The Nature Conservancy of Vermont welcomes you to a discussion series on watershed conservation issues. Topics address questions that Vermont practitioners are grappling with as we advance healthy, resilient watersheds and human communities. Speakers bring insight based on experience or applied research elsewhere. We discuss related work ongoing in Vermont, and important considerations toward continuing to advance this work here.

Experiences of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in developing and implementing rules that enable farmers to be paid for best practices, financed through a water quality trading scheme. Matthew Claucherty, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

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Possible questions to address:

• How was this scheme designed in Wisconsin and how long has this been underway?
• What are the funding sources?
• What practices have farmers most employed under the rules?
• What factors have been most critical to the success of realizing the intended nutrient reduction outcomes?
• What do monitoring data suggest regarding the extent to which the scheme will reduce phosphorus loading over time?
• What have you learned regarding social impact? For example, have farmers’ attitudes about relevant behaviors changed through the course of participation? Was participation equitable (did money go to farmers who were already rich)? Do farmers trust the government more or less now?