The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality announced that it has allocated $2,973,424 in Nonpoint Source Program, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-sponsored grant funding to 11 pollution prevention projects.
The goal of the funded projects is to reduce or prevent nonpoint source pollution through best management practices (BMPs), educational events, and technical/financial support. The exact funding for each project was not disclosed under the announcement.
The funded projects are as follows:
- Upper Sheyenne River Watershed Pilot Project – Implement streambank restoration practices at several priority sites on the Sheyenne River upstream from Lake Ashtabula.
- Jamestown Reservoir Watershed – Minimize the occurrence of harmful algal blooms and improve recreational opportunities at the Jamestown Reservoir.
- Antelope Creek Watershed & Wild Rice Riparian Corridor – Phase VI – Restore the recreational uses of the impaired reaches of Antelope Creek and the Wild Rice River in Richland County.
- Turtle River – Larimore Dam Watershed – Monitor water quality and implement agricultural Best Management Practices in the Larimore Dam watershed.
- Stockmen’s Environmental Services Program – Phase VII – Maintain a statewide program to reduce water quality impairments associated with livestock concentration areas.
- Upper Spring Creek Watershed – Phase II – Restore and maintain the recreational uses of Upper Spring Creek in Dunn County.
- The Regional Environmental Education Series (TREES) – Provide educational programs for K-6 grade students to increase awareness and understanding of nonpoint source pollution, natural resource conservation, and the relationship between land use and water quality.
- Menoken Farm Planting Green Project – Phase II – Demonstrate and educate how integrating cover crops and livestock into a diverse crop rotation can improve soil health and water quality.
- Red River Basin River Watch and River of Dreams Program – Provide high school and elementary students hands-on watershed educational opportunities that challenge the students and facilitate an understanding and appreciation of water resources in the Red River Basin.
- Envirothon – Implement a statewide competition for high school students to strengthen participants’ problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities concerning water and its relationship to other natural resources.
- Pay-for-Progress/Water Quality Outcomes Program – Coordinate with North Dakota farmers, commodity groups, and private companies to develop recommendations for a functioning framework to deliver an outcome-based process for incentivizing the implementation of conservation practices that improve water quality.
