Fed Conservation Funding for Driftless Area Uncertain

Landowners in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area have one week to apply for federal conservation funding aimed at reducing soil erosion and protecting rare habitats in the unique region.

A cold water trout stream winds through a cow pasture on Don Schwartz’s farm in Wilton. It’s been in his family for more than 130 years. To ensure the land remains healthy for another 100 years, Schwartz is applying for U.S. Department of Agriculture funding that’s for Driftless Area Wisconsin landowners only. He would use the money to prevent erosion around his stream, “Once these creeks erode, and as I understand keep eroding, it can take out farmer’s fields. It can also erode back to the point with high water where you end up losing the habitat for trout.”

The Driftless Area in southwest Wisconsin was untouched by the glaciers thousands of years ago, preserving steep slopes and biologically diverse ecosystems.

Matt Otto is a resource conservationist with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. He says $1.2 million will be spent on projects like prairie and savanna preservation, forest management, and agricultural practices, “In that part of the state, in the Driftless Area, that’s typically the type of practices that we don’t have enough funding for, that we do have backlog and applications for. We see a lot of demand and a lot of interest for those and having this extra funding can help us get started on those unmet needs.”

Future funding is uncertain because it’s tied to the Farm Bill, which waits in limbo for a House vote.