Mower County is moving ahead on a plan that leaders say will help several counties work together to improve area waterways.

The county board unanimously approved Mower’s participation in “One Watershed, One Plan” Tuesday. The plan aligns the Mower County’s Soil and Water Conservation District’s watershed planning with Winona, Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted and Dodge counties under the Root River Watershed District.

The pilot project is the first of its kind in the state, according to Resource Specialist Justin Hanson, and it will change how the counties address water planning. Since the 1980s, such plans have been done largely within political borders with limited overlap.

“If we’re really going to get serious about fixing our problems, we need to be doing a better job across boundaries. … Water doesn’t just stop when you get to a political boundary,” Hanson said.

Chiefly, the plan brings together all the stakeholders for the Root River, which has a headwaters in eastern Mower County near LeRoy. Deer and Bear Creeks are also tributaries for the river. What comes off the land in Mower has an impact downstream, Hanson noted.

“Its pretty important that we’re involved in that process,” he said.

While Hanson admitted the logistics can be complicated in such projects, he doesn’t foresee any problems here. The partnership will not create a new level of government, as he described the Root River Watershed as a grassroots effort that may eventually dissolve once work is completed.

“All the stakeholders work really well together,” he said.

Elected officials will be involved to assist and to help with the oversight portion of the planning process.

The “One Watershed, One Plan” approach could give Mower officials access to more grant opportunities to fix watershed issues that have a tie-in with the Root River.

Essentially, counties won’t act as islands; instead, they’ll look at the big picture.

If the plan works well, Hanson envisions it being a model for other, similar partnerships across the state.

One key goal for the project is to provide a roadmap for future projects. Traditionally, Hanson said leaders have compiled wish lists for projects. Hanson said he hopes the roadmap approach will pave a better direction.

“It gives us some direction. It gets us working together,” Hanson said, adding he hopes the plan will break down barriers and get counties working together.

Leaders hope that also puts them in a better position to receive state funding.

With the new agreement, the county board also backed a plan to ask the state to allow Mower to extend its current water plan, which is slated to expire in 2015, to 2018.

Hanson said that will give the county more time to work together with other groups and align their plans.

As the county addresses other waterways, like the Cedar River and Turtle Creek, Hanson said it’ll be important to work together and apply as a Cedar River Basin to secure funds.

“To do that, I think we need a little more time,” Hanson said.