IARN — Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson has helped introduce a bipartisan bill that would preserve an ecologically-unique region spanning Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin
During her weekly press call, Congresswoman Hinson says the Driftless Area Landscape Conservation Initiative – or DALCI Act – would give farmers the tools to implement conservation practices across the Driftless Area. She explains the history of the Driftless Area.
“Twelve-thousand years ago during the last Ice Age, a glacier bypassed this specific geographical area and so therefore it doesn’t have the glacial deposits in others,” Hinson said. “As a result of that, there’s some really unique rugged landscapes in the Driftless Area, diverse wildlife, ecosystems, very fertile farmland, and also the largest concentration of cold-water streams in the world.”
“A lot of that is due to erosion,” Hinson said. “As a result, DALCI was launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2012. It was designed to help farmers fight erosion and restore our cold-water stream corridors. This is a true example of a great public-private partnership, and a conservation success story.”
Hinson adds her legislation would also help improve drinking water quality for families along the Mississippi River Watershed. It would recommit $5 million in funding.
“No additional cost to taxpayers because we are using existing resources and just providing the opening for those resources to be used again for five years,” Hinson said. “We want to build on the successes of that last program enacted. It gives our farmers and landowners in the Driftless Area the tools to better manage their working lands, the ecosystem restoration is hugely important, and reducing erosion.”
The DALCI program launched in 2012 ended in 2017 and was never re-established.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Photo of the Driftless Area by Mike Sweet/USFWS
