Constructed Wetlands
A constructed wetland is an engineered ecosystem designed to optimize specific wetland characteristics and functions to improve water quality. Constructed wetlands provide long-term, effective treatment of tile drainage.
Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy & Agricultural Conservation Practices
This 1-pager created by Illinois Extension, gives a brief overview of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (INLRS), highlights nutrient loss in Illinois, impacts of nutrient loss, and conservation practices that can address in-field and edge of field nutrient loss.
Download DocumentsISAP’s Edge-of-Field Incentive Directory
ISAP’s Edge-of-Field Incentives Directory provides an overview of edge-of-field (EoF) incentive payment opportunities for farmers in Illinois. EoF practices are defined as those practices which intercept, capture, and treat subsurface drainage (conservation drainage practices) or surface runoff at the field level. The conservation drainage practices include bioreactors, constructed wetlands for tile-drainage treatment, drainage water management, drainage water recycling, and saturated buffers. Surface runoff practices include vegetated riparian buffers, filter strips, prairie strips, and restored wetlands. The directory also includes a “Stacking Matrix” so farmers can easily determine if they may be eligible to stack payments from multiple programs.
Download DocumentsConservation Effects Assessment Project: Publications
USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project, CEAP, provides a suite of publications highlighting the effects of voluntary conservation across the nation’s working lands. The site compiles reports, articles fact sheets, and webinars on topics including crop lands, grazing lands, wetlands, wildlife, and watersheds.
Michigan State University Drainage Resources
This Michigan State University Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering website provides education and practical solutions to address drainage issues.
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Smart Wetlands
Smart Wetlands, an initiative of The Wetlands Initiative, specifically sites, designs, and constructs tile-treatment wetlands to improve water quality in Illinois. Their website includes several resources for better understanding the impact of constructed wetlands on nutrient reduction.
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Iowa Learning Farms: Constructed Wetland
In this webinar, “Tile Flows, Backhoes and Microbes: Constructed Wetlands for Subsurface Drainage Treatment,” Jill Kostel, Ph.D., senior environmental engineer at The Wetlands Initiative, discusses the siting, design and implementation of constructed tile-treatment wetlands that use the naturally occurring wetland functions and processes to capture and remove nutrients from tile flow.
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