Complete report - Partners for Clean Streams

Maumee River Basin Sediment Reduction Project
1992 -1997
Issue 1 - Agriculture Runoff
Description: Financial incentives to reduce agriculture runoff were offered to landowners in over 25
counties in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana through the NRCS and the ACOE. Each
county had a committee which developed plans to reduce topsoil loss. Landowners
could work with the county SWCD to create sediment reduction plans.
Lead Organization:
Collaborator(s):
USDA NRCS
Ohio EPA, county SWCDs, local farmers
Conservation Tillage Equipment Buy-Down Program
1992
Description:
Lead Organization:
Collaborator(s):
This program provided farmers with “buy down” money to be applied toward the
purchase of conservation tillage equipment. Over 400 participants received money
from this highly successful program, with farmers matching grant funds at a rate of
about nine to one. This effort, combined with the Buffer Zone Initiative have reduced
sediment flowing into the Maumee River by approximately 15% or slightly over
100,000 cubic yards of material.
Managed by USDA NRCS and Joint Advisory Board (with a member from each
participating county), funded through an Ohio EPA 319 grant
USDA NRCS, Maumee RAP, Ohio EPA, 17 county SWCDs, local farmers
Toussaint River Improvement Incentive Program
1997-2003
Description:
Financial incentives were made available to landowners to install filter strips, set aside
floodplain land, and to practice conservation tillage. The goal of the program was to
reduce sediment and nutrient loadings into the Toussaint River and Lake Erie.
Toussaint River Improvement Incentive Program, Phase I (1997-2000)
Incentives were available to landowners along the 36-mile mainstem of the Toussaint
River. Landowners made a five-year commitment to maintaining these conservation
practices.
Phase I activities and events included the creation of two full-color booklets illustrating
the success of the project, media/information events and conservation buffer area
signage. Water quality assessments of the river were made before practices were put
into place and then again after they were established.
Toussaint River Streambank Stabilization Project (a part of Phase I) (1998)
As a part of the Phase I program, the Toussaint River Streambank Stabilization
project was conducted on May 16, 1998. Volunteers stabilized a private landowner’s
highly eroded streambank on the Toussaint River by anchoring recycled Christmas
trees and planting shrubs to establish dense root systems.
Activities and Accomplishments
in the Maumee Area of Concern
68
Issue 1: Agriculture Runoff