Root River Field to Stream Partnership.

The Root River Field to Stream Partnership is a cooperative project between state and local government, farmers, agricultural groups and an environmental organization. The goals are to evaluate losses from agricultural fields and measure the effectiveness of conservation practices at the field and watershed scale. The Field to Stream Partnership represents one of the most comprehensive and intensive studies of its kind across the upper Midwest.

Six years of baseline monitoring has been conducted across three small watersheds. These data along with other complementary watershed studies and farm practice surveys will provide a benchmark for detecting water quality changes after additional practices are installed. Phase II of the project (starting in 2016) will focus on implementing conservation practices in targeted areas of the study watershed.

In preparation for implementation, extensive planning was completed using LiDAR terrain analysis and the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework developed by ARS to prioritize practices. Following this analysis, 31 of 32 farmers in two sub-watersheds cooperated in field walkovers to identify priority conservation practices they would be willing to implement on their farms to address critical source areas for sediment, nutrients and bacteria. Over 70% of these farmers have signed letters of intent to fix the highest priority concerns identified on their farms. This project has benefited from great support and cooperation from local farmers. The relationship between project staff and the local farm community is a defining feature in the success of this program so far.