The Wabash River winds through the heartland of Indiana, draining two-thirds of the 92 counties as it flows over 475 miles to its confluence with the Ohio River. A new report says the state's water resources, including the Wabash, are poorly managed. Kokomo Tribune file photo
A map of smaller watersheds that feed into the Wabash River, which eventually ends up in the Mississippi River basin.
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PERU – Some Miami County landowners will have access to $1.5 million over the next four years to implement conservation projects as part of a federal initiative to clean up the Mississippi River.
The money will go to farmers and landowners in Miami and Wabash counties who own property in the Treaty Creek-Wabash River watershed, which encompasses just over 16,200 acres.
Funding will help pay for conservation projects that reduce the amount of nutrient and sediment runoff from fields.
Miami County District Conservationist Rick Duff said those projects can include converting crop farming operations to no-till, and planting cover crops. Funding could also help pay for planting trees or wetland restoration projects.
The funding comes from the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The program launched in 2009 to reduce the levels of nutrients and sediment entering the Mississippi River and impacting the quality of life for the tens of millions of people who live in and rely on the river’s basin.
Elevated nutrient levels ultimately end up in the Gulf of Mexico and contribute to the creation of low-oxygen zones, which kill fish and marine life. Currently around 2,100 square miles, or 1.4 million acres, of habitat is impacted by low oxygen levels, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Since it launched, the federal initiative to improve water quality in the Mississippi River basin has focused on working with farmers and conservation partners in small watersheds to improve local water bodies that eventually end up in the river. Those watersheds are located in 13 states.
Mary Lou Watson, program director for the Miami County Soil and Water Conservation District, said all the water in the Treaty Creek-Wabash River watershed ends up in the Mississippi River, so the local conservation projects are important to the initiative’s goal.
“Everything here goes into the Mississippi, so there are different projects at different times on different rivers to help,” she said.
Watson said $429,000 will be made available next year for landowners, and a total of $1.5 million will be disbursed over the next four years.
District Conservationist Duff said individual projects usually incorporate several conservation approaches, and usually cost between $50,000 and $150,000. He said federal funding covers about 75% of the cost on each project, and landowners pay the remainder of the bill.
“The idea is to give the landowners a little skin in the game to they’ll maintain and operate these practices for the lifespan of the project,” he said. “We get a lot better operation and maintenance when landowners have to pay out of pocket on the jobs.”
Miami County in 2009 participated in another federal conservation initiative to clean up the watershed around the Eel River. That project ended in 2016.
Duff said he’s worked on conservation projects in Miami County for the last 24 years, and most local farmers and landowners make an effort to keep the area’s waterways clean.
“The farmers and operators I’ve worked with have a strong land ethic,” he said. “They do things because it’s the right thing to do for the land. The county has a strong group of people that really promote conservation.”
The current project is one of two in Indiana approved for new federal funding. Money will also go to conservation efforts in the Big Walnut Watershed and target hot spots within four smaller watersheds located in Boone, Hendricks and Putnam counties.
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