Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has announced that the Sioux County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) will receive nearly $875,000 in state funding to expand the water quality improvement projects happening in the Floyd River watershed.
Naig says the District will receive a grant for $872,700 over the next three years to help implement additional conservation practices to protect the West Branch of the Floyd River.
Since the water quality improvement project began in 2014, farmers and landowners in the Floyd River watershed have planted 13,259 acres of cover crops, added more than 168,000 feet of terraces to reduce erosion, and installed one bioreactor and two saturated buffers.
Secretary Naig says that improving water quality is one of the most important issues we’re facing today. He says that these community-based projects are examples of the impact we can make when public and private partners and landowners work together to put conservation practices on the ground. Over the last three years, these projects have made measurable progress in the effort to improve water quality and soil health, according to Naig. He says that the Department is proud to support their efforts to build on this success.
This monetary grant is funded through the Iowa Water Quality Initiative and supports collaborative, community-based projects in priority watersheds that help reduce the nutrient levels in Iowa’s water. Water quality initiative funds may be used to install priority conservation practices like wetlands, bioreactors, cover crops, and saturated buffers. These practices are scientifically-proven to reduce nutrient loads and are critical to helping the state achieve the goals outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
The Floyd River rises north of Sanborn and flows southwest toward Sheldon, then basically follows Highways 60 and 75 to Sioux City where it joins the Missouri just east of downtown Sioux City. The West Branch Floyd rises just west of Boyden and flows southwest, joining the Floyd at Merrill for the rest of its trip toward the Missouri.
To learn more about the state’s Water Quality Initiative or read success stories, you can visit cleanwateriowa.org/water-
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