Dubuque County Watersheds

06/28/2026

Conventional agriculture has taken its toll on Iowa’s farmland.

06/25/2026

*** UPDATE ***

Well, they say that necessity is the mother of invention. You asked for it, you got it! The water quality monitoring dashboard will now automatically determine if you're on your phone and adjust accordingly!

You may have seen us out and about dropping buckets from bridges. What are we doing? We’re testing the streams in over 40 locations monthly across Dubuque County! Want to see what we found? You can visit our new Water Quality Monitoring Dashboard to see! Just visit our Dubuque County Watersheds website to access the dashboard. Direct link in the comments.

06/12/2026

Join us for a Farmer Field Day on June 16 at the Dennis Rauen Farm in Epworth, Iowa!

Learn about soil health through a live soil pit demonstration, Haney soil test discussion, and practical management presentations. Connect with fellow producers, conservation professionals, and industry experts while enjoying a complimentary dinner and networking opportunity.

📅 June 16, 2026 | 4 –8 PM
📍 Dennis Rauen Farm & Epworth Gun Club

This event is free to attend. RSVP to Scott Hendricks at 563-213-8388.

05/20/2026

🔦 Farmer Spotlight 🔦

Meet Rob Zauche! Rob farms near Peosta, where he raises corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, hay, and cattle across roughly 450-500 acres plus pasture ground. His operation focuses on cover crops, small grains, grazing, and reducing heavy tillage where possible.

In this video, Rob shares how integrating cattle into his cropping system helps maximize the value of cover crops, spread out workloads, and improve the overall sustainability of his farm.

Want to learn more about conservation practices? Contact Scott Hendricks at [email protected].

04/29/2026

Last week and this week we have been out doing Haney Soil Tests for a number of growers in Dubuque County. Excited to see how conservation practices; like cover crops and no-till, and lack of practices, affect our soil health! We can’t wait to share these results with our farmers!

04/16/2026

We are out biomass sampling our drone seeded cover crops that were seeded last year from Aug 1st-Oct 1st, and we cannot believe the growth we are having! Not only do these cover crops help stop erosion, they also help with water infiltration, building organic matter, nutrient cycling, and help support our biotic community under the soil. Look how happy these earthworms are!

04/13/2026

We’re in the news! 📰

Dubuque County Watersheds’ 2026 Cover Crop Program was recently featured, highlighting its growth. The article showcases how this no-cost program is improving soil health, supporting farmers, and strengthening conservation efforts across the county.

Check out the full story to learn more about the program and its impact! Interested in participating? Contact Scott Hendricks at [email protected] or call 563-213-8388.

Dubuque County Watersheds’ 2026 Cover Crop Program has grown to reach over 140 farmers and include over 18,000 acres of farmland in the area, but organizers continue to accept applications

03/20/2026

Outfall monitoring on a beautiful day!

03/18/2026

The bid window is officially open for licensed drone operators to seed cover crops on up to 20,000 acres across Dubuque County!

Request Bid: https://scf-web.files.svdcdn.com/production/uploads/Request-for-Bids-Dubuque-Cover-Crop-drone-services-2026.pdf?dm=1773698314

The deadline to submit bids is April 10, 2026 at 5pm CST

03/17/2026

Check out our database and inspection mapping for MS4 activities in Dubuque County watersheds. This public data resource helps our partners and supporters stay up to date on stormwater infrastructure, inspections, and watershed conditions.

“Read Only” version of all MS4 and Dubuque County Watershed activities. All data is currently from January 2026 on. Improvements will be made in the future to log older data in the system.