The Urban Soil Health program was initiated in 2021 via a partnership agreement between the Indiana Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (IASWCD). We are an initiative that remains primarily federally funded and hosted by the IASWCD. As such, we closely support local staff of conservation agencies in the Indiana Conservation Partnership (ICP). Clean Water Indiana (CWI) is a major contributor to our statewide initiative, and allows for us to fund local-level events, trainings, and incentive payments.
We sit on the Advisory Council for the Indiana state chapter of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). The funds the council receives annually have allowed us to plan and offer professional development opportunities for our staff and other ag professionals. We have a strong partnership with the Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District to coordinate technical tools and events via their urban and small-farm soil health initiative.
Additional individual Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) have generously chosen to provide financial support to USH. These funds are instrumental to fulfill our match requirement for our federal agreement. The Districts that have stepped with monetary contributions provide for local-level programming in counties across Indiana. Thanks!
