Grow As You Know- Sauk River
The goal of this application is to reduce total phosphorous (TP) and sediment (Tss) in lakes within the headwater and upper regions of the Sauk River Watershed. Our mission, along with our partners and farmers, will be to assist landowners with consultation guidance and costs associated with planting, managing, and maintaining effective cover crops on the landscape.
There are three zones of cover crop priority within the Sauk River Headwater and Upper Watershed Management Units. The two most critical zones in which the majority of promotion and technical efforts will be targeted are, first, the Lake Osakis Management District and second, the Todd and Douglas County portions of the Sauk Lake Management District. The third zone, the Adley District, serves as a protection area.
The work plan will provide selected landowners with ongoing consultation, mentorship, and differentiated training in cover crops and field assessment, while placing a minimum of 600 new acres under successful cover crops between April 2021 and the grant expiration date. At minimum, reductions of 33 lbs/ac/yr P and 8 tons/ac/yr TSS will be achieved. Final reductions will be calculated using the MN P Index, the BWSR Sheet/Rill calculator and the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS), as applicable.
Staff capacity for the project consists of four farm conservation staff, one administrator, one local certified agronomist, three soil health mentors, and other supporting agency staff and supervisors.
Annie Felix-Gerth
(b) $16,000,000 the first year and $16,000,000 the second year are for grants to local government units to protect and restore surface water and drinking water; to keep water on the land; to protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams; and to protect groundwater and drinking water, including feedlot water quality and subsurface sewage treatment system projects and stream bank, stream channel, shoreline restoration, and ravine stabilization projects. The projects must use practices demonstrated to be effective, be of long-lasting public benefit, include a match, and be consistent with total maximum daily load (TMDL) implementation plans, watershed restoration and protection strategies (WRAPS), or local water management plans or their equivalents. A portion of this money may be used to seek administrative efficiencies through shared resources by multiple local governmental units. Up to 20 percent of this appropriation is available for land-treatment projects and practices that benefit drinking water.
At minimum, 600 ac of cover crops will be installed resulting in reductions of 33 lbs./ac/yr P and 8 ton/ac/yr Tss. Final reductions will be calculated using MN P Index, BWSR Sheet/Rill and Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) tools, as applicable.
613 acres of cover crop were planted. 72 tons of soil and 134 tons TSS saved.
LOCAL LEVERAGED FUNDS