Dayton announces $350M in federal funds for water quality

[h2ofwlr]

But there is a catch, and some are trying to undo it - see bold below

Dayton announces $350M in federal funds for water quality

By STEVE KARNOWSKI , Associated Press
January 17, 2017 - 4:45 PM


MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota has secured $350 million in federal funds for a voluntary program to pay farmers to protect and improve water quality in southern and western Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton announced Tuesday, but the state will have to come up with about $95 million more to get the full amount from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Minnesota Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program targets 60,000 acres across 54 counties that are facing significant water quality challenges.

"Through this landmark agreement, Minnesota will be better able to protect and improve our waters for our families, natural habitat, and our future," the governor said in a statement.

Under the initiative, farmers and farmland owners will be encouraged to enroll land in the federal Conservation Reserve Program and the state Reinvest in Minnesota program to create buffers, restore wetlands and protect drinking water wellheads. Both of those programs pay landowners to take environmentally sensitive lands out of agricultural production.

The total investment would be $500 million if the Legislature approves the necessary matching funds. Previous legislative sessions have already appropriated $54.8 million of the state's $150 million share. Dayton included $30 million more in his recently announced public construction bill. His administration will also seek money from the state's Clean Water Fund and Outdoor Heritage Fund, which use sales taxes, and the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources, which uses state lottery proceeds and investment income.

Dayton made the announcement as part of his "Year of Water Action," a response to the large number of Minnesota lakes and streams listed as impaired or polluted, the threat from invasive species, and deteriorating public water systems.

But it comes as one of his premier water quality initiatives — a state law requiring buffer strips of vegetation between farm fields and waterways — is under fire from lawmakers and farmers who say it forces them to take land out of production without compensation. The 2015 law requires 50-foot setbacks around public waterways starting in November, and extra protections around other water sources starting in 2018. A group of House Republicans introduced a bill last week that would repeal the law entirely.

[h2ofwlr]

revised last night by the Startribune
Dayton signs $500 million deal to protect rural waters
The highly anticipated state-federal deal will provide $350 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and $150 million in state funds.
By Jennifer Bjorhus Star Tribune
January 17, 2017 — 10:09pm

Thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive land in southwest Minnesota will be converted to native plants and grasses in an ambitious effort to protect local waters from polluted runoff, thanks to a major new infusion of cash for rural conservation.

A highly anticipated state-federal deal, announced Tuesday by Gov. Mark Dayton, will provide $350 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and $150 million in state funds to the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) which pays farmers to idle vulnerable land near lakes, streams and rivers.

The voluntary program targets up to 60,000 acres of farmland, including stretches along the Minnesota River, one of the country’s most polluted rivers and a major contributor to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s nearly 100 square miles that will be returned to native grasslands and wetlands.

The native plantings filter water, prevent erosion and provide critical habitat for a wide range of prairie species including pheasants, badgers, the meadowlark and bobolink, and pollinators such as the beloved monarch butterfly.

Farmers are expected to apply in large numbers, thanks to a recent drop in commodity prices and a tapering of the boom in land prices, which sweeten the appeal of a conservation alternative, said Angie Becker Kudelka, assistant director at the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, which will administer the program.

“We are thrilled for the state of Minnesota,” Becker Kudelka said. “This is a milestone … but it’s just the beginning.”


Graphic: Land conservation program for rural Minnesota http://www.startribune.com/land-conserv ... 411013135/

The money will also help some landowners affected by Minnesota’s controversial new buffer law, which requires people with land along public waters and ditches to plant strips of perennial vegetation to prevent erosion and polluted runoff.

The $350 million in federal funds is significantly less than the $634 million the Dayton administration requested, but remains a landmark installment in the program’s history. It’s thought to be one of the largest CREP payments the Agriculture Department has ever made to a state. Minnesota’s share will come from $55 million in appropriations lawmakers already made in recent sessions, $30 million in bonding, and sources such as the sales-tax supported Clean Water Fund.

Minnesota has used CREP in the past, but this version is expected to have a greater impact on water quality, said Bill Penning, a conservation easement manager at the soil and water board. Where wildlife habitat took top priority in earlier versions, this time water quality takes top billing, Penning said. And the state now has better data to target funds to the most environmentally sensitive areas.

The new program is part of the expansive federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the country’s largest set-aside program for private lands. But unlike the CRP, which idles land under 15-year contracts, the new program uses a perpetual easement, taking the land out of production permanently.

One landowner who’s definitely interested is Paul Schwendemann.

A retired businessman in Madison, Minn., Schwendemann rents out 1,300 acres of farmland mostly in Swift and Lac qui Parle counties. He’s used conservation programs before, and said he expects competition to enroll farm acres in this new version.

“I think there’s going to be a pretty strong demand for this,” Schwendemann.

Schwendemann said he hopes to enroll about 160 acres, half of which is currently farmed and half of which he retired under an expiring CRP contract.

One chunk is some marshy bottomland in Yellow Medicine County that’s studded with cottonwood trees and bisected by Spring Creek. Another chunk, in Big Stone County, surrounds a wellhead for the city of Odessa, so protecting groundwater from chemical contamination is important.

Schwendemann said it’s exciting to watch nature reclaim the piece of marginal farmland west of Madison that he placed in conservation years ago. It was seeded with 25 types of plants, and now local beekeepers erect their apiaries there, he said. It buzzes with honeybees.

“That one had tons of pheasants this year,” Schwendemann said. “It’s so beautiful with flowers out there. They pop up all over the place.”

The new CREP program serves double-duty as the heart of a state plan to boost the pheasant population.

The program encourages three conservation practices: planting buffer strips of native plants between farmland and bodies of water, restoring wetlands and planting land above municipal drinking wells to keep groundwater clean.

Applications are expected to start in April.

Land will be selected based on an environmental benefit score, with landowners earning points based on the number of feet along a body of water, for instance, or the percent of land in a vulnerable wellhead protection zone.

“We definitely don’t want to talk about this as prime ag lands,” Becker Kudelka said. “It’s the most critically sensitive ag land.”

CREP’s strategy to protect water:

$500 million: Combined federal and state funding to protect sensitive land along streams, lakes and rivers.

Up to 60,000 acres: Will be enrolled, with land scored according to environmental benefits.

123,000: Tons of sediment that won’t flow into rivers and streams.

1.22 million: Pounds of nitrogen held out of local waters.

[maplelakeduckslayer]

"up to" 60,000. If they did 60,000 acres it'd be $8,333 per acre. Likely less than 60,000 so the price would be closer to $10,000 an acre. If I could get 10k an acre for my farmland I'd sell tomorrow...Such a joke. They just waste money left and right and increase our taxes to make up for it instead of being financially responsible. It's sickening. They could get double the average without government waste

[gimpfinger]

You see Dayton drop tonight. Started slurring words and plunk.

They say nothing wrong with him and he was joking as he walked out to go home.

I've had the same experience when I took a few to many pain pills for my hand and back.

sent while wearing women's underwear

[maplelakeduckslayer]

Saying prostate cancer...Must have known for a while but the collapse made them put it out there. I don't like the guy, but no one should get cancer except maybe child molesters

[h2ofwlr]

Per a news article that I read, the DRs last week during a routine test found that the PSA was high, so they did a biopsy Monday and he found out it was cancer Tuesday AM after the SOS address.

[h2ofwlr]

I spoke with Commissioner Tom Landwehr yesterday.

Concerning why the state and/or Feds don't just buy the lands: Basically with the recent and current political climate in MN and nationally, the politicians will not go for buying land at all. Heck some want to sell off the lands. Thus with the perpetual easement the land owners continues to owner the land.

Basically the owner looses 90% of the land value and it is permanent easement, it can not be hayed, cropped, logged, developed, etc. But the owner still has the up keep. Also they need to remove invasive species like thistle, Buck thorn and many areas replant the grasslands, etc... and there is the technical and administrative costs too. All those costs all add up.

About 1/2 is targeted for grasslands, especially buffer strips and the other 1/2 towards wetlands.

The bottom line is this: This is the single biggest positive thing for Duck/wildlife/water quality habitat in MN since the Outdoor Heritage Fund (a small portion of our state sales tax goes to the fund - about $100m a yr) was passed. As such, please write a letter or call your state Rep/Sen and encourage them to fund the full $150M in entirety this year, press them to use bonding for what is still needed. As DNR Commissioner Landweihr thought that within 18 months all the $ could be obligated as there is that much interest from landowners. BTW, there is rating for the perspective properties, such things as "points" are given if next to existing state or federal land, next to a lake or wetland or creek, etc.. how erodible the land is, cost benefit to do the restoration (most bang for the $), etc.

To put it in perspective of how big 60,000 acres is. That is a 1 mile wide x 94 miles long block that will be in permanent easement to benefit our wetlands, and water and wildlife. To put it in perspective, that block of 94 x 1 mile wide is like the distance between New Ulm, Mn and St Cloud, MN. Obviously it'll be many small blocks like 160 acres, 40 acres, etc and some 100' wide stuff too (buffer strips), but the above shear amount of habitat cover can make a difference long term in MN for generations to come.