USDA grants Tensas Parish funds to clean up watershed

Tensas Parish will be among thirteen parishes to receive federal funding to clean water entering the Mississippi River.  

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is investing $10 million this year in 27 new high-priority watersheds and 13 existing projects that will help improve water quality and strengthen agricultural operations. 

“We know that when we target our efforts to the places most in need, we see stronger results,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

The projects are funded through the agency’s Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which uses funding from several Farm Bill conservation programs.

“These projects put to work some of our core conservation practices, which we know are having tremendous impacts downstream,” NRCS Chief Jason Weller said. “Putting to work NRCS-recommended conservation practices helps clean and conserve water, makes agricultural operations more resilient, and stimulates rural economies as this work often relies on help from biologists, foresters, pipe makers, dirt movers, welders, engineers and many more different professions to implement.”

Conservation systems include practices that promote soil health, reduce erosion and lessen nutrient runoff, such as cover crops, reduced tillage and nutrient management; waste management systems that treat agricultural waste and livestock manure; irrigation systems that capture and recycle nutrients back to the field; and wetland restoration that increases wildlife habitat, mitigates flooding, and improves water quality.

Conservation work on cropland in the Mississippi River basin has reduced the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. 

The targeted approach has enhanced the per-acre conservation benefit by 70 percent for sediment losses, 30 percent by nitrogen losses and 40 percent for phosphorus losses, when compared to general program activities.

The Lake St. Joseph and Clark Bayou area is one of the new watersheds to receive fiscal 2015 funding.

Partners for the local project are the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Office of Soil and Water Conservation, Department of Environmental Quality,  The Nature Conservancy, and the Tensas-Concordia Soil and Water Conservation District.

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