Big Pine Creek

Opportunities in the Big Pine Creek Watershed

Most would see the interface of the freshwater conservation and agriculture as a space of turmoil and tradeoffs. Rather, partners and stakeholders in the Big Pine Creek Watershed have seized the complexity as an opportunity for understanding and efficiency to be discovered.

It is quite common to see business CEOs conversing with grassroots environmental advocates along the banks of Big Pine Creek due to the culture that has been built since TNC originally invested in the watershed in 2013.

Thus, the Big Pine Creek Watershed Project was created. TNC is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, local soil and water conservation districts, agricultural retailers, food companies and farmers on the project.

From day one, the Big Pine Creek Watershed Project was designed to be scaled and replicated. While unique in many ways from an ecological standpoint, the watershed is also representative of many other rural watersheds dominated by an agriculture land use. Agriculture is a major economic driver, supporting countless Indiana families, and also a point of pride for the Hoosier state.

The Watershed Project has been designed specifically to embrace current land use (rather than reject it), but to also promote resilience, sustainability, and efficiency in agriculture production. These concepts are universal and can be communicated anywhere in the Midwest. 

The objective of the Big Pine Creek watershed project is irreversible change to attitudes and mindset. Over the last five years, TNC has played a major role in building key relationships, calibrating educational opportunities, and building a local network that will sustain regenerative and resilient agriculture systems across the landscape. These ongoing efforts will help us reach a tipping point where these systems are the norm, rather than the exception.

Recognition of the work and accomplishments of the Big Pine Creek Watershed Project has expanded beyond local influence to include domestic and international audiences. For example, watershed partners have hosted groups of conservation practitioners from most notably China and Brazil, but also from over a dozen states via its willingness to showcase collaboration in a unique way.

The Watershed management plan first completed in 2015 has been a core directive for the project, but has now been dwarfed by the accomplishments of the work. The planning efforts were supported by The Nature Conservancy and a private foundation in the amount of $125,000. In the last three years the total investment (in-kind and cash) for the watershed has surpassed $6,000,000.

Challenges in the Watershed

Project implementation has been optimized to environmental solutions for the dominant ag sector in the Watershed. This includes designing and testing solutions that improve environmental outcomes AND on-farm profitability. In-field Best Management Practices (Cover crops, nutrient management, conservation tillage) have naturally become the most effective in working with farmers and landowners in the Watershed.

Synergy in project narrative between conservation practice and economics allows a conversation entry point that is not commonly used by environmental organizations.

Data collected via IDEM's Hoosier Riverwatch program by volunteers and partnership staff indicated:

• Dissolved Oxygen Levels were maintained in the watershed based on collected data.
• A downward trend in observed E. Coli colonies indicates improvement.
  
• A downward trend in observed Nitrate levels indicates improvement.
  
• A downward trend in water temperature may indicate improvement, assuming consistent climatic conditions.

Overall, IBI scores and total number of fish species collected trended upward for all sites over the three-year study period. Four sites with “Impaired Aquatic Communities” as defined by IDEM were identified in 2015. By 2018, data indicated that only one of the sampling sites carried that impairment designation.

Notably in 2018 at the end of the study period, one fish species previously on the Indiana “threatened“ list and still having a limited distribution in the state is the bluebreast darter. This fish was collected in both Mud Pine Creek and Big Pine Creek during the 2018 survey.

The Big Pine Creek RCPP played a key role in exceeding the nutrient reduction (40 tons of Phosphorous, 140 tons of Nitrogen) and sediment reduction (7,263 tons) goals set out in the Big Pine Creek Watershed Management Plan (WMP). An update to the WMP in 2019 extends new goals of nutrient reduction (additional 40 tons of Phosphorous and 140 tons of Nitrogen) and sediment reduction (additional 1,263 tons) to 2024. We expect similar trends of continuous improvement throughout the watershed to again meet those goals.
 

Partnerships

Forty-two project partners committed and delivered $1,497,62.64 worth of in-kind labor, expertise, and influence in the Watershed during the first three years of the project.

The Big Pine Creek Watershed Project’s strength lies in its diversity and number of stakeholders. 42 partners have made commitments to the success of the project. Project leaders have made great efforts to build a narrative around the purpose and necessity of action in the watershed. This effort has drawn the attention of governmental, academic, corporate (domestic and global), non-governmental organizations and private individuals. 

Project partners focus on concentrating conservation investment in the Watershed through strategic leveraging, ROI analysis, and objective-focused delivery. Furthermore, project partners actively track data and provide evidence for continued investment.

Public funding and project partners in the Watershed for the last three years catalyzed 26,000 acres of cover crops, 8,200 acres of conservation tillage, 135 acres of grassed waterways, 602 acres of conservation cover,  11 acres of critical area plantings, 97 acres of field borders, 53 acres of early successional habitat development, 49 acres of forage and biomass plantings, 48 acres of tree/shrub establishment, 25 HUAP installations, 2 stream crossings, 7 watering facilities and 4 waste storage facilities.

Major corporate conservation initiatives were formed with Land O Lakes, Coca-Cola and Tate & Lyle. Additional relationships were formed with Indiana-based and smaller companies, such as Ceres Solutions Cooperative, to improve corporate practice and demonstrate impact on land within watershed boundaries.

The Big Pine Creek RCPP has been a catalyst for additional and diversified conservation funding in the Big Pine Creek Watershed. To date, the $3.1 million RCPP has been key in leveraging an additional $2.9 million to voluntary on-farm conservation via supply chain initiatives, research projects, private grants and other governmental programs.

The Big Pine Creek Watershed Project RCPP has been extended through 2027 with additional investment of $2.3 million.