DuPont Pledges $250,000 to Nature Conservancy for Water Quality Initiative

Situation: Improvements in water quality and nutrient management, while sustaining farm productivity, require a concerted effort at the watershed scale. Most of the conservation work on watersheds has been at a sub-watershed scale. DuPont is pledging $250,000 to The Nature Conservancy for an initiative that is concentrating efforts beyond the 10,000-acre sub-watershed scale. The initiative focuses on two watersheds in the Upper Mississippi River where row-crop agriculture is the dominant land use—the Boone River in Iowa and the Mackinaw River in Illinois.

In each watershed, the Conservancy is coordinating efforts to demonstrate successful integration of agriculture and conservation that provide maximum economic returns for farmers, while targeting conservation best practices for maximum protection of freshwater river systems. By comparing results from the Boone and Mackinaw River watersheds, the Conservancy can determine the applicability of this approach to other watersheds throughout the Mississippi River drainage.

Mackinaw River in Illinois: Approximately 90 percent of the 750,000-acre Mackinaw River watershed is utilized for row crop production of corn and soybeans. The Mackinaw River contains 25 percent of Illinois’ highest quality stream segment miles and maintains habitat for 66 species of fish, 31 species of freshwater mussels and nine species of crayfish.

Mackinaw River Project Components: The Conservancy has worked in the Mackinaw River watershed since 1991. The Conservancy is using results from earlier studies to invest in innovative conservation methodologies. Included in this suite of new practices are wetland treatment systems of sub-surface tile drainage from agricultural fields to reduce nutrient levels and provide sub-surface irrigation at integral times during the crop growing season to maximize crop yields. This technique and other similar wetland practices are part of several research projects: `

• Ecological and economic benefits of conservation best management practices in the Mackinaw River watershed.
• Quantitative comparison of the effects of controlled drainage versus constructed wetlands on water quality at a watershed scale.

Mackinaw River Project Partners:

• AGREM, LLC
• Ducks Unlimited
• Agriculture Drainage Coalition
• Illinois DNR
• USDA Conservation Innovation Grant
• Illinois State University
• Illinois State Water Survey
• Mackinaw River Ecosystem Partnership, local producers in the watershed and local groups
• NRCS and local Soil and Water Conservation District
• Southern Illinois University
• University of Illinois