OMAHA (DTN) -- Farmers in states along the Gulf of Mexico will get a conservation shot in the arm from $50 million in USDA assistance in the next three years as part of an overall strategy to restore the Gulf ecosystem following 2010's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The funds come at a time when U.S. agriculture is looking for ways to expand efforts to reduce nutrient runoff into the Gulf from the Mississippi River basin by expanding voluntary conservation efforts.

USDA announced the conservation funds as part of the Gulf of Mexico Initiative and taskforce assembled by the Obama administration. The funds are targeted for farmers and ranchers in priority areas along seven major rivers that drain to the Gulf in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

The taskforce led by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson came up with several key priorities for restoring the Gulf.

"After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, this task force brought together people from across the Gulf Coast in unparalleled ways to talk about how we tackle both the immediate environmental devastation as well as the long-term deterioration that has for decades threatened the health, the environment and the economy of the people who call this place home," Jackson said in a statement. "It has all come to this moment when we move from planning and researching to supporting real, homegrown actions aimed at restoring this vital ecosystem."

The taskforce calls for reducing the excess nutrient runoff by working with both Gulf states and upstream states in the Mississippi River watershed to support state efforts to reduce runoff, according to a news release from EPA.

The strategy also works to end the loss of critical wetlands, sand barriers and beaches. The strategy calls for "placing ecosystem restoration on an equal footing" with historic uses such as navigation and flood damage reduction. That includes approaching water resource management in a comprehensive manner that will bypass harm to wetlands, barrier islands and beaches.

The final strategy was developed as a result of more than 40 public meetings throughout the Gulf, the EPA release said. The final strategy can be viewed here, www.epa.gov/gulfcoasttaskforce.

The task force consists of representatives from the five Gulf states and 11 federal agencies, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, USDA, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Transportation, Office of Management and Budget, Office of Science and Technology Policy and White House Domestic Policy Council.

The task force has also begun reviewing existing policy, program and regulatory issues that are slowing restoration, the EPA release said, particularly in habitat restoration.

USDA announced that 16 priority watersheds in five states are targeted for the funds.

Those watersheds include:

--Alabama/Florida: Upper Fish River watershed in the Weeks Bay River Basin; Canoe Creek watershed and Sandy Hollow-Pine Barren Creek watershed in the Escambia River basin; Little Pine Barren Creek Watershed in the Escambia River Basin; Old Grassy Lake Watershed in the Middle Suwannee River Basin; Area, Allon Lake Watershed in the Middle Suwannee River Basin; Blue Lake Watershed in the Middle Suwannee River Basin; Pickel Lake Watershed in the Middle Suwannee River Basin;

--Louisiana: Bayou Corne-Grand Bayou Watershed and Bayou St. Vincent-Little Grand Bayou Watershed, all in the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary; Bayou Grand Marais Watershed in the Mermentau River Basin;

--Mississippi: Rotten Bayou Watershed and Bayou LaTerre Watershed in the Jourdan River Basin

--Texas: Kuy Creek--Guadalupe River Watershed, Guadalupe River--South Guadalupe River Watershed, and Hynes Bay--San Antonio Bay Watershed, all in the Lower San Antonio River/Guadalupe River Basins.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@telventdtn.com

(CC/CZ)

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