The purpose of this program is to help local landowners offset the costs of installing conservation practices that protect and improve water quality by controlling soil erosion and reducing sedimentation. Funding is made available annually to SWCDs throughout Minnesota by the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR). Locally, projects are reviewed and approved by the Koochiching SWCD Board of Supervisors. The Board of Water & Soil Resources (BWSR) has approved 13 conservation practice types that are eligible for this program. Those practices include:

• Critical Area Stabilization
• Diversions
• Field Windbreaks
• Shelterbelts
• Grassed Waterway
• Wastewater and Feedlot Runoff Control
• Filter Strips
• Sediment Basins
• Streambank, Shoreland, and Roadside Protection
• Stripcropping
• Terraces
• Unused Well Sealing
• Forestry

Approved construction practices include activities that control nutrient runoff; stabilize critical eroding areas; divert runoff to protect and improve water quality; reduce wind erosion; control gully, rill, or sheet erosion; protect shoreland from erosion; control stormwater runoff; or protect surface water and ground water quality. Primary practices must be designed to meet the purpose of the practice for an effective life of not less than 10 years from the date it is approved for final payment.