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... ri l restore tl n Q: What do Chippewa, Douglas, Kandiyohi, Sibley, Renville and Washington soil and water conserva- tion districts (SWCDs) have in common? A: They all benefited from a unique grant partnership between the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) and the North American Wetland Conservation Council (NAWCC). Each of those SWCDs-as well as some others-used funds from the North American Weiland Conserva- tion Act, adm'snistered by the NAWCC, to complete Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) Reserve wetland restoration projects that would have been difficult to complete otherwise. The districts used the NAWCC money to cover costs of construction and restoration. 'This money gave districts the opportunity to interest some of those landowners who had large, potentially very beneficial projects on their land,' said Tom Wenzel, BWSR design engineer. "Since the landowners knew that their costs would be covered by this funding, their own out-of-pocket costs were no longer a concern," he said. The largest project completed using the funds is a 135-acre restoration on the Don Knott farm in Chippewa and Kandiyohi counties. The project used $40,000 of NAWCC money to help pay the $360 per acre cost of restora- tion. The landowner paid nothing. The total grant from NAWCA was $165,000, Wenzel said. The money helped restore 47 wetland basins totalling over 570 acres. The projects are located on 41 perpetual conser- vation easements consisting of 1,220 total acres. Projects either received NAWCA funding in conjunction with RIM funding-such as to cover costs over the $300 per acre cap on RIM spending--0r the NAWCA funding was simply used instead of RIM dollars. Other partners, such as Ducks Unlimited, the individual SWCDs, Pheasants Forever, the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, the Depart- ment of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also provided funds and in-kind contribu- tions. In addition, Pheasants Forever helped in the administration of the grant. "This grant money really provided us with a good way to mix and match available skills and funding from a variety of sources," Wenzel said. `It definitely helped districts get some priority projects completed in the way they should be," he said. The BWSR has also received and is currently administering two addi- tional grants from the NAWCC focusing on easement acquisition and wetland restoration in the Minnesota River watershed. These pictures show "before"and "after" c wetland restoration in Hennepin County. NAWCA funds were used to complete the restoration. 5