WACF Helps Secure Over $1 Million For Local Agricultural Community
January 10, 2023 at 1:03 a.m.
WACF Helps Secure Over $1 Million For Local Agricultural Community
By Staff Report-
This recognition makes it a priority watershed for additional federal funding to support clean water initiatives. A key reason the watershed was chosen was due to the robust data available through the Wawasee Inlets Nutrient Study (WINS) undertaken by WACF, according to a news release from WACF. Now, after the dedicated water quality work of many, WACF announced that over $1 million in federal funding has been allocated for the local agricultural community.
“The Wawasee Area Watershed is the first glacial lake watershed in Indiana to be chosen,” said Heather Harwood, executive director of WACF. “We are excited to help bring this designation, and significant funding, to our community. What a difference this can make to provide clean water and support the hard work and protect the land of our local farmers.”
NWQI is a premiere USDA program focusing on partnerships between federal, state, local and private resources to support voluntary on-farm conservation investments that benefit soil health and water quality by reducing erosion and nutrient runoff, according to the release. With this designation, WACF received $16,000 to begin the initial readiness phase and identify the opportunity areas, resource needs, develop goals and establish metrics to track project progress. With the help of local staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) and key watershed experts from the region, WACF requested federal cost-sharing dollars of $1,245,000 and received approval for the full amount for the Wawasee Area Watershed.
The funds will be split evenly over three years, $415,276 per year, and will be administered locally through the Kosciusko County NRCS. One hundred percent of the funds will go to farmers in the Wawasee Area Watershed, in both Noble and Kosciusko counties, as a cost-share for implementing conservation practices as listed below:
• Cover crops
• No-till
• Grass waterways
• Open channel design/two-stage ditches
• Drainage water management
• Nutrient management
• Subsurface drains
• Mulching
• Critical area planting
• Underground outlets
“As a longtime farmer in our watershed, I know firsthand the difficulties of trying to protect my soil health, crops and productivity,” stated M. Russell Anderson, local farmer and WACF Board of Directors member. “I am excited to see the USDA leading this voluntary initiative and am grateful to have the opportunity to work with them to make an impact.”
Clean water is a precious commodity and one that requires collective stewardship to maintain, the release states. To that end, WACF invested in their WINS study to accurately measure the amount of nutrients and sediment entering and exiting Lake Wawasee. WINS data revealed how nutrients and soil are being lost from farmland and inadvertently ending up in local streams and lakes, which negatively impacts both the watershed and local farmers.
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This recognition makes it a priority watershed for additional federal funding to support clean water initiatives. A key reason the watershed was chosen was due to the robust data available through the Wawasee Inlets Nutrient Study (WINS) undertaken by WACF, according to a news release from WACF. Now, after the dedicated water quality work of many, WACF announced that over $1 million in federal funding has been allocated for the local agricultural community.
“The Wawasee Area Watershed is the first glacial lake watershed in Indiana to be chosen,” said Heather Harwood, executive director of WACF. “We are excited to help bring this designation, and significant funding, to our community. What a difference this can make to provide clean water and support the hard work and protect the land of our local farmers.”
NWQI is a premiere USDA program focusing on partnerships between federal, state, local and private resources to support voluntary on-farm conservation investments that benefit soil health and water quality by reducing erosion and nutrient runoff, according to the release. With this designation, WACF received $16,000 to begin the initial readiness phase and identify the opportunity areas, resource needs, develop goals and establish metrics to track project progress. With the help of local staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) and key watershed experts from the region, WACF requested federal cost-sharing dollars of $1,245,000 and received approval for the full amount for the Wawasee Area Watershed.
The funds will be split evenly over three years, $415,276 per year, and will be administered locally through the Kosciusko County NRCS. One hundred percent of the funds will go to farmers in the Wawasee Area Watershed, in both Noble and Kosciusko counties, as a cost-share for implementing conservation practices as listed below:
• Cover crops
• No-till
• Grass waterways
• Open channel design/two-stage ditches
• Drainage water management
• Nutrient management
• Subsurface drains
• Mulching
• Critical area planting
• Underground outlets
“As a longtime farmer in our watershed, I know firsthand the difficulties of trying to protect my soil health, crops and productivity,” stated M. Russell Anderson, local farmer and WACF Board of Directors member. “I am excited to see the USDA leading this voluntary initiative and am grateful to have the opportunity to work with them to make an impact.”
Clean water is a precious commodity and one that requires collective stewardship to maintain, the release states. To that end, WACF invested in their WINS study to accurately measure the amount of nutrients and sediment entering and exiting Lake Wawasee. WINS data revealed how nutrients and soil are being lost from farmland and inadvertently ending up in local streams and lakes, which negatively impacts both the watershed and local farmers.
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