On Thursday, October 1, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) named 379 priority watersheds to help agricultural producers improve water quality across the country. Producers in these targeted watersheds will receive focused financial and technical resources through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) successful landscape-level water-quality efforts, the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) and National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI).
The technical and financial assistance from NRCS assists farmers and ranchers with implementing practices that avoid, control, and trap nutrients and sediment, which can negatively impact water quality. Practices include filter strips, cover crops, and manure management, which promote soil health, reduce erosion, and lesson nutrient runoff.
Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative
This year, all MRBI-eligible states will have at least one project, with a total of 204 watersheds receiving financial assistance for practice implementation and an additional 72 watersheds in the planning stage.
MRBI supports each state’s nutrient loss reduction strategy with overall goals of improving water quality, restoring wetlands, and enhancing wildlife habitat while ensuring economic viability of agricultural lands along the nation’s largest river. The nation’s largest hypoxic zone, or low-oxygen area, is located at the mouth of the Mississippi River on the Gulf Coast.
Since its launch, MRBI has:
- Helped producers implement conservation on nearly 1.5 million acres
- Reduced sediment loss by 2 million tons
- Reduced phosphorous loss by 3 million pounds
- Reduced nitrogen loss by 16 million pounds.
More below:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/newsroom/releases/?cid=NRCSEPRD1662423
