Throughout the course of 2021 and 2022, supporting watershed planning efforts in Illinois EPA priority watersheds was a significant area of focus for Illinois Farm Bureau and County Farm Bureaus. IFB has a vested interest in supporting a variety of projects across these watersheds, regularly providing technical, financial, education and outreach resources to the efforts. By working with CFBs and other local point and non-point source stakeholders, IFB can effectively work on a variety of watershed planning and implementation projects across the state. In 2021 and 2022, IFB primarily worked in the Mississippi North Central (Flint/Henderson) watershed and the Embarras River watershed.
The Mississippi North Central watershed lies in parts of six counties in northwestern Illinois and covers approximately 1,546,232 acres. The watershed has been identified as an NLRS priority watershed, but currently does not have a watershed plan in place, making this a prime location for IFB and local CFBs to be involved in watershed efforts. To help address issues within the watershed, IFB, along with Hancock, Henry, Knox, Warren-Henderson and Mercer CFBs, continued to raise support and interest surrounding an IEPA Section 319 grant application to develop a watershed plan, which would include specific proposals for implementing conservation practices in one to two high-priority subwatersheds.
In 2021, with the help of many stakeholders, including local Soil and Water Conservation Districts (and Natural Resources Conservation Service, rescheduled planning meetings were held at each CFB, reaching nearly 50 landowners and farmers across the watershed. The feedback shared at these meetings was later shared with stakeholders through a report and will be incorporated into the future watershed plans.
While waiting for official word on the status of the IEPA grant proposal, Mercer and Knox CFBs partnered to host additional Mississippi North Central watershed planning meetings in February 2022. These planning meetings were a valuable opportunity to share information about the NLRS and watershed planning process with farmers and other stakeholders, discuss conservation needs and concerns, and help prioritize work for future watershed planning purposes. By late May, the IEPA 319 grant was officially awarded to Mercer SWCD and its partners, marking the beginning of watershed inventory characterization and analysis work, which included incorporating initial stakeholder feedback. Looking forward, all CFBs and stakeholders across the watershed will begin implementing an IEPA-approved education strategy and continue supporting data modeling and sub-watershed prioritization.
The Embarras River watershed, located in southeastern Illinois, covers approximately 1,558,063 acres across 12 counties. In spring 2021, IEPA announced that stakeholders were successful in securing funding to update the Embarras River Watershed Management Plan, which was otherwise set to expire in 2021, as well as to create watershed plans for two sub-watersheds, the Slough and Polecat Creek. Without a watershed plan in place, stakeholders within the watershed have a decreased chance of receiving funding from certain state and federal programs for implementing conservation practices.
In 2021, IFB and their partners worked together to provide watershed planning updates and gather feedback for the watershed plan updates. To educate farmers and landowners about the process and provide information about how they can get involved, CFBs located in the sub-watersheds (Richland and Lawrence; Coles) partnered to host two field days. These field days provided stakeholders with in-person opportunities to share updates on the planning process and for attendees to learn about various conservation practices and programs they can access to help reach watershed goals.
In addition to the work needed to update the Embarras River Watershed Management Plan, stakeholders worked to provide updated information to local landowners and farmers throughout 2022. Update meetings were held in both sub-watersheds to support continued farmer and landowner engagement, and provide updates about the character of the subwatersheds. In 2022, collaborators, including IFB, Coles SWCD, and Northwater Consulting, focused on writing and submitting the updated Embarras River Watershed Management Plan and individual plans for both sub-watersheds. Drafts of the three plans were submitted to IEPA in early fall 2022 and finalized by early 2023. Once finalized, these plans can be used to leverage additional funding sources that can help stakeholders implement high-priority watershed improvement projects.
