Iowa scored a $97 million grant from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department to make nine watersheds more resilient to floods and to improve water quality. The work will include building farm ponds, wetlands and stormwater basins, restoring floodplains and oxbows, and planting cover and buffer strips. The work will be in nine specific watersheds, including the North Raccoon River, and will involve creating local watershed authorities where they don’t already exist. The other watersheds covered are Bee Branch Creek, Clear Creek, East Nishnabotna River, English River, Middle Cedar River, Upper Iowa River, Upper Wapsipinicon River and West Nishnabotna River. The money is supposed to cover five years of work. By comparison, the U.S. Department of Agriculture spends $200 million a year in Iowa on conservation projects and related work.