National Water Quality Initiative

As USDA’s premiere water quality initiative, NWQI provides a way to accelerate voluntary, on-farm conservation investments and focused resources in the Salt River watershed.

Developed in 2011, the National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) is a partnership between the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), state water quality agencies, and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Within this program, NRCS and state water quality agencies evaluated watersheds across the nation to determine where additional implementation of conservation practices would provide the greatest water quality benefits for local, regional, and national water quality. Among the identified priority watersheds across the nation, Northern California’s Salt River watershed was chosen at the inception of this program and has since implemented over 550 NRCS practices across the watershed to improve water quality in the immediate waterways and in the larger Eel River watershed in which the Salt River is located.

In 2021 the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District completed the Salt River Watershed Assessment to contribute information to guide, expand, and further target NRCS assistance to agricultural producers across the watershed to meet established water quality goals.