USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and its partners are going to invest nearly 32-million dollars in financial and technical assistance for five water quality and wetlands improvement projects in seven Mississippi River Basin states this year. Once fully implemented – these projects will prevent sediment and nutrients from entering waterways, decrease flooding and improve bird and fish habitat. It’s estimated the investment will restore more than 11-thousand acres to wetland habitat. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack made the announcement Tuesday. Through these projects – he says agricultural producers are voluntarily taking action to restore and protect wetlands on private lands in watersheds USDA has identified as critical to water quality restoration in the basin.

Funding for the new projects is provided by NRCS through the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program. Landowners interested in applying for this funding can contact their local NRCS office or the project partner. The signup dates may vary for individual projects. A list of the projects and partners can be found at www dot nrcs dot usda dot gov (www.nrcs.usda.gov) in the newsroom.