Soil & Water Conservation District Guidebook 2008 - Minnesota ...

Elm Creek Township - wetland restoration
Through the Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program (CREP I and CREP II)
the Martin SWCD -- in partnership with the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Board of Water and
Soil Resources -- enrolled 150 contracts and 4,547 acres
into the CREP I Program. Of these 150 contracts the CP-23
Wetland Restoration Practice was installed on 93 contracts
for 1,965 acres. These restorations were a huge workload for
the district. The SWCD also seeded most of the upland acres
in native prairie plantings. Several easements in Elm Creek
Township are being monitored by the University of Minnesota
for water quality and water retention. Martin County is intensively
farmed and has highly productive soils. It was not an
easy job convincing landowners that a better use for their wet
areas would be a wetland restoration. The district has also been
working hard to enroll land into the CREP II Program. SWCD
staff are pleased with the results, having enrolled 12 enrollments
in the Des Moines River Basin.
A Clean Water Partnership Project has
entered its second phase starting in June 2006 and continuing
through June 2009. The Lily and Center Creek and Blue Earth
River Watershed Clean Water Partnership Project has primarily
targeted implementation, education, monitoring and technical
assistance efforts with the Center and Lily Creek sub-watershed.
Citizen monitoring and septic upgrade loan funds will
be offered throughout the Blue Earth River Watershed.
Top 5 Natural Resource Concerns
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Martin Soil & Water Conservation District
Wetland restoration funded through CREP.
Impaired Water and Total Maximum Daily
Loads (TMDL)
Drainage System Management
Best Management Practices (BMP’s)
Wetland Protection and Restoration
Water Quality in Area Lakes
Future Projects
Drainage Issues are one of the areas identifi ed in our
Water Plan. Martin County is a leader in the State of
Minnesota for re-determination of public ditches and
repair of these ditches. The District is going to become
involved at the request of the County to assist in the
establishment or re-establishment of buffers on all
these ditches.
An LCCMR Grant Proposal will be submitted this fall
and other grants will continue to be pursued with a
goal of buffering all drainage ditches (both public and
private) in Martin County. An estimate is 127 miles
that need buffering.
The Martin SWCD has a goal to become more involved
with water quality in our area lakes. In the city
limits of Fairmont there is a chain of fi ve lakes which
are used for recreation, fi shing and are heavily developed.
We are going to begin this fall with a series
of educational workshops for citizens and also city
offi cials learn more about shore land issues.
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