​SEASONAL RIPARIAN AREA MANAGEMENT (SRAM)

The Pipestone and Rock Soil and Water Conservation Districts adapted a voluntary riparian pasture program known as the Seasonal Riparian Area Management Program (SRAM) which primarily focuses on promoting grazing management and riparian restoration on pastureland that is often over grazed and where livestock have access to surface waters. The goal of the SRAM program is to reduce water quality impairments (E. coli, sediment, and nutrient loading) in order to restore, maintain, and protect water quality to meet the standards for the streams in the Pipestone, Split Rock, and Mound Creek watersheds.
 
SRAM contract and project funding are limited to those landowners who own eligible land and fall within certain parameters. These parameters include all riparian pastureland and pastureland within the 100-year floodplain immediately adjacent to the Pipestone, Split Rock, or Mound Creeks and their tributaries within designated HUC12 watersheds. Eligible riparian pastureland must also be actively grazing or grazed five out of the last ten years.
 
The contract payment rate for eligible pastureland enrolled into the SRAM program will be $80 per acre per year and will be paid in a lump-sum payment after the initial year the project has been installed and certified complete by the technical representative. SRAM contract length is 10 years. Enrolled acres shall not be grazed from April 1 - September 30.
 
Landowners enrolled in the SRAM program are also eligible for funding to cover costs of fencing, seeding, and livestock watering facilities.
 
Please contact Rock County SWCD if you are interested in the SRAM program. Landowners who do not qualify for SRAM may be eligible for other grazing programs. 

Map of Watersheds