Scioto River CREP to Benefit Ohio's Largest, Most Biologically Diverse Watershed

Posted: 17-Nov-2004; Updated: 08-Aug-2006

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Scioto River (shown here near Circleville, south of Columbus) and its tributaries cover a 6,300-square mile (4,170,000 acres) area of southern and central Ohio, including portions of 31 counties. Nearly two million people live in the watershed. (Photo: Courtesy The Nature Conservancy, Ohio Chapter)

On October 18, USDA approved a new $207 million Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to improve water quality, restore threatened and endangered species habitat and reduce soil erosion in the Scioto River Watershed in Ohio. Since 1997, USDA has offered states and local governments the opportunity to create CREP agreements that partner state, local, nongovernmental organization and federal Conservation Reserve Program resources to address agricultural-related environmental concerns of national significance in a highly targeted way at the local level. These programs focus and tailor the Conservation Reserve Program to meet local needs and often use the non-federal funding to extend environmental benefits through easements or to offer further incentives for instituting practices that are especially beneficial, like restoration of habitat for at-risk species.

Farmers and landowners who choose to participate in this CREP will be paid to restore up to 70,000 acres of wetlands, bottomland hardwood floodplain forest and riparian buffers within the 31 counties of Ohio's largest and most biologically diverse watershed, the Scioto. Permanent conservation easements will be available in five critical subwatersheds. Among them are Big Darby Creek and Little Darby Creek, designated State and National Scenic Rivers, and home to over 100 freshwater species, including federally listed endangered fish and mussels. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) selected the two creeks as a Last Great Place and has worked to conserve them for over a decade.

The water quality benefits of this program should extend as far as the Gulf of Mexico. The CREP conservation practices, such as restoring wetlands and restoring forested streamside buffers, will help reduce nutrient and sediment flow from the Scioto River Watershed, Ohio's largest contributor to hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen levels) in the Gulf of Mexico. Nutrient-rich runoff drains into the Gulf from the Mississippi and Ohio River systems, overfeeding algae that consume the majority of available dissolved oxygen in the water and creating a dead zone devoid of aquatic life.

Other expected water quality benefits include improved drinking water for the City of Columbus, and improved water quality for at-risk, threatened and endangered aquatic species.

Landowners who volunteer to enroll cropland or marginal pastureland in the new Scioto River CREP can receive incentive payments, as well as cost-share money for instituting beneficial land practices. (Photo: Courtesy Ohio Department of Natural Resources)

The new CREP also pioneers a new approach to addressing subsurface polluted runoff from heavily drained agricultural fields that contributes to high nitrate levels in drinking water supplies. Two USDA agencies, the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, will partner to fund the installation of agricultural drainage management control structures that will treat water to reduce nitrogen loss from those fields by 30 to 60%.

The Environmental Defense Center for Conservation Incentives played a critical role in the development of this program. When a state budget crisis stalled the CREP proposal, the Center helped the state restructure the non-federal match while achieving the maximum conservation benefit. The Center worked closely with TNC, a long-standing CREP partner that provided scientific expertise and funding for the permanent conservation easements. Gary Moore of TNC's Ohio field office said, "[Environmental Defense] was absolutely crucial in reviving the project and moving it forward to the signing agreement...." Environmental Defense will continue working to implement the program and recently awarded a grant to Pheasants Forever, another CREP partner, to help conduct outreach to landowners about the new CREP.

For more information on the Scioto River CREP, visit the Ohio Department of Natural Resources web site.

-Terry Schley Noto
Attorney/Consultant
Center for Conservation Incentives
Environmental Defense