Cover charge

“It definitely continues to be the best time in years to enroll cropland into conservation,” said James Fett, Mower SWCD’s watershed technician who oversees in MN CREP in Mower County.

MN CREP is a state-federal program that combines the federal CRP with the state’s Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM). Landowners accepted into MN CREP enroll in the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for 14 to 15 years. At the same time, the land is put into a permanent conservation easement through the state’s RIM program.

Overall, MN CREP aims to protect and restore up to 60,000 acres across 54 southern and western Minnesota counties, including Mower, by using vegetative buffer strips, wetland restoration and drinking water wellhead protection.

Typically, MN CREP restorations involve restoring hydrology through tile breaks, tile blocks, embankment construction, scrapes and daylighting tiles, among other practices. The site is seeded with a highly diverse mixture of native grasses and forbs beneficial to wildlife and pollinator habitat. That also prevents erosion and filters surface and ground water.