COLUMBUS, Ohio — An interesting success story is unfolding, in a collaborative approach to addressing water concerns in Lake Erie, said Jason Weller, chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

"It is about three states coming together – Michigan, Ohio and Indiana – and helping to lead, through their state agencies’ Soil and Water Conservation Districts," he said.

"But it is also farm organizations like Ohio Farm Bureau, the Corn Growers Association, and conservation organizations coming to the table."

The NRCS’ Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) asked partners to propose what they wanted to do, he said. NRCS held the first signups last year and awarded funds in January.

"(The Lake Erie project) was actually the top award in the whole nation," Weller added. "We had over 100 projects across all 50 states. The No. 1 project was Lake Erie – the project was focused on the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) and the drainage from the southeast corner of Michigan.

"The majority of the watershed is in Ohio and a little bit of eastern Indiana. What was exciting to me was that you had three states – their departments of agriculture, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, the farming associations and conservation groups – they designed the project."

The multi-state effort includes more than 40 collaborating public and private sector organizations. The NRCS funding was $17.5 million, and the organizations came up with an additional $28 million for programs. The goal is to aid the reduction of phosphorous and sediment and to improve water quality, according to an Ohio Clean Lakes Initiative statement.

"I am excited by the fact that this is a collaborative approach that is in part the producers at the table helping to lead," Weller said. "This isn’t some federal mandate that is being pushed upon them. This is a truly grassroots approach."

It is timely in reducing concerns about blue-green algae that have impacted people around the lake and especially in Toledo, Weller said. The effort focuses on the 855,000 acres that have been identified as the most critical areas to treat within the larger seven million-acre watershed.

"We put in place the practices: the tillage, manure management, the fertilizer application practices, buffers, if you have underground tile systems, putting in drainage water management structures and other things to address the outflow from the tile lines," he said. "It is really an all-systems approach."

Producers in the area have done a great job in being proactive in dealing with the water quality issues, but now it is time to take management to the next level, Weller said. Farmers are encouraged to go to their USDA Service Center so representatives can help them improve their management while being sensitive to their bottom line.

Program enrollment officially kicked off for Ohio, Michigan and Indiana farmers in designated watersheds on July 1, and runs through July 17.