The first 15 years of the agreement will be a CRP contract. The land will remain private, but landowners can't farm it or conduct other activities that would degrade the river. Once restored to a natural state, the grasslands will slow silt-laden runoff from surrounding farmlands. When runoff is slowed, silt has a chance to settle onto the ground rather than dump into the river, where it clogs fish-spawning gravel and muddies the water. Restored wetlands act as giant sponges that soak up the rush of spring snowmelt and mete it out gradually over the spring and summer.
Wetlands filter the silt and fertilizer in runoff and send clean water downstream.
The restored grasslands, wetlands, and tree groves also will provide habitat for deer, ducks, pheasants, meadowlarks, and other farmland wildlife. Cleaner water will improve fish spawning conditions. A major beneficiary of the river cleanup will be Twin Cities residents. Minneapolis and St. Paul spent millions of dollars in the early 1990s to clean up the Mississippi River. Yet the Minnesota River continues to send hundreds of tons of pollutants into the Mississippi where the two rivers meet at Fort Snelling.