The Nature Conservancy Wabash River Floodplain Restoration Project
The Nature Conservancy has worked for decades to protect water quality in the Wabash River, a critical tributary of the Mississippi River Basin and a resource for drinking water, agriculture, industry and wildlife. Reducing nutrient runoff along the Wabash is part of the Conservancy’s system-wide strategy to improve water quality throughout the 31-state Mississippi River Basin and reduce excessive nutrient pollution that causes the Gulf of Mexico dead zone each year. With generous support from Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, the Conservancy has expanded its work along the Wabash and throughout the Mississippi River Basin to achieve a healthy source of clean water for both people and nature. Purina’s support is helping the Conservancy to: • Enact a system-wide approach to help reduce nutrient runoff — primarily nitrogen and phosphorus — into the Mississippi River Basin, • Work with private agricultural landowners to restore at least 150 acres of critical floodplain to wetlands and woodlands in key locations along the Wabash River, and • Assist participating landowners to enroll 2,000 acres of croplands in the Fieldprint® Calculator.