The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) Water Quality Program, was authorized under section 406 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 for an Integrated Research, Education, and Extension Competitive Grants Program. This program provides the flexibility necessary for CSREES to bring the resources of researchers, instructors, and extension educators to national initiatives and programmatic partnerships that target evolving water quality needs.

The goal of the Northern Plains and Mountains Regional Water Quality Program is to improve water quality management through educational knowledge and extension programming that emerges from a research base. Extension programs havea unique role in the Region that complement our partners' efforts. We use state of the art approaches to tailor our programs to the unique attributes of a given watershed and the concerns of communities and producers.

This material is based upon work supported in part by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 00-51130-9775. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Partners in this Regional Program are also equal opportunity providers and employers.