Nolan Announces GLRI Funding for the Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan today announced that the Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District has been awarded more than $75,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding by the Great Lakes Commission. The grant was awarded for a project to reduce phosphorus and sediment in Deer Creek, a tributary to the Nemadji River south of Wrenshall.

“I congratulate the Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District on this significant recognition of their important work to protect the health of our waterways and communities,” said Nolan.  “This grant also highlights the need to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to continue protecting the Great Lakes, which are a vital economic and environmental asset for Minnesota.” Nolan is an original cosponsor of H.R.223, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2016, which would authorize $1.5 billion for the successful program until 2021.

“Congratulations to the Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District for receiving this funding to protect water quality in the Great Lakes,” said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission. “This project is yet another example of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative generating important economic and environmental improvements in communities across the region. Thank you to Rep. Nolan for your continued support of this important initiative.”

Every year, tons of polluting phosphorus and sediments enter the Great Lakes Basin, causing massive economic and environmental losses and damages and contributing to the formation of Harmful Algal Blooms and dead zones.  The Great Lakes Commission’s Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program strategically addresses this problem with a unique, targeted grass roots approach which awards grants to nonfederal agencies and nonprofit organizations in priority watersheds throughout the region.

This year, 15 projects totaling nearly $2 million were funded by the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program to install on-the-land practices to reduce phosphorus runoff and sedimentation into the Great Lakes.

Funding for this program is provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative under a cooperative agreement between the Great Lakes Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.