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Teri Nehls NRCS Water Quality Specialist

United States Department of Agriculture. NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE. Teri Nehls NRCS Water Quality Specialist. Outline. NWQI Update NWQI Edge of Field Monitoring Update WRP/WRE. NRCS Programs and Water Quality. EQIP: Environmental Quality Initiative Program

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Teri Nehls NRCS Water Quality Specialist

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  1. United States Department of Agriculture NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE Teri Nehls NRCS Water Quality Specialist

  2. Outline • NWQI Update • NWQI Edge of Field Monitoring Update • WRP/WRE

  3. NRCS Programs and Water Quality • EQIP: Environmental Quality Initiative Program • NWQI: National Water Quality Initiative • MRBI: Mississippi River Basin Initiative • MRBI-WREP: MRBI-Wetland Reserve Easement Program • RCPP: Regional Conservation Partnership Program • ACEP-WRE: Agricultural Conservation Easement Program – Wetlands Reserve Easement • Formerly WRP: Wetlands Reserve Program • CSP: Conservation Stewardship Program

  4. NWQI Jefferson County Pine Bluff Lincoln County

  5. NWQI Update • Since 2012: • Obligation: $5.2 million • 176 contracts • Treated Acres: 28,431 • 2 Edge of Field Monitoring sites

  6. Cover Crop: 3,086.3 ac Conservation Cover: 7.3 ac Conservation Crop Rotation: 1,760.5 ac Irrigation Pipeline: 30,286 ft Irrigation Water Management: 25,491.1 ac Nutrient Management: 3,086.3 ac Residue Management: No Till: 770 ac Mulch Till/Ridge Till/Seasonal Till: 17.818.2 ac Vegetative Barrier: 1,320 ft Streambank & Shoreline Protection: 37 ft **working on total paid on each practice NWQI Practices Installed to Address Water Quality

  7. Water Quality Edge of Field (EOF) Monitoring • 23 sites since 2012 • 13 active • 8 completed • 2 canceled • Treated acres: 8,791.8 • Obligated: $3.38 million • Added benefit • 20% increase in irrigation efficiency observed __2017: 2 new EOF

  8. NWQI Pilot Program • Started in 2017 • Year 1: HUC12 watershed-level resource assessment • Year 2+: Funding for implementation of conservation practices • FY2017: Buffalo Slough-Cache River Watershed • Located primarily in Greene county but includes the eastern part of Lawrence county • Still working on assessment • Proposed FY2018: Greasy Creek-Strawberry River Watershed • Fulton county

  9. Buffalo Slough-Cache River Watershed *** http://watersheds.cast.uark.edu/viewhuc.php?hucid=0802030202

  10. Greasy Creek-Strawberry River Watershed *** http://watersheds.cast.uark.edu/viewhuc.php?hucid=1101001202

  11. ACEP-WRE and WRP • Easements 1992-June 2017 • Number: 655 • Acreage: 250,842 • FY17 ACEP-WRE • Number: 17 • Acreage: 11,820 • *Obligation: $33.7 million • FY2016 ACEP-WRE • Number: 18 • Acreage: 4,830 • *Obligated: $14,372.31 • FY2015 ACEP-WRE • Number: 7 • Acreage: 6,785.6 • *Obligated: $30,651.46 *includes acquisition and restoration

  12. Targeted Conservation Works St. Francis river success – Delisted segments • Erosion from row crop fields led to high turbidity levels in Arkansas’s St. Francis River. • ADEQ added a 55.9-mile section and a 17.1-mile section of the river to the state’s 303(d) list of impaired waters for turbidity in 2006. • Producers implemented conservation practices to reduce sediment from row crop fields. • NRCS provided technical and financial assistance from regular programs plus 5 MRBI projects. • Turbidity levels declined and ADEQ removed segments from the 2014 303(d) list for turbidity.

  13. Importance of Arkansas Conservation Partnership • Arkansas Conservation Partnership: • Arkansas Natural Resources Commission • Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts • Arkansas Association of Conservation District Employees • University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service • University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff • Arkansas State University and ARS • Arkansas Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. • More than 80 different partners help make Arkansas’s landscape initiatives successful

  14. Helping people help the land! Teri Nehls teri.nehls@ar.usda.gov 501-301-3179 USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender

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