A new USDA video spotlights conservation practices that will help to develop science-based solutions to such problems as harmful algal blooms around Western Lake Erie. (Photo by D’Arcy Patrick Egan)

A new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) video provides a closer look at the collaborative partnerships driving innovative water quality assessment and conservation in the Western Lake Erie Basin.

The 20-minute video, Science-Based Solutions: Leveraging Partnerships to Protect the Western Lake Erie Basin, shows how USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) watershed studies in the Western Lake Erie Basin bring researchers, farmers, government agencies and nonprofit organizations together to develop science-based solutions and strategically place them where they can deliver the greatest conservation benefits.

“This video demonstrates the importance of regional partnerships, both in developing and encouraging the adoption of conservation practices that have been scientifically proven to be effective,” said John Wilson, NRCS State Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Ohio, “This collaborative approach is informing our conservation strategies and making tangible improvements in the Western Lake Erie Basin watershed.”

Under CEAP, a network of researchers, from government agencies to universities, work together to monitor the impact of conservation practices on the landscape. These studies directly inform USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service programs, practices and planning and ensure that the agency provides technical and financial assistance to landowners to develop and implement impactful conservation plans.

Regional partnerships like those driving conservation efforts in the Western Lake Erie Basin have proven to be effective, as demonstrated by the recently released USDA report, Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland: A Comparison of CEAP I and CEAP II Survey Data and Modeling.