By Gregg Hoffmann
WisBusiness.com
La Crosse – A “cooperative conservation” effort – involving four states, the federal government and private sector organizations – kicked off Wednesday with the goal of restoring waterways in the so-called “Driftless Area.”
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey and representatives of Trout Unlimited and other organizations spoke at the kickoff press conference at the Radisson Hotel.
Lawton called the effort a “triumph” that reflected the “conservation ethics in Wisconsin” which are seen as a “fundamental responsibility of citizenry.”
The initiative will include collaborative restoration projects for streams and rivers in the 24,000 square miles that make up the Driftless Area in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.
The area includes unique geographic and geological features that the last continental glacier passed by. That left weathering and erosion the resulted in steep, rugged landscape known as “karst topography.”
Rey called the La Crosse area the “cradle” of conservation efforts, since the first watershed project in the country was at Coon Creek, about 15 miles to the southeast of La Crosse.
“The Natural Resources Conservation Service cut its teeth by helping to improve farming practices in the Driftless Area in the 1930s,” Rey said.
“Through farm bill conservation programs, we will continue to improve the health, diversity and productivity of these watersheds and the quality of lives for the people that live in them.”
Lawton said the restoration efforts also will create jobs. “The actual restoration of these rivers and streams requires skilled operators of heavy machinery and provides family-supporting jobs,” she said.
“To complete this project, we will need people to slope back the eroded stream bank and stabilize and reseed with native prairie grass. Restoring the Driftless Area holds promise to be a huge jobs program for the region.”
Kind said he hoped the next federal farm bill would provide addition funding for the restoration project and that the Driftless Area project could become a model for “cooperative conservation” efforts nationwide.
The collaborative effort was sparked in part by a study done by Trout Unlimited. The organization released a report, The Driftless Area: A Landscape of Opportunity, calling for wide scale restoration of streams and rivers in the region.
In late 2005, Trout Unlimited and DNR partners from all four Driftless states received a two-year Multistate Conservation Grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sport Fish Restoration Fund. An additional $263,000 was included in the conservation budget of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Trout Unlimited announced Wednesday it has hired Jeff Hastings to lead the Driftless restoration effort. Hastings has spent most of his life in the Driftless area and has worked for 25 years at the county government level to conserve streams and landscape.
Specific activities planned in the initiative include:
** Develop a comprehensive assessment of natural resources concerns in the area.
** Develop studies to identify farming practices that produce economic opportuniti4es while improving water quality.
** Address water quality and regional environmental issues.
** Work with agencies, organizations and legislators in developing collaborative efforts to address common issues and concerns across state lines.
** Hold workshops on environmentally-friendly farming practices.
** Advocate, plan and support implementation of “on the ground” projects.
