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RCPP awards aimed at improving Indiana water quality

The newly created Regional Conservation Partnership Program will fund projects in Indiana aimed at improving water quality.  Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the first round of awards yesterday.  Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly tells Brownfield Indiana was awarded funding for four high-impact projects.  “If you think of our resources – how precious our water is, how precious our soil is – these kind of projects acknowledge and are a clear indicator of the importance of these things,” he says.

Donnelly notes that Indiana is a leader in conservation.  “I think the projects you see coming to Indiana are just a further reflection of the fact that our farmers, our ag community, probably know better than anyone how to make our water cleaner and how to make our environment safe,” he adds.

Indiana’s conservation projects include:

•  $1.5 million for a watershed-scale pairing of cover crops and two-stage ditches led by the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative that expects to demonstrate that the two practices when used in tandem can successfully meet or exceed goals for reducing farm runoff;
• $17.5 million for the Tri-State Western Lake Erie Basin Phosphorus Reduction Initiative led by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development that aims to reduce harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie by assisting farmers with implementing conservation practices within the Lake Erie Basin, including the Maumee River Valley;
• $6.8 million for the Michigan/Indiana St. Joseph River Watershed Conservation Partnership led by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development; and
• $500,000 for the Shorebird Conservation Acreage led by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences that aims to create wetlands in strategic locations to provide conservation acreage for many migratory bird species within the Mississippi River Valley.