(Des Moines)--Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig has announced the expansion of the Streamside Buffer Pilot Project to include farmers and landowners living in all 22 counties in the Greater Des Moines Watershed. The expansion is part of the Greater Des Moines Watershed Program, a targeted initiative to accelerate and scale up the use of conservation practices in counties upstream from the Des Moines metro to improve water quality. Emmet, Clay, Dickinson, Kossuth and Palo Alto counties are part of the Des Moines Watershed.

Funding for the project expansion is provided by the Farm to Faucet water quality package signed into law on June 1.

The Streamside Buffer Pilot Project was launched in August 2025 to help farmers and landowners establish perennial buffers along streams, rivers, creeks, and drainage ditches to reduce nutrient runoff and soil erosion and improve water quality.