State’s first MN CREP easement illustrates conservation potential on agricultural land

Kristy Zajac, Redwood Soil & Water Conservation District conservation specialist, talked about the 29-species mix of grasses, forbs and sedges in the pollinator seeding at the site of Minnesota’s first MN CREP recorded easement during a June 18 event in Redwood County. Photo Credit: Ann Wessel, BWSR

REDWOOD FALLS — Seeded with a pollinator-friendly mix and signed with white placards, the state’s first recorded Minnesota Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (MN CREP) easement borders a public ditch that runs through Robert and Cathy VanderLinden’s Redwood County corn field.

It’s a conservation milestone for Minnesota, marked on June 18 with a short ceremony and site visit hosted by the Redwood Soil & Water Conservation District and the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. The 8.85-acre filter strip will improve water quality and provide habitat on the VanderLindens’ farm.

With the state’s second recorded MN CREP easement — another filter strip on adjoining property owned by Robert’s sisters, Janet and Judy, and Judy’s husband, Warren Liepitz — the VanderLindens together protected both sides of a mile-long stretch of Judicial Ditch 32.

Judicial Ditch 32 flows into Ramsey Creek and eventually, the Minnesota River.

The two easements totaling nearly 17.5 acres will forever protect 2 miles of land bordering the ditch.

The first MN CREP recorded easement involves a buffer and filter strips bordering a public ditch in Redwood County. While the state buffer law requires a 16.5-foot-wide buffer here, the landowners chose to install 60- and 90-foot-wide buffers that incorporate pollinator habitat and protect 1 mile of land on either side of the ditch. A mix of native grasses and forbs were planted in fall 2017.

A voluntary, $500 million program, MN CREP aims to protect 60,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land within 54 southern and west-central Minnesota counties. Landowners enroll land in the federally funded Conservation Reserve Program, administered by the USDA Farm Service Agency, for 14 or 15 years. The land is simultaneously enrolled in a perpetual Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) conservation easement administered by BWSR.

“I truly believe that RIM as a whole is one of the best conservation delivery programs that’s ever come out of the legislature because it’s a permanent protected program,” said Redwood SWCD Administrator Marilyn Bernhardson.

Available MN CREP funds include $350 million from the USDA and $150 million from BWSR.

“I think targeting these resources in the most critical and most sensitive lands in our state is what we should always keep foremost in our minds because that’s our best investment of conservation dollars,” Rep. Paul Torkelson said during the ceremony at Redwood Falls Airport.

From left: Sen. Gary Dahms, BWSR Executive Director John Jaschke and Rep. Paul Torkelson visit June 18 during a stop in Redwood County at the site of MN CREP’s first recorded Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) easement in the state.

Since enrollment opened in May 2017, about 200 Minnesota landowners have applied for MN CREP — totaling $49.2 million and affecting about 7,100 acres — including filter strips, wetland restorations and wellhead protection.

Landowners work directly with their local Soil and Water Conservation District, Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service office.

“It’s a well-rounded, great partnership,” Sen. Gary Dahms said during the ceremony.

Robert and Cathy VanderLinden, who farm the land owned by all three siblings, worked with Redwood SWCD staff. They were required only to buffer JD32 with a 16.5-foot-wide strip, but opted for 60- to 90-foot filter strips. The field slope determined the width.

Janet VanderLinden photographs the land her brother Robert farms just outside Redwood Falls during a June 18 tour.

“That wider buffer is able to do a couple of things. The first thing it’s able to do is deal with both sediment and soluble potential pollutants,” said Tim Koehler, BWSR’s senior programs advisor. “With the wider buffers, they also incorporated pollinator plants within the seed mixes. So in addition to helping water quality, it’s helping habitat.”

The habitat component allowed BWSR to leverage both Outdoor Heritage Funds and Clean Water Funds, both part of the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment.

As family members, officials and agency staff photographed the site from the gravel road, Kristy Zajac, Redwood SWCD conservation specialist, explained that once the fall-seeded planting was established, 8-foot-tall big bluestem would rise. The 29-species mix includes shorter native grasses such as sideoats grama and prairie dropseed, plus purple-blooming prairie blazing star and prairie clover, pink-blooming coneflower and marsh milkweed, and yellow-blooming showy goldenrod.

In mid-June, corn grew taller than the plantings.

From left: Tim Koehler, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources’ senior programs advisor, shares a laugh with Joe Martin, USDA Minnesota Farm Service Agency’s state executive director, and Jeremy Maul, BWSR board conservationist.

“Beyond the filter strips is still corn and soybeans. It shows how we can use CREP on a working-farm situation to deal with (landowner) concerns,” Koehler said.

Zajac said buffers can help to square up a field. When a buffer surrounds a tile intake, the vegetation helps filter sediment and pollutants — plus it’s one less thing to maneuver the tractor around.

“I think that we can incorporate conservation on every farm as part of their farming practice. It can be beneficial both environmentally and financially, (providing) some security for the farmers who have maybe marginal lands,” Zajac said. “At least it can provide them an income.”

The VanderLindens are among 27 Redwood County landowners who have enrolled 662 total acres in MN CREP. Since its first RIM enrollment in 1986, Redwood SWCD staff has completed 515 conservation easements affecting 16,550 acres.

Members of the VanderLinden family listen during a ceremony June 18 at the Redwood Falls Airport marking the state’s first MN CREP recorded easement. Robert and Cathy VanderLinden recorded the first easement; his siblings Janet and Judy recorded the second.

State and local officials on June 18 lauded landowners’ participation and Bernhardson’s passion for conservation.

It’s that passion — not a vast difference in soil or topography or farmers — that makes Redwood SWCD a leader in conservation program sign-ups, according to Koehler. Many agreed, and noted the good working relationship among elected officials and agency staff.

“It’s wonderful that everybody gets along to enhance conservation and to work with the producers,” said Larry Thielen, Redwood County FSA’s executive director.

The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources’ mission is to improve and protect Minnesota’s water and soil resources by working in partnership with local organizations and private landowners. Website: www.bwsr.state.mn.us.