn, Benton, Tama, Grundy, Black Hawk and Buchanan Counties. Instead of building projects separately for individual landowners as has traditionally been done in the past, the “batch and build” model modernizes the project management process by installing batches of conservation practices on multiple farms at once.

“We are happy to work with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to have the ‘batch and build’ model coming to Boone County for a more efficient installation of conservation projects,” said Jeremy Gustafson, a Boone County farmer and Chair of the Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District. “This project represents a new approach to water quality improvement through collaboration between local conservation agencies, Boone County, and local landowners.”

Source: iowaagriculture.gov

Photo Credit: Environmental Protection Agency