Boone River Watershed Project

Executive Summary

January 2006

            The Boone River Watershed Project is a performance-based, watershed-scale project that includes approximately 50,000 acres in Hamilton County on the southern reaches of the Boone River. It focuses on producer participation in development of area plans for land treatment and water management systems, and seeks to define local responses to environmental standards that also reflect agricultural objectives.

            The partnership includes Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D, the Iowa Soybean Association, The Nature Conservancy, The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the Iowa State University Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, U.S. Forest Service - Land Care, Altria, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, other federal and state agencies, and local farmers and livestock producers from the Boone River Watershed. This project consists of several sub-projects with more coming online as funding is secured.  This summary is a synopsis of progress on current projects; each project is then described in more detail in later sections. 

            Funding has been secured to provide technical assistance for in-field corn nitrogen use efficiency testing, other field demonstrations including a controlled drainage project, to provide landowner training in soil and water quality appreciation and evaluation, complete a watershed ecological assessment, support a local watershed coalition board, and to develop an economic assessment of a restored wetland in the watershed.  Additional funding includes a joint USDA – ISU Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service project with ISU Center for Agriculture and Rural Development to create a computerized model of the watershed and then use that model to help evaluate the effects of various land management scenarios.  Results from all these projects will be used to develop water quality plans and conservation policy recommendations.  Emphasis on local landowner and producer participation ensures ongoing application of project directives and goals.

Project Coordination

            Prairie Rivers of Iowa RC&D, Inc. (PRRCD), a non profit 501(c)(3) organization based in the Iowa counties of Webster, Hamilton, Hardin, Boone, Story and Marshall, is responsible for oversight and coordination of the Boone River Watershed Project (BRWP).  PRRCD also actively participates in ongoing grant applications to expand the project, and the majority of the BRWP financial accounting.

Ecological Assessment

            The Nature Conservancy (TNC) spearheads this aspect of the Boone River Watershed Project (BRWP).  During 2004-2005 Rachel Neugarten and David Braun (TNC) worked to assimilate all available biological and hydrological data related to the Boone River (BR) into an Ecological Assessment.  They developed an extensive list of water ecology and hydrology contacts and interviewed these people for information and perspective on the habitat and water quality status of the BR. 

            A workshop was held in Oct. 2004 to review and expand the first draft of the Ecological Assessment, which was then revised during 2005 and presented at a second workshop in Dec. 2005.  Experts in all areas related to the BR Ecological Assessment were invited to attend both workshops, and to provide input and commentary for the Ecological Assessment document.  The report is approximately 120 pages and is available online: http://www.prrcd.org/BRW.html and in Appendix 2.  

            To create this document the authors used a technique that TNC has developed for biological assessments, which involves the development of “Key Ecological Attributes” (KEA) for the system under review, and a “Range of Acceptable Variation” for each KEA.  A total of ten KEAs were identified for the BRW: mussels, benthic macroinvertebrates, riparian vegetation, fish, Topeka shiner, hydrology, hydrologic connectivity, channel geomorphology, water quality, and aquatic mammals.

            George Cunningham (TNC) will continue to refine the Ecological Assessment, including the collection and incorporation of new data, as he proceeds with a onsite BR biological assessment during 2006 - 2007.

In-field Trials and Demonstrations

            This project is a series of landowner outreach efforts coordinated by the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) with support from PRRCD, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Conservation Districts of Iowa, and the Hamilton and Hardin Co. Soil and Water Districts (SWCD).  The ISA has many similar projects statewide (appendix 3). A local watershed coordinator, Leah Maass, is responsible for coordination of project activities, focusing on initial contact and continued participation of producers in the watershed.  Principal activities include:

·         Assisting PRRCD and the SWCDs with establishment and support of a local watershed coalition, and coordinate local participation in specific BRWP projects.

·         Providing technical and planning assistance for BRWP-related farm bill program implementation in the Hamilton and Hardin County SWCDs.

·         Coordinating producer awareness and input into a biological assessment of the BR, to establish environmental goals relating to stream hydrology, chemistry, and physical habitat conditions.

·         Recruiting producers to participate in the ISA management system evaluation programs (i.e. – Nitrogen strip trials, guided fall corn stalk sampling), and facilitation of operator participation, data collection and analysis.

·         Assisting project sponsors to organize and implement a collaborative planning effort for the sub-watershed.  This includes all stakeholders, including individual farmers, ranging from those interested in active participation to those merely wanting to observe the process.  This effort includes an area-wide process that leads to specific environmental management systems planning for individual farm units, laying out steps producers may take on their farms to meet environmental goals.

·         Serving as an ISA representative to coordinate and implement performance-evaluation work elements.

Landowner Environmental Education

            The ISA obtained Resource Enhancement and Protection funds from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) for a series of landowner education activities designed to enhance understanding and appreciation of soil and water environmental parameters.  PRRCD participated in the planning and delivery of the program.

  • Soil Quality Education: National Soil Tilth Lab (NSTL)

One facet was education about the importance of soil quality.  Six landowners were visited and Shannon Gomes demonstrated the soil quality test kit developed by the NSTL at Iowa State University (ISU).  Results were analyzed and the overall quality of the soil discussed with the landowners, along with suggestions for methods to improve some parameters.

  • Water Quality Education: Iowater

Water quality issues were addressed at an Iowater presentation by Brian Soenen (IDNR).  Seven local landowners from the Webster City area attended this meting in July 2005. Those in attendance and other residents in the watershed will be recruited for a larger effort to educate about water quality issues, and participate in data collection “snapshots” in 2006.

  • Landscape History & Historic Vegetation workshop:

A third landowner education workshop was held in November 2005, attended by 15 Webster City area residents. Chris Bair (Iowa Valley RC&D) presented his “Landscape History” workshop, which covers the methods used to discover early agricultural census data, interpret initial surveyor’s notes, compile and analyze historical aerial photos, and analyze information on property abstracts.  He compiles this information into a Landscape History booklet that tells the story of a specific piece of land from European settlement to date.  He used Leah Maass’ (nee Yungclas) family farm near Jewell for demonstration purposes (appendix 4). 

            This presentation was followed by a Historic Vegetation discussion by Inger Lamb (PRRCD).  She presented information about the glacially driven development of the Des Moines lobe, and showed how the local soils, wetlands, topography, and pre-settlement vegetation are all tied to the physical effects of the receding glacier.  The audience was also interested in native plants suitable for small scale landscaping. Inger has been coordinating native plant sales for several years and has developed display flyers with photographs and plant information for use at these sales.  She used these flyers to review about 50 species suitable for native landscaping while fielding questions from the audience. 

Boone River Watershed Computer Model

            Researchers and extension specialists from ISU will partner with PRRCD, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (LCSA), and various farmer and community stakeholders to address water quality problems at a watershed scale through an integrated framework of research, education, and extension. The study area is the BRW, a location chosen for the unique number of complementary water quality projects already underway in the watershed, and the very active community groups who are engaged with the PRRCD and who can provide local expertise, knowledge, and represent community interests concerning land use and water quality concerns.

            Through this partnership, stakeholders are directly involved in the research design by aiding in identifying behavioral changes that are needed to improve watershed quality and to help isolate the factors that can help bring about those changes. Congruently, closely coupled economic and in-stream water quality models will be utilized to predict how and to what degree behavioral changes can and need to be induced to improve water quality. Policy analysis will also quantify the improvements in water quality and the costs/programs needed to achieve the improvements. A critical component of the project is the extension and outreach that will be supported through PRRCD as well as ISU's Extension and the LCSA.         

            Lessons learned from this interdisciplinary and community based research will be introduced to future researchers via an education effort that will also take advantage of the interdisciplinary structure of both the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) and the LCSA on ISU’s campus.

          Science-based solutions with genuine public participation in the formation and assessment of policy alternatives have been initiated elsewhere and lessons from these efforts will guide the analyses. These studies provide general support for the approach and also provide direct guidance on how to best achieve effective integration between partners.

 

The project has the following specific objectives:

1.      In conjunction with stakeholders, identify the cause of water resource degradation in the Boone River Watershed.

2.      Examine the degree to which the adoption of conservation practices can be fostered or impeded by the availability of information, technical assistance, and socio-economic factors such as profitability, risk and tenure system.

3.      Employ and combine GIS data and tools with survey information and a watershed model to create an integrated economic/water quality modeling framework that can assess the costs and water quality benefits of sets of conservation practices.

4.      With stakeholder input, identify and assess alternative configurations of land use and conservation practices that can achieve significant improvements in water quality.

5.      Develop a locality-specific, environmentally beneficial watershed management plan that will lead to measurable change in the Boone River Watershed community.

6.      Provide experiential learning for graduate and undergraduate students by developing web-based interactive watershed management tools and focused workshops for graduate students that systematically address research and implementation issues in watershed management plans.

 

            In section II of the project, the specific methods and approach for meeting these objectives will be described in detail. The strength of the project lies in its integrated approach wherein the distinct lines between research, education, and extension activities are faint and stakeholders’ participation is an integral part of a rigorous, multi-disciplinary research process. In addition to meeting the specific objectives of this project, the results will contribute to scientific understanding of integrated economic and watershed modeling in several ways. First, we will develop a general methodology based on existing GIS and survey data that can be applied to other watersheds. Second, we will examine the adoption of conservation practices that goes beyond simple cost and benefit comparisons and analysis of only individual conservation practices. Adoption models for multiple practices will be developed that take into account barriers of switching to more environmental-friendly practices such as risks, uncertainties, and option values. Socioeconomic factors such as land tenancy, age, etc. will also be considered.

Gordon’s Marsh Economic Evaluation

            A novel opportunity exists for evaluation of the potential economic and environmental costs and benefits of an artificial marsh installed as an alternative to tile drainage: within the BRW a 280 acre wetland was established in three phases during 1988 -1999.  A project is underway to evaluate the environmental and economic ramifications of this wetland.  This project is funded through the ISU Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and is coordinated by PRRCD and ISU-CARD.

Controlled Drainage Project

            Water table management (WTM) practices that control drainage through outlet control have been shown to reduce the volume of subsurface drainage on certain landscapes.  The goal is to drain only that water that is necessary for crop production.

            The objectives of this project are to investigate the performance of WTM practices at a full field-scale and measure the effect of WTM on both water and soil quality and crop production.  In particular, the impacts of WTM on the volume of subsurface drainage, deep percolation, lateral seepage, and surface runoff need to be quantified.  Water flow, soil physical, chemical, and biological properties and crop yield in a field-scale WTM system will be measured and compared to a companion conventionally drained system.

            This project is coordinated by PRRCD, with funding from the NRCS and interested partners, and scientific oversight by ISU.

Prairie Remnant Survey

            An ongoing central Iowa survey for prairie remnants (land that has remained unplowed since European settlement) is being coordinated by Iowa Native Lands, Inc., and includes Hamilton and Webster counties.  GIS format data will be supplied to appropriate parties involved in the BRWP as needed.