Cover crop seedlings coming up in healthy soil with a wheat stubble residue cover. Paul Hetland farms in western Davison and eastern Aurora Counties in South Dakota with this field in a corn, soybean, wheat rotation with a strip till cropping system. Photo by Colette Kessler, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), South Dakota.
Ducks Unlimited has received two Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) awards from the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. The grants will fund the first round of projects that will help landowners improve soil health, restore and enhance grasslands and conserve wetlands. In this round, 20 projects in the James River Lowlands ecosystem will receive $750,000, while $350,000 will go to nine projects that support DU’s Preserve our Prairies initiative.
“Many of the conservation practices being implemented that improve soil health, benefit agricultural producers and improve water quality also have significant benefits to wildlife, particularly waterfowl,” said Brad Schmidt, DU agronomist.