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 are voluntarily adopting best management practices on cropland 

 (specifically wheat) and rangeland, such as rotational grazing and 

 conservation tillage. Local, state and federal agencies are 

 cooperatively providing landowners with the technical assistance 

 and encouragement they need to address locally identified 

 sedimentation problems. The landowners' efforts to reduce nonpoint 

 source pollution in the Bad River watershed will lessen the need 

 for constructing downstream dikes to control water flow in the 

 river necessary for power generation. The proposed dikes are 

 estimated to cost $30-40 million, and the upstream success with BMP 

 installation and resulting sediment loading reductions is an 

 outstanding example of the cost effectiveness of cooperative 

 watershed projects. Only $1.4 million has been spent over the last 

 four years in providing technical assistance, education and cost- 

 share assistance in the watershed, and these efforts have gained 

 the participation of 80 percent of the landowners in the Plvim Creek 

 Watershed, the 160,000 acre target area of the Bad River Watershed 

 being addressed at this time. This level of participation mirrors 

 participation rates in cooperative projects established across the 

 country under USDA's Water Quality Initiative and the Rural Clean 

 Water Program over the past decade. 



The Bad River Water Quality Project will serve as a model for 

 addressing other problem watersheds in the state of South Dakota. 

 Other projects will continue to focus on low-cost management 

 improvements upstream in order to achieve broad landowner 

 participation, while avoiding more expensive water quality remedies 



