Spring Regional Spotlight: The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework

While attending the upcoming Spring Regional Meeting, watch for Sarah Kussow, Watershed/GIS Specialist for Outagamie County Land Conservation.  She will be presenting on The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework.

Approximately half of the surface water drainage basins in Wisconsin now have Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) to reduce nutrient and sediment pollutant concentrations in surface waters. In order to be eligible for federal and state grant funds for implementing conservation practices to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff, a watershed is required to have a Nine Key Element Watershed Plan. The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) is a free GIS modeling tool available to use to analyze your watershed and develop a watershed plan. The ACPF identifies areas of resource concern and identifies sites for installing Best Management Practices (BMPs) to address soil and water quality needs on agricultural land. This presentation will cover the basics of running the ACPF, model outputs and training resources available.

Sarah Kussow is a Watershed/GIS Analyst for Outagamie County Land Conservation. She has a decade of experience with County Land Conservation working on developing and implementing nine key element watershed plans in the Lower Fox River Basin. She also utilizes GIS within the department to gain efficiencies in collecting field inventory data, implementing projects and tracking conservation practices implemented on the land. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors hiking and camping.

Make sure to register for the Spring Regional Meeting and get your hotel room now, so you can hear Sarah and others speak at the meeting!  Additional details, including the full preliminary agenda, can be found on the event page.