Deadlines approaching for using special watershed funds
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/19/2010 3:38 PM
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ROCHESTER, Minn. — On a blustery day last week, Ralph Pike bounced across his farm field in a pickup on his way to see the new terrace.
The terrace is one of several to be installed on his Haverhill Township farm field using cost share dollars received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Contractor Art Brookins of Brookins Construction of Chatfield worked in another area of the field, digging a trench to install a tile near a waterway.
Pike's conservation construction is the first dirt work associated with the ARRA funding in the Whitewater Watershed, said Claron Krogness, resource conservationist at the Olmsted County Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Two watershed districts in the state of Minnesota received funding through the ARRA, or stimulus bill. The Whitewater River Watershed Project in southeast Minnesota and the Kanaranzi-Little Rock Watershed District in southwestern Minnesota.
The Whitewater received $220,000 for producer payments and $145,000 has been encumbered, said Megan Kranz-McGuire, project coordinator for the Whitewater River Watershed Project. That leaves about $75,000 to be allocated.
Producers have until May 21 to come into the conservation offices in either Olmsted, Winona or Wabasha counties to fill out an application. May 28 is the last day that the board can approve contracts.
Eligible practices include any kind of soil erosion prevention, Kranz-McGuire said. Landowners can do fencing and grazing, write nutrient management plans, seal sinkholes, put in waterways, terraces or sediment control basins or plant trees or native grasses. Timber stand improvement also qualifies. Cost share is 65 percent.
Conservation tillage and manure storage do not qualify for cost share funding in the Whitewater Watershed, Kranz-McGuire said.
Landowners in the Kanaranzi-Little Rock Watershed have until June 1 to come into the office and fill out an application form, said Jane Steffl, contracting officer for the KLR Watershed Joint Powers Board.
The KLR Watershed received $200,000 last year, which was exhausted and an additional $100,000 at the beginning of 2010. They have about $50,000 left to allocate, Steffl said.
Waterways and terraces have been the most common practices put in place, she said. Producers can also receive a one-time conservation tillage incentive payment of $7 per acre of they leave 30 percent residue.
The watershed was able to use its first allocation quickly because there were a number of project estimates done, but no money to pay for the projects. The federal cash infusion allowed the projects to be done, Steffl said.
Back in Haverhill Township, Pike said the conservation work needed to be done on his land. The waterways on the 80 acre parcel were installed several years ago and rills were forming alongside them.
"I want to try to save the soil," Pike said. "I don't want the soil to wash away."
A series of terraces will now control erosion on the field, save for one grassed waterway. The terraces were spaced with the equipment used by his renter, Gary Oldenburg, in mind.
Terraces have a 20 year to 30 year lifespan, Krogness said.
Pike grew up farming with his father a half mile from his home. He served in World War II, coming back to Minnesota in 1945. He started farming on his own in 1949. When he turned 65 in 1983, he partially retired. In 2002, he quit farming.
Pike has installed conservation practices throughout his farming career and he used to plant strips of hay and corn. He grew oats, hay, barley, corn and soybeans in addition to milking cows.
His renter has a corn-soybean rotation.
Oldenburg, the renter, said he will plant soybeans after the conservation construction work is done.