Neighbor to Neighbor | Polk County, Iowa SWCD

For the past 20 years, Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District has spearheaded Central Iowa watershed efforts. About nine years ago, saturated buffers emerged as a useful water quality management practice for farms in the area, with one to two installed in the county every year. Because benefits are clear and the need to address water quality is significant, SWCD board members and local partners started asking about new targeted strategies that were faster, better and cheaper: How can green infrastructure be bundled to facilitate more saturated buffer installations every year, instead of one or two? They wanted to stop waiting for landowners to walk in the door and to take an active, focused approach to marketing and delivery.