Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI)

To improve the health of the Mississippi River Basin, including water quality and wildlife habitat, the Natural Resources Conservation Service is developing the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). Through this new Initiative, NRCS and its partners will help producers in selected watersheds in the Mississippi River Basin voluntarily implement conservation practices that avoid, control, and trap nutrient runoff; improve wildlife habitat; and maintain agricultural productivity.

These improvements will be accomplished through a conservation systems approach to manage and optimize nitrogen and phosphorous within fields to minimize runoff and reduce downstream nutrient loading. NRCS will provide producers assistance with a system of practices that will control soil erosion, improve soil quality, and provide wildlife habitat while managing runoff and drainage water for improved water quality.

The Initiative will build on the past efforts of producers, NRCS, partners, and other State and Federal agencies in the 12-State Initiative area to address nutrient loading in the Mississippi River Basin. Nutrient loading contributes to both local water quality problems and the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The 12 participating States are Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. MRBI will be implemented by NRCS through the the NRCS programs and initiatives listed below.

NRCS will offer this Initiative in FYs 2010 through 2013, dedicating at least $80 million in each fiscal year. This is in addition to the agency’s regular program funding in the 12 Initiative States and funding by other Federal agencies, States, and partners and the contributions of producers.

Eligible Illinois Watershed Areas

Larger size image (JPG 709kb)

The following documents require either Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or higher

Individual Watershed maps

To print maps and find additional information on the smaller 12 digit watersheds, download the file below each map.

             
Lower Illinois-Senachwine Lake (PDF, 2,2mb)       Upper Illinois (PDF, 1.5mb)

            
Vermilion (Upper Ohio River)  (PDF, 1.5mb)      Vermilion River (PDF, 1.9mb)

The following provides a list of Illinois' core and supporting practices approved for the Mississippi River Basin Initiative.

Other MRBI Information Sources

Information explaining NRCS’ expectations for monitoring activities - The MRBI provides our first opportunity to provide financial assistance funds to producers for edge-of-field monitoring.
 

National MRBI Information

Contact Ivan Dozier, Illinois MRBI Coordinator, 217-353-6604

Posted 11/29/2011