As part of the LWV Lake Michigan annual meeting at the State of Lake Michigan conference in Green Bay Nov 7-9, LWV UMRR board member Judy Beck (LWV Glenview, IL) toured demonstration farms in Northeastern Wisconsin’s Silver Creek watershed. These farms are employing best management practices to reduce the amount of phosphorus and sediment that is lost from their farms into Green Bay, a water body with a large ‘dead zone’. Following is the writeup from that tour, which documents very promising results from this work. Supported by funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Imitative (GLRI), the US Geological Survey (USGS) has partners with four Fox Demo Farms to measure sediment and nutrient loss in surface and sub-surfaces runoff at edge-of-field (EOF) monitoring sites. Based on preliminary data collected by the USGS, monitoring at one farm in the project, Brickstead Dairy’s monitoring site in the Silver Creek watershed shows that there have been significant reductions in nutrient and sediment loss. Read more about the project at this link. The site was monitored in crop years 2014, 2015 and 2016. This monitoring showed that an average of 2000 lb/acre of sediment and nearly 4 lb/acre of phosphorus were measured in surface runoff. In the fall of 2016, cover crops were planted and then in 2017 no-till farming practices were employed. For water year 2017 to date (Oct 1, 2016 to Sept 19, 2017) sediment losses were about 1000 lb/acre. This is seen as an indication that the switch to no-till with cover crops could be reducing sediment losses. Since about 80% of the phosphorus lost from ‘typical’ soils in the area using ‘typical’ farming practices is tied in with the sediment, reducing sediment loss will also reduce the loss of phosphorus. Phosphorus is the limiting element in Green Bay – the algae that cause the dead zone need phosphorus to multiply. For a very graphic depiction of runoff, check this video. Left, tillage radishes used as cover crop. By planting cover crops and using no-till farming practices, producers benefit from having to spend fewer hours in the field and find cost savings due to reduced cost of farming inputs (fuel, equipment, fertilizers and pesticides). Soil health is also improved with increased water infiltration rates, less erosion and improved soil biology. By limiting sediment loss, phosphorus discharge to Green Bay is reduced and less algae growth will take place, a mutually-beneficial win-win for the environment and the farmers’ bottom line.
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This two-day "Celebrate the Headwaters" event (described here) began on Sunday, October 1, with us taking the last cruise of the season with Coborn's Lake Itasca tours. We visited and talked about water issues with LWV member and the public on the cruise, then met at the Headwaters for a group photo. On Monday, we held our Board meeting in the morning and at noon were joined by speakers from the Minnesota Department of Health and the nonprofit "Toxic Taters" to talk about nitrate in drinking water. You can watch the education part of the program here. - we recorded it and live-streamed through Facebook Live.
Katie DeSchane was on hand to talk about the work that Toxic Taters is doing in the Park Rapids area. Park Rapids, MN, is the city closest to the Headwaters. Changes in land use, where former tree plantations are being cut and repurposed for irrigated potato farming, is a growing concern. Kathie's group works to raise public awareness of the issue and to help people take action to protect their water supplies. Here are some links: Minnesota Department of Health Source Water Protection; Toxic Taters, and Friends of the Mississippi Headwaters. This last group had a table at our meeting with information on their work on pipelines - read about it in this blog post on the LWV UMRR website.
On September 8, LWV UMRR Vice-president Lonni McCauley attended the Cover Crop and Soil Health Learning Tour put on by the University of Minnesota in Rushmore in southwestern Minnesota. The tour included water infiltration demonstrations, hands-on activities, cover crop by herbicide demonstrations, research updates, a farmer panel, soil-root pit, and equipment demonstrations. Speakers at the session included: Shannon Osborne, USDA-ARS; Jennifer Hahn, Pheasants Forever; Brian Christianson, USDA-NRCS; John Shea, Nobles Co. SWCD; and Scotty Wells, Gregg Johnson, Jodi DeJong-Hughes, Liz Stahl, Randy Pepin, and Dan Raskin, U of MN Extension. The farmer panel was made up of Bruce Brunk, Bryan Bielger, and Mike Erbes. Lonni learned that cover crop adoption in Minnesota is not widespread – only 2% of farm land in Minnesota is in cover crops at this time. The University researchers are promoting strip-tilling, which is a hybrid tillage technique between no-till and clear-till. It leaves a 5-inch plowed furrow next to a 7-inch wide cover crop. This technique serves to have ease of planting in the plowed strip and also the advantage of a cover crop to stop soil erosion and water/nutrient loss. A three-farmer panel discussed their experiences and successes with cover crops. All three farmer panelists indicated they began farming with their dads. They indicated it was hard to persuade their dads to change to cover crops and less than clear-till farming. Only their increased yields on test plots convinced them. The average age of farmers in Minnesota is 57. They are reluctant to change lifelong farming habits. The demonstration plots show that cover crops can lead to significant improvement in water retention and soil health. The host farmer said his fields now drain almost no water into the culvert in the ditch adjacent to his fields. In this picture, you see Jodi DeJong-Hughes, University of Minnesota Extension, demonstrate four-foot topsoil and the health of the soil after only three years of cover crop/low till practice. Lonni also reported that alfalfa pellets are being introduced by the U of M as fish food. They take the place of fish-based pellets which are depleting fish populations in the oceans. This will be a boon to the inland fish pond factories springing up in the country and another market for alfalfa. Alfalfa is a perennial crop that requires less inputs and retains soils and water on the farm field. This program is supported in part from a Conservation Innovation Grant from the USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service and funding from MN North Central Region-Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. You can read more about this program here. Thanks to Lonni for attending this session and assisting with this blog post! Guest Post by Beth Baranski, LWV Jo Daviess County Illinois The League of Women Voters' structure and approach allow members to play an instrumental role in efforts to address complex issues. Organized at the local, state, regional, and national levels, League efforts and resources can be scaled up and down as appropriate. With a formal process for studying issues important to voters and coming to consensus before taking action, the League has become widely respected for its non-partisan, fact-based, educational approach. In Jo Daviess County, Illinois, the local chapter of the League of Women Voters (LWV-JDC) is creating a model that showcases how "The League Way" is working with residents in this rural area on the locally controversial, nationally important, and globally critical topic of water resource management. Here are some highlights:
And the work continues...
Workshop led by the University of Minnesota in partnership with The Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation and the League of Women Voters (LWV) - Jo Daviess County, LWV- Upper Mississippi River Region Inter League Organization, LWV- Lake Michigan Region Inter League Organization. With grant funds from 1 Mississippi; an organization supported by The McKnight and Walton Family Foundations.
$20 per person. Includes morning and afternoon coffee, juice and refreshments, and lunch. Who should attend? League of Women Voter members and Rotary Club members from Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, staff from conservation land trust organizations, Extension and Sea Grant educators, teachers and informal science educators, and community members from the surrounding area that want to lead water and land conservation education efforts. About the Watershed Game The Watershed Game is an interactive tool that helps individuals understand the connection between land use and water quality. Participants learn how a variety of land uses impact water and natural resources, increase their knowledge of best management practices (BMPs), and learn how their choices can prevent adverse impacts. Participants apply plans, practices, and policies that help them achieve a water quality goal for a stream, lake, or river. The Watershed Game is available in four versions. The Stream, Lake, and River Versions for Local Leaders are used with elected and appointed officials, community leaders, business leaders, and citizens and a Classroom Version for use with middle to high school youth audiences. The Watershed Game is a curriculum and resource developed and published by the University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program and University of Minnesota Extension. This training will feature:
Objectives of the Train the Trainer Workshop:
Registration Information Participants can register online at http://z.umn.edu/rockford. Click here for a workshop flyer For more information, please contact: John Bilotta | 612-624-7708 | jbilotta@umn.edu Bonnie Cox | 815-238-1725 | bonniekaycox@gmail.com Mark Borchardt is the DIrector of the Laboratory for Infectious Disease and the Environment, USGS. He has been studying the microbes that contaminate Wisconsin's groundwater, and the impact they have on the health of the people of Wisconsin. He told us that it is important to understand that poop is very political. The two big sources of fecal contamination in water are cows and people, and fecal organisms are found in water throughout Wisconsin. Is this a health risk or a non-issue? The second marks below can be used to navigate to specific elements of Mark's talk in this summary:
7:30 The Laboratory conducted a study to determine how many people are getting sick from drinking non-chlorinated municipal water. This was the WAHTER study, back in 2007-8. ( Click here for more information. ). They correlated the presence of pathogens in water to the incidence of acute gastrointestinal disease. The incidence of disease far surpasses the ‘allowable’ level of disease due to water borne illness that has been set by US EPA. People who drink water from non-disinfected public water supplies or private wells are much more susceptible to water-borne disease than people whose water is disinfected. 21:00 Based on this study, Wisconsin passed a law requiring all water supplies be disinfected. However, after political change in state government, a law was passed that prohibits DNR from requiring disinfection. 25:00 The septic system at a restaurant in Door County was causing illness. It was a new system; how could this be happening? The answer was that there was a broken seal in the tank that was causing part of the problem, but the other part of the problem was that the bedrock in the area is fractured dolomite which quickly spreads contamination over great distances. Mark's talk tracks the movement of contaminants through the groundwater to neighboring residential wells. 29:40 Kewaunee County still has “brown water events” in the spring and fall that are clearly linked with intestinal disease. Genetic testing has traced the fecal organisms back to both humans and cattle, and this area has a very large number of Combined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The cattle-source organisms probably spike when manure is being applied, but the human-source organisms are present year round due to the widespread use of septic systems in the area. ( Click here for more information. In this article, one participant asked whether dispensing less liquid manure would reduce well contamination. “You don’t need a scientist for that one,” Borchardt answered. “If you remove the fecal source, you remove the contamination.” ) Kim Wright is the Executive Director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, based in Madison, Wisconsin. She began her talk by telling us that Wisconsin has been a laboratory for understanding the ‘smaller government’ model and what it means for citizens. When government does not do its job protecting its citizens, organizations like Midwest Environmental Advocates step up to help people. The quote below is a statement of rights - the waters of Wisconsin belong to the people of Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resoures is to act as trustee protecting these waters for the people. If we don’t all have fair rules to get into the game, we cannot achieve fair outcomes. The people of Wisconsin have a right to clean water. See WisconinWatch’s Failure at the Faucet: (Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism)
Wisconsin was a leader in implementing regulations when Clean Water Act was passed. Now a legislative audit found that this program is ignoring it’s own rules. When the state does not enforce, it passes on costs to local governments to protect its citizens. Click here for link to audit. Use the second markers below to find specific elements of Kim's talk. (Click here to see Kim's talk on YouTube.) 5:45 Green Bay (the water body) has a deadzone, an area where there is no oxygen, due to the high levels of nutrients that are being discharged here. People sought to place controls on pollutors in the watershed and worked to challenge paper mill permit. A lawsuit was brought, it made its way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Supreme Court ruled that no change was needed. So Midwest Environmental Advocates brought this to US EPA’s attention and asked that the states authority to administer Clean Water Act be rescinded. DNR fought this, but MEA kept up the battle, going back to US EPA with a petition on behalf of 16 citizens who are impacted by contaminated groundwater. ( Click here to read more about this.) 16:00 In 2003, Wisconsin legislature removed the ability of local governments to restrict Combined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs, a.k.a. feedlots). This ties back to donations made to politicians. There was a great increase in the number of CAFOs and a decrease in the number of DNR staff to enforce. This was seen in Kewaunee County in northeastern Wisconsin, near Door County where the great number of CAFOs has greatly impacted groundwater. The manure management plans for these farms seemed to be built on imagined possible corn yields, and children have been sickened from the bad water. ( Click here. ) 27:00 Wisconsin passed law that basically exempted iron mining from environmental regulation. This threatened the wild rice beds of the Bad River Band of Ojibwe ( Click here. ) 30:00 Menomonie – the problem with contaminated lakes full of algae is drastically affecting life in this area. The stench of the algae is unbearable in the summer. ( Click here. ) Kim is hopeful because she sees the people of Wisconsin standing up and organizing. Examples are the Citizen’s Water Lobby Day (link to blog story) which is now organized as Citizen Water Council of Wisconsin, Sustain Rural Wisconsin and the Green Fire group of retired DNR and University of Wisconsin scientists. (Click here for more information on Wisconsin Green Fire; click here for information on Sustain Rural Wisconsin.)
Fishers and Farmers is one of the 19 US Fish and Wildlife Service projects; it works with landowners, NGOs and governments to link landowners, farmers and water users to effectively protect and improve water quality. Use the second markers below to find specific elements of Heidi's talk
8:00 Fishers and Farmers' steering committee goes out and meets with farmers in the project; they organized river boat trips to see the river together. They approach conservation conversations from an agronomic viewpoint. 13:02 – Soil Health is the key. We must get to the root of the problem; building fish habitat is good but if you don’t fix the thing that’s causing fish habitat to be lost the fixes you installed will just wash away. Soil health is essential to keeping soil on the land and clean water in our rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater. Healthy soil increases water-retention capacity. 16:29 – about 15 years ago, LWV Ashland worked with USFW to improve stream water quality in the Bad River Watershed. This was a very successful project and Heidi would love to see this replicated. She also had current examples, including the work that LWV Jo Davies is doing in the Apple Plum watershed. http://watershed.fishersandfarmers.org/apple-plum-watershed/ They have different types of projects in different areas, like oxbow restoration in Iowa and ravine stabilization in Minnesota. Research is being conducted into the efficacy of incorporating strips of prairie land into rowcrops. 27:55 Lessons learned – early adopters suffer from fatigue from implementing change when neighbors don’t. They feel isolated. Peers are among the most powerful influencers of social change. So F&F is working to build trust and build connections in a watershed. They ask conservation staff to arrive as human beings, not as regulators or experts. Landowners and farmers are asked to help solve problems, and their solutions are applied. The goal is to co-create and implement local solutions, to communicate shared vision and hear success. It is also important to support local project managers. The right hand photo below shows the highest leverage points for effecting positive change in a watershed, developed in a Fishers and Farmers workshop. Des Moines Water Works lawsuit summarily dismissed, closing this chapter but not solving the problem3/31/2017 On March 17, 2017, Judge Leonard T. Strand, US District Court of the Northern District of Iowa, issued a summary judgement in favor of the defendants in Des Moines Water Works versus Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun Counties. The defendants in the case filed a motion requesting the case be dismissed. Judge Strand ruled in their favor. Specifically, the ruling finds that the drainage districts represented by the three counties do not have the authority to “mandate changes in farming practices to reduce fertilizer runoff or to assess farmers for the cost of removing nitrates from waters flowing through agricultural drainage systems.” You can read the ruling at this link. For history on this lawsuit, you can read the complaint that the Des Moines Water Works filed in 2015 here. The January Supreme Court decision can be found here. If you’d prefer a short summary to reading all these decisions, check out this story on WHOT. Iowa Public Radio has information on this here, and also gets photo credits for the drainage ditch pictures with this post. Click on the pictures for a link to the IPR article. Next steps? Judge Strand suggested that this is a problem for the Legislature to decide, not the Courts. We will cover further happenings here in this blog. When the amount of oxygen in water drops, fish and other aquatic animals cannot survive. Areas with low or no oxygen are called “hypoxic zones”, and are found in nutrient-rich waters where microscopic phytoplankton multiply boundlessly and then in turn die and decay. The decay ‘uses up’ the oxygen in the water, making it impossible for other aquatic creatures to survive there. This is why hypoxic zones are called “dead zones”. In the Mississippi River System, the dead zone forms at the mouth of the river and extends for miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. This is depicted clearly in this video from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Gulf dead zone peaks in the spring of the year and extends from New Orleans westward to the Louisiana-Texas border. The world’s largest hypoxic zone is in the Baltic Sea, where overfishing has exacerbated the problem by reducing the number of fish available to feed on the phytoplankton. Read about that here. Other dead zones occur in Chesapeake Bay, Green Bay, and Lake Erie. Circle of Blue’s Codi Kozachek writes about dead zones around the world, and their impact on human health and the economy in this article. In Lake Michigan, the dead zone forms in Green Bay where the Fox River carries nutrient pollution into the Bay and overwhelms the ability of this ecosystem to manage the influx. Here, scientists estimate that a 50% reduction in the amount of nutrients coming into the Bay may be enough to take care of the problems. Like in the Mississippi River watershed, the amount of pollutants in the Fox River from point sources has been steadily declining, but the nonpoint contribution (primarily from agriculture) remains high. This topic was discussed at the LWV Wisconsin’s Annual Convention in 2016 in a discusion of "the Economic Case for Water Quality" – see the video here. The title of this blog post, “Dead Zone season is coming again to a major water body affected by you“, refers to the fact that if you are reading this, chances are that the water you flush probably goes to the Mississippi River eventually, meaning that we are all part of the problem here. We need to know that this problem is not a hoax, is not going away and still must be solved. We know that changing agricultural practices so that the earth is covered most of the time will help, and that effective fertilizer and manure management is needed to prevent loss of valuable crop nutrients to waterways. LWV UMRR’s Annual Meeting on May 6 will focus on ways to move ahead in advocacy on this critical topic. Join us in La Crosse and become part of the solution. Sign up here today! |
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