About 225 acres of former cropland in the Cedar River’s headwaters are being permanently restored to native prairie east of Blooming Prairie.
This permanent restoration led by Dodge Soil & Water Conservation District is the largest to date in Minnesota’s Cedar River Watershed.
Mower SWCD, in partnership with Dodge SWCD, seeded the property this summer just north of the Dodge-Mower county line with six seed mixes, each specializing in a soil type.
With Blooming Prairie Creek flowing through it, the property is enrolled in the state-federal MN CREP program and remains privately owned.
“This restoration is a meaningful investment in the land and in a priority area of the Cedar River watershed,” said Jessica Klingfus, Dodge SWCD’s manager. “The landowner’s commitment to conservation in this priority headwater area will provide lasting benefits on their property while also helping improve water quality and watershed health downstream.”
Klingfus also is the lead contact for the Cedar-Wapsipinicon Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan that includes partners within the watershed’s Minnesota portion.
Dodge SWCD had worked since 2024 with Dodge County’s Pheasants Forever on the restoration. The project moved forward in 2025 when the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) reopened along with the Minnesota Board of Water & Soil Resources (BWSR) accepting another round of applications.
Working together through the Cedar-Wapsipinicon partnership, area SWCD staff have targeted the Upper Cedar River and other areas for conservation projects. These sites offer major reductions in stormwater runoff, soil erosion and excessive nitrate levels found in waterways and groundwater.
With this restoration, an already significant corridor of permanent habitat is getting larger along Blooming Prairie Creek and the Cedar River, particularly in Mower County’s Udolpho Township on both sides of U.S. 218 North.
East of the site, about 200 acres already are established as permanent native prairie along the Cedar River in Dodge County.
Going south, Udolpho Township has had more than 1 square mile (about 664 acres) of former cropland enrolled since 2017 into permanent native prairie and wetlands, Mower SWCD’s watershed technician James Fett said. These acres are enrolled in MN CREP or the state’s Reinvest In Minnesota programs.
In 2025, Mower SWCD set its record year for enrolling cropland into permanently restored prairie and wetlands, with 457 acres enrolled across Mower County topping the previous record of 407 acres in 2024. About 377 of those acres were in the Cedar River watershed.
Landowners interested in the MN CREP or RIM programs are encouraged to contact their county’s SWCD staff.
