Board of Water and Soil Resources highlights living‑landscape grants, cover-crop spending and pending federal matches

The Board of Water and Soil Resources briefed the Senate Committee on Environment, Climate and Legacy on Feb. 27 about one-time appropriations from the prior biennium for pollinator, habitat and conservation programs, ongoing cover-crop and water-retention projects, and federal matches that remain pending.

Assistant Director Andrea Fish said Bowser’s living‑landscape initiatives — lawns to legumes, habitat enhancement landscape grants and the habitat‑friendly utilities program — have produced thousands of local projects and continue to distribute remaining appropriations from the last biennium.

Why it matters: Bowser programs direct funding and technical assistance to private landowners, soil-and-water districts, watershed districts and counties; the work supports pollinators, carbon storage on private lands, flood-mitigation structures and wetland restorations that have both environmental and local economic impacts.

Highlights and figures - Living‑landscape grants: Since 2019, Bowser said it has helped install more than 10,000 lawns‑to‑legumes projects statewide. Last biennium appropriations included $4 million for lawns to legumes (about $361,000 remaining), $4 million for habitat enhancement landscape grants (about $315,000 remaining) and $1 million for habitat‑friendly utilities (about $470,000 remaining). - Cover crops and water-storage work: Bowser reported $21.1 million appropriated previously for cover‑crop programs; most of that has been obligated or committed. The agency also described water‑retention structures and projects to slow runoff in altered watersheds such as portions of the Minnesota River basin. - Reinvest in Minnesota/CRP coordination: Bowser said it expanded a federal-state joint agreement to pair state reinvestment easements with the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), adding 12 counties and increasing acreage caps. Bowser said the updated agreement improves targeting for drinking-water protection areas and changes the state-to-federal funding ratio to approximately $3 of state funds for every $7 of federal funds for qualifying projects. - Federal match and caution: Bowser officials said they are holding a portion of state funds to serve as match for anticipated federal awards. An anticipated federal agreement (for cover‑crop or related programs) was signed last fall, but Bowser said U.S. Department of Agriculture guidance is still pending and the agency is pausing new obligations until federal confirmation arrives.

Economic note: Bowser cited a joint analysis with USDA showing about a 1.8 local economic multiplier for on‑the‑ground conservation spending: each state dollar invested in projects produces roughly $1.80 in local economic activity from contractors, equipment, labor and services.

Next steps: Bowser said staff will monitor federal confirmations and continue to prioritize on‑the‑ground projects through local delivery partners, including soil‑and‑water conservation districts, watershed districts and counties.

Sources: John Jasky, executive director, and Andrea Fish, assistant director, Board of Water and Soil Resources; Senate Committee transcript Feb. 27, 2025.