Iowa Ag Department Allocates $3M for Pilot Project to Improve Watersheds Above Cedar Rapids, Des Moines

By Cami Koons

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced Monday the state agriculture department has initiated a pilot project that will pay farmers to implement buffer strips along streams that feed the municipal water supplies of Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. 

The buffer strips must be 30–100 feet wide and on land that is currently in row-crop production. According to a press release on the announcement, the buffer strips are intended to prevent nutrients from entering the waterways upstream of the cities. 

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said it has initially allocated $3 million from the Iowa Water Quality Initiative for the pilot. Farmers, depending on the type of buffer strip, can garner up to $3,500 per acre enrolled. 

If every participant elected for streamside buffers that would not be harvested for forage, the initial allocation for the pilot could fund projects on 850 acres. 

Naig said the project will help to “accelerate the adoption of streamside buffers in fields and watersheds” that will benefit downstream water users. 

These buffers, sometimes referred to as riparian buffers, are long strips of land that are planted with vegetation or trees along a waterway. The natural vegetation helps to absorb soil and nutrients that could otherwise run off of a field and into a waterway.

Naig said IDALS has invested more than $65.8 million in the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines watersheds since 2003. 

“We recognize there’s still a tremendous amount of work to do, especially in these watersheds because they provide source water for the state’s largest metropolitan areas,” Naig said in the release. “The Streamside Buffer Initiative is yet another example of my commitment to empowering farmers and landowners to adopt the conservation practices that are right for their fields in a way that has meaningful impact on soil health and water quality.”

The new program comes shortly after Polk County released a study on its source waters, the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, that pointed to agriculture as the primary polluter. Linn County officials have announced plans for a similar water quality study. 

In July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revoked a previous decision that labeled sections of the Des Moines, Raccoon, and Cedar rivers, among several other rivers, as impaired waters due to high concentrations of nitrates. 

Des Moines Water Works publicly opposed this decision, saying it did not align with the “operational and financial” challenges the utility has encountered in providing safe drinking water to the metro area. 

While similar federal programs exist, the press release from IDALS said the Streamside Buffer Initiative is designed to be more flexible to “encourage even more farmers and landowners to participate.” 

Farmers, and landowners, with row crops on at least one side of a stream in Dubuque County, or the North Raccoon, Boone, Middle Cedar, and Turkey watersheds are eligible for the program. All buffers must be maintained for at least 10 years. 

Producers who harvest their buffers for hay or forage, will receive one-time payments of $250 per acre to establish the buffer and $1,500 per acre for foregone income. Farmers who do not harvest their buffers can receive a one-time establishment payment of $500 per acre and $3,000 per acre for foregone income. 

Participating landowners are also encouraged to implement complimentary conservation practices like bioreactors and saturated buffers, which also help to keep nutrients out of waterways.

Landowners interested in the Streamside Buffer Initiative can reach out to their local U.S. Department of Agriculture service center for enrollment information.

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