Producers in the West Fork Crooked Creek Watershed are taking steps to protect their soil. The Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District is in year two of a three year project aimed at improving water quality by reducing erosion.

The district’s initiative is one of eight demonstration projects given funding to help farmers implement conservation practices  outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, in an attempt to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff that eventually makes it to the Gulf of Mexico.

The West Fork Crooked Creek Watershed project received $150,000 to provide a cover crop cost share program. There’s also money available to help reduce the cost of installing bioreactors, saturated buffers and drainage management systems. According to the Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District, farmers in the watershed planted 3,000 acres of cover crops last fall.