Impact Story: The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Their mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Throughout the Mississippi River Basin, The Nature Conservancy has teams in 10 states working with many partners in priority areas to address some of the river’s most critical threats. Within McKnight’s support to reduce agricultural pollution along the northern half of the Mississippi, The Nature Conservancy has received project support to study and develop strategies in the Root River watershed in Minnesota and the Pecatonica River watershed in Wisconsin.
Within the two watersheds, The Nature Conservancy has joined forces with farmers, university scientists, public agencies, and other entities to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural fields by strategically targeting conservation efforts on those fields with the greatest potential for contributing to streams. The Conservancy and its partners did an initial assessment of all farmlands within both areas to determine key locations where the implementation of conservation practices could have the greatest impact on reducing erosion and nutrient loss. From there, they provided county partners with funding to reach out to targeted landowners to help them develop management plans that meet water quality goals and help keep more of their soil and nutrients on their land. Water quality will be monitored over several years to assess the effectiveness of these practices so that changes can be made as necessary to employ the best, most effective strategies available.
Founded in 1951, the Conservancy uses a non-confrontational, collaborative approach to address threats to conservation involving climate change, fresh water, oceans, and conservation lands. They work in all 50 states and more than 30 countries and have protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide.
The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Their mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Throughout the Mississippi River Basin, The Nature Conservancy has teams in 10 states working with many partners in priority areas to address some of the river’s most critical threats. Within McKnight’s support to reduce agricultural pollution along the northern half of the Mississippi, The Nature Conservancy has received project support to study and develop strategies in the Root River watershed in Minnesota and the Pecatonica River watershed in Wisconsin.Within the two watersheds, The Nature Conservancy has joined forces with farmers, university scientists, public agencies, and other entities to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural fields by strategically targeting conservation efforts on those fields with the greatest potential for contributing to streams. The Conservancy and its partners did an initial assessment of all farmlands within both areas to determine key locations where the implementation of conservation practices could have the greatest impact on reducing erosion and nutrient loss. From there, they provided county partners with funding to reach out to targeted landowners to help them develop management plans that meet water quality goals and help keep more of their soil and nutrients on their land. Water quality will be monitored over several years to assess the effectiveness of these practices so that changes can be made as necessary to employ the best, most effective strategies available.
Founded in 1951, the Conservancy uses a non-confrontational, collaborative approach to address threats to conservation involving climate change, fresh water, oceans, and conservation lands. They work in all 50 states and more than 30 countries and have protected more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide.