Maquoketa River Watershed Management Authority
Erin Erickson has worked as the watershed coordinator for the Maquoketa River Watershed Management Authority (MR WMA) since July 2021. Her extensive background in conservation began while growing up in Missouri, where she explored every wilderness area and limestone rimmed waterway she could.
Erickson has worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado and the Bureau of Land Management in Oregon. Most recently, she worked for a land trust in Northern California, where she oversaw the annual monitoring of 145 conservation easements by volunteers and staff.
In her current role, Erickson has successfully written and been awarded over $295,000 in grants to install watershed signs, support stream sensors and offer a cost share to farmers in the nine counties the MR WMA covers for planting cover crops to reduce runoff. She also serves as the primary point of contact for MR WMA to foster positive working relationships with state and community leaders.
Clean water in Iowa is not something that comes easy, and neither is watershed management – yet she hopes to keep working for the benefit of future generations.