U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Chief Dave White says proposals for conservation projects addressing water quality and wetland conservation in the Mississippi River Basin are due by March 19, 2012. Accepted projects would support conservation efforts already underway on agricultural operations in the basin, improve the overall health of the Mississippi River and help reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.

Through this request for proposals, NRCS is providing up to 37-million dollars in new financial assistance through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative,  for projects in 54 priority watersheds in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

These projects will compliment actions to be carried out through the new Gulf of Mexico Initiative, an effort that focuses up to 50-million dollars in conservation assistance over three years to farmers and ranchers in priority areas along seven major rivers that drain into the Gulf.