Since the initiative undertaken by Aldo Leopold and Hugh Hammond Bennet in the Coon Creek Watershed of southwestern Wisconsin in 1933, watershed-based conservation efforts have been of interest in agriculture-dominated regions of the Midwest. The Shell Creek watershed located in east-central Nebraska is the focus of widespread conservation efforts which are promoted by the Shell Creek Watershed Improvement Group (SCWIG) which was founded in 1999. With an array of natural resource concerns in an agricultural dominated landscape, Shell Creek was listed as an Impaired Water by the EPA in 2006. Concerted efforts of landowners and operators, conservation agencies and organizations, and community members over 25 years of existence by the SCWIG has improved natural resource conditions. In 2018, Shell Creek reportedly became the first stream in the nation to be removed from the ‘Impaired Waters’ list due to improvements in water quality.
Landowners in the Shell Creek watershed have been surveyed using various methods over this period of time to identify the nature of their conservation efforts and their interest in applying conservation practices. Similar surveys have also been conducted in other watersheds and on a statewide basis. A comparison to review how landowner attitudes have evolved and an exploration of the perspectives of several leaders involved in the SCWIG can inform how similar endeavors in other watersheds might be successful into the future.