According to Illinois NLRS, the Macoupin Creek watershed is one of the top three phosphorus-yielding watersheds in the state. American Farmland Trust and 13 local and state partners lead the Upper Macoupin Watershed Regional Conservation Partnership Program project to increase conservation activity, stabilize soils, and reduce the loss of nutrients from farm fields into waterways in this watershed.
This project was among 111 national proposals selected in 2016 through the NRCS RCPP. Over the next five years, the project will provide farmers with a total of more than $1 million in cost-share and technical assistance funding to implement conservation practices. Of these new federal funds, the majority—over $800,000—will go directly to farmers as financial assistance for installing and managing conservation practices to stem the loss of phosphorous and sediment to Macoupin Creek. The remainder will fund additional technical assistance for watershed farmers.
The partnership will also address the need for expensive new equipment, a significant barrier to the adoption of conservation practices that impact water quality. Local retailers CHS-Shipman and M&M Service Company are joining with Environmental Tillage Systems to offer reduced rates for the SoilWarrior system. SoilWarrior is a customizable precision zone tillage system that can apply multiple conservation practices, including strip tillage, nutrient placement, and cover crop seeding in one pass.
With $1 million of new federal funds targeted to the Upper Macoupin Creek watershed, combined with an additional $1.2 million in contributing funds from AFT and 13 partners, the watershed partnership aims to show measurable improvements in water quality by 2019.
