Provincial trust paying some producers not to plant in hope that restoring nature will prove to be an effective defence strategy against climate change

Winnipeg Free Press article here

Farm the best, conserve the rest: Watershed districts ready to put GROW Trust to work on the landscape

Read the 14 news releases from Manitoba’s watershed districts

Read the news release from the Manitoba Association of Watersheds:

Winnipeg, MB (July 23, 2020) — Ray Frey saw the devastation first-hand after a series of intense thunderstorms blasted south-west Manitoba earlier in July, sending power-surged water cascading across fields, farms, communities and waterways. Frey believes things need to change and working with land managers and farmers to improve watershed health is a critical solution for the resiliency of Manitoba agro-lands and communities going forward.

That’s why you can count Ray Frey among those impressed by the Province of Manitoba’s $5.6 million announcement yesterday of 20 successful project proposals, 16 of which will be funded by the new GRowing Outcomes in Watersheds (GROW) Trust that will set sights on “farming the best, conserving the rest”.

“We are rolling the dice with these weather systems,” says Frey, chair of the Manitoba Association of Watersheds. “The GROW Trust funding is unprecedented in Canada. It empowers us to work with producers and promote practices that build resilience and benefit society. We need to maintain water storage capacity on the land.”

GROW is locally led by producers in partnership with watershed districts. It focuses on watershed health, management and resiliency. When matched with the funding and in-kind amounts provided by the Watershed Districts the new projects represent more than $14.7 million for the improvement of watershed health across the province.

“The intent of the GROW Trust funding is to support annual payments to producers to help reduce flooding and drought vulnerability and improve water quality and nutrient management in rural Manitoba,” says Frey. “Led on the ground by Manitoba’s 14 watershed districts and supported by the Manitoba Association of Watersheds, GROW will promote the restoration and enhancement of wetlands, uplands and riparian areas in rural Manitoba. Watershed District managers will work with local producers to develop projects that improve the environment by providing financial incentives.”

Frey said the early-July storms hit hard around his Riding Mountain National Park-area home and the nearby Little Saskatchewan River. The damages included washed out roads, flooded homes and towns, stranded cow herds and mandated evacuations around stressed existing water infrastructure on the agriculture-based areas north of Brandon. Over time, GROW will help alleviate such flooding by adding above-ground vegetation, increased organic matter and intact wetlands.

“We are making investments in watersheds today that will provide environmental benefits for decades to come,” said Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen. “Local expertise, the commitment of landowners and the support of our partners will help ensure these projects protect our water quality, sustainably manage our natural resources, and leave a sustainable legacy for all Manitobans to enjoy.”

The funding announcement builds on the Manitoba government’s commitment to climate-change adaptation and resilience identified under the Water Pillar in Manitoba’s Climate and Green Plan. The GROW Trust joins the now-two year old Conservation Trust as Manitoba Climate and Green Plan Initiatives. The Province has taken a unique approach to provide permanent funding for critical conservation projects by contributing $204 million for new endowment funds with The Winnipeg Foundation. Investment revenues are granted to Manitoba groups through a process administered by Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development staff lead program development and coordination with the Watershed Districts.

For more information, the Manitoba Association of Watersheds is available via messaging our Facebook page or commenting here.

For more information:

Sean Goertzen, Manitoba Association of Watersheds, executive.director@manitobawatersheds.org, 204.570.0164

Tim Sopuck, Conservation and GROW Trusts, tsopuck@mhhc.mb.ca,  204.793.4107

GROW Backgrounder

• Identified under the Water Pillar in Manitoba’s Climate and Green Plan, GRowing Outcomes in Watersheds (GROW) is a way of encouraging the delivery of ecological goods and services (EG&S). GROW promotes conservation of natural areas or changes to land uses that provide EG&S by helping farmers develop projects that maintain or improve local watershed health and work for their operations.

• GROW is a made-in-Manitoba program on working lands that focuses on “farming the best, conserving the rest.” With a focus on watershed health, management and resiliency, GROW will help reduce flooding and drought vulnerability and improve water quality and nutrient management in Manitoba.

• The GROW program  will be delivered by watershed districts in partnership with landowners, non-government organizations, and all levels of government. These partnerships will be formalized as Local GROW Committees and guided by the provincial requirements for GROW.

What is GROW?

• GROW is developed on seven guiding principles and provides incentives for the delivery of EG&S on private lands in Agro-Manitoba.

• GROW is targeted, watershed-based approach to delivery – Projects will be implemented on a watershed basis, according to the principles, objectives and outcomes of GROW. Eligible projects will be limited to working lands within Agro-Manitoba. Each project will address provincial outcomes and target prioritized actions in integrated watershed management plans.

• Priority Outcomes:  improved watershed resilience to the impacts of a changing climate (e.g., extreme weather events, drought, flooding) • improved water quality (e.g., improved nutrient management)

• Co-Benefit: improved on-farm water management • enhanced sustainable agricultural production • improved biodiversity and habitat • carbon sequestration and storage

Funding Support

• The Province of Manitoba has endowed $204 M with The Winnipeg Foundation, made up of $102M in The Conservation Trust (2018-19), $52M in The GROW Trust (2019-20), and $50M in The Wetlands GROW Trust (2019-20).

• Annual interest generated from the three Trusts will be used to fund local GROW programs that provide ecological goods & services (EG&S) to Manitobans.

• The GROW Trust and The Wetlands GROW Trust are unique funding opportunities for Watershed Districts as both allow districts to recognize producers, through an annual payment, that are willing to set aside lands or change management practices and offset farm profit for the value of the ecological goods and services for society.

• Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation (MHHC) administers and disburses revenues from the Trusts through a proposal-based granting process.

• Watershed districts will deliver GROW and annually apply for funding from the Trusts to support Local GROW Programming.

GROW Programs

• Incentives to landowners include cost-shared support for project establishment (e.g., small dams or off-site watering systems) and/or annual incentive payments for land enrolled in the program (e.g., annual incentive payments for Class 1 and 2 wetlands on cultivated land).

• GROW is delivered by watershed districts in cooperation with producers and Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development. It focuses on watershed health, management and resiliency.

Tile Drainage & Storage Innovation with Swan Lake First Nation

By Cliff Greenfield, Manager, Pembina Valley Watershed District

Last fall, the Swan Lake First Nation partnered with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists and the Pembina Valley Watershed District for the Living Lab-Eastern Prairies. We are looking at ways to make improve marginal land at a field-level scale.

We have made great progress. The Swan Lake First Nation Project SL-S49 infrastructure was 90% completed last season. It includes enhanced drainage with the installation of tile over an 11-acre wet area in the field and a water retention dam to treat the runoff from the tile and upstream area.

Next season we will be putting in place a saturated buffer and wetland terrace will be completed this season to also treat the runoff and planting pollinator-friendly plants in the disturbed areas of the project. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers are working on developing and testing a seed mix for this site. 

Typically, tile runoff has elevated salts and nitrates and reduced phosphorus. We believe that the combination of these best management practices can treat this problem. To test our theories, monitoring will be done to measure the impacts of these enhancements and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists will be on hand to do the water testing. In addition, AAFC staff are working on a seed mix design for this site and will run the water monitoring program.

Randy Dow, our technician at the Pembina Valley Watershed District, is designing a wetland terrace in partnership with Swan Lake First Nation.

Pembina Valley Watershed District is interested in talking to more landowners in the Swan Lake Watershed about their interests and how we could work with them on their environmental issues.

As a partner in Living Lab-Eastern Prairies, we are excited to blaze a new trail that is already improving partnerships between local farmers, researchers, conservation groups, and Indigenous peoples. Collaboration is complicated, but we believe it will pay off in the form of healthier farms and watersheds.

Swan Lake First Nation Project SL-S49. This project was 90% completed last season with the picture showing the contractor atop of the newly completed dam. Topsoil placement, main water control valve, pollinator plant seeding, saturated vegetated buffer, and the wetland terrace are aspects that will be finished this summer.

Looking east, there is a valve control (black box beside the flag) in the foreground that controls and measures the flow from the tile. The 11-acre tiled area is seen in the picture as rough lines or patches. Water from the tile will be monitored for volume as well as water quality.

Looking west at the same valve control (black box beside the flag) there is a surface ditch and tile furrow that will take this water either to the newly construed dam or saturated buffer. Both BMPs will be monitored for how they remove sediments and nutrients from the runoff and result in better water for the downstream Pembina River and Swan Lake. This project is designed to test BMPs that farmers can use to make their farms more sustainable resulting in healthier watersheds and more productive farms.

This picture shows the dam without any water held back—the remainder of construction and seeding will take place in time to capture mid-summer rains, at which point water quantity and quality monitoring will commence. Monitoring of this project is expected to take place for the next 3.5 seasons.

Pollinator Habitat, Soil Sampling, & More in the North Shannon Creek Watershed

By Justin Reid, Manager, Redboine Watershed District

Year 1 (October 2019 to March 2020) in the North Shannon Watershed was focused on landowner meetings to introduce producers to Living Lab-Eastern Prairies and to discuss potential project sites in the watershed. Some initial project sites were determined to be ready to proceed and work began on design and planning stages, as well as some work to prepare the sites. Project design and planning included a water retention, two pollinator habitat plantings, soil sampling and a forage planting.

In the second year (April 2020 to March 2021), we will dive into the construction and planting phases of the projects identified in the first year, and will hold more meetings with farmers and partners to come-up with additional project sites for the third and fourth years.

Manitoba’s Conservation Districts renamed Watershed Districts with new tools to protect our watersheds

On January 1st, 2020, Manitoba’s 18 Conservation Districts became 14 Watershed Districts with the proclamation of the Watershed Districts Act.

This legislation brings important changes into effect for Manitoba’s Watershed Districts. As described by the Province of Manitoba, The Watershed Districts Act has:

• Moved the districts to watershed-based boundaries to improve management of floods, droughts, and water quality;

• Renamed Manitoba’s “Conservation Districts” as “Watershed Districts” to emphasize their mandate; and

• Allowed Watershed Districts to form partnerships with non-municipal entities, including Indigenous nations, to enhance watershed management.

For 48 years, Manitoba’s Conservation Districts have collaborated with farmers, landowners, communities, non-profits, and local, provincial, federal, and Indigenous governments to protect Manitoba’s watersheds. The Watershed Districts Act empowers the new Watershed Districts to take the next steps to build Manitoba’s resilience to floods, droughts, climate change, nutrient loading, and more.

In addition to the new legislation, Manitoba’s Watershed Districts have access to new resources to get more done on the landscape. Watershed Districts are key delivery agents for the Conservation Trust created in 2018 and are currently the sole delivery agents of the Growing Outcomes in Watersheds (GROW) Program announced in 2019.

In line with the transition to Watershed Districts, the Manitoba Conservation Districts Association (MCDA) has updated its logo and changed its name to the Manitoba Association of Watersheds. MAW will continue its mandate to support Manitoba’s Watershed Districts by telling their success stories, working on public policy issues, coordinating joint projects, hosting the annual Manitoba Watersheds Conference, and more.

MAW thanks its 14 Watershed District members, their 104 municipal partners, the Province of Manitoba, and our other valued partners for their continued collaboration to protect Manitoba’s watersheds.

For more information, contact MAW by email at manitobawatersheds.org/contact or by mail:

Manitoba Association of Watersheds
1765 Sargent Avenue, Unit 200
Winnipeg, MB R3H 0C6

Phone numbers for the chair and staff members are available on request.

More information and a map of the new boundaries can be found here.