State and federal officials announced Monday, June 10, the four Minnesota watersheds that will be pilot sites for a new program aimed at persuading farmers to voluntarily reduce erosion and fertilizer runoff to improve water quality in streams and rivers.
The program offers farmers, who voluntarily choose to participate and who meet still-to-be-announced conservation standards, a 10-year guarantee that they will not be required to meet different, and perhaps stricter, future standards.
The four watersheds chosen for the pilot project are the Whitewater River in southeastern Minnesota, Elm Creek in south-central Minnesota, the Middle Sauk River in central Minnesota and Whiskey Creek in northwestern Minnesota.
Read a Minnesota Public Radio report on the program and the announcement Monday. Read a Star Tribune report.