The Boone Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) received a nice surprise Tuesday afternoon when they were presented a development grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
The district was awarded a $15,000 grant to help fund the Squaw Creek Watershed which is located in Boone, Story and Hamilton Counties in north central Iowa. The watershed is extravagant in the sense that it covers more than 231 square miles (approximately 150,000 acres) with more than 95 percent of it being classified as agriculture land use.
Squaw Creek Watershed project is being overseen by Iowa State University graduate student Ashley Wendt - who is just ecstatic about getting underway.
Previously the watershed was prairie pothole topography with significant modified hydrology through the use of subsurface drainage typical of the region. The watershed will take out more than 90 percent of nitrates in the water. According to Boone SWCD officials, the objective of the watershed is to assess the cropping, tillage, conservation and other relevant practices on a field basis for the entire watershed.
Two of the biggest problems with this kind of project are first finding an area that will meet the requirements which consist of having drainage of up to 500 acres and lie in a county that covers the Des Moines glacier. Jayne Smith, Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District, also added that convincing a land owner that the project will help the ecology of the county can also be difficult.
Most of the urban watershed area including the floodplain is located in the city of Ames; however, the project will also affect residents of Boone County.
This project was only made possible after a group of people came together.
"These projects are truly a team effort," said Jared Finley, District Conservationist.
Among those involved in the project were Iowa State University, the Division of of Soil Conservation, the SWCD's, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC & D, Boone, Story and Hamilton SWCDs, local governments the city of Ames and Iowa State University.
The Squaw Creek Watershed is a part of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). CREP is a voluntary program for agricultural landowners.  Unique state and federal partnerships allow you to receive incentive payments for installing specific conservation practices. Through the CREP, farmers can receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible land.
The watershed project will only result in a beautiful habitat for Boone county.
Jeff Miller can be reached at jfmiller@newsrepublican.com