Several of our staff attended the Iowa Water Conference on March 12 and 13. The event brings together hundreds of smart, hard-working people that are working to improve water quality, restore aquatic habitat, and control flooding across the state of Iowa. We always learn a lot from both the presenters and the other attendees, and come away energized. Here are our top three lessons we learned this year:
1. Farms can simultaneously improve water quality and wildlife habitat
Adam Janke, Extension Wildlife Specialist, talked about how the practices being used for nutrient reduction can also benefit many of Iowa’s species of greatest conservation need. For example, trumpeter swans like CREP wetlands. Migrating ringneck ducks and Topeka shiners use oxbow wetlands. Meadowlarks use prairie strips. We will be pursuing these kinds of synergies in three watersheds with a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, so it was great to hear specifics.
2. Retailers of agricultural products need to be part of water quality solutions
Chris Jones from University of Iowa shared some disturbing data from northwest Iowa. In the Floyd and Rock River watersheds, livestock production and manure application has doubled since 1980, but commercial fertilizer sales have remained the same. In those watersheds, nitrogen is being applied at 80-100 lbs/acre above the MRTN (Maximum Return to Nitrogen), leading to nitrate concentrations in the Floyd and Rock rivers that are twice as high as other streams in western Iowa. Clearly, some farmers aren’t thinking about their manure management plan or water quality when they purchase nitrogen fertilizer, and their retailers aren’t bringing it up. When our conversations about agriculture remain siloed (pardon the pun), water quality suffers.
However, at another session, we learned how ag retailers with the Agriculture’s Clean Water Alliance are showing leadership on water quality — including water quality monitoring in the Raccoon River and developing a code of practice for nitrogen application to reduce losses from farm fields while increasing return on investment (ROI). Precision agriculture tools are also being used to identify land where inputs aren’t generating a good ROI, and use that information to make conservation decisions that benefit both the bottom line and the environment. Gregg Schmitz of Nutrien shared an example where revenues from a 140 acre farm were increased by putting 70 acres into CRP and redeploying inputs into the other half. Surveys show that agriculture retailers and crop consultants are trusted sources of information for farmers, so their involvement will be essential to solving our water quality challenges. We’re grateful for the support of Key Cooperative and Heartland Cooperative on field days and producer engagement in the Squaw Creek watershed.
3. Water quality improvements are possible, but require a commitment of both time and money
Neil Shaffer, an award-winning watershed coordinator in northeast Iowa, shared some heartening success stories. Nitrate leaving the Staff Creek and Beaver Creek watershed was reduced by 47%. Brook trout were reintroduced to a tributary of Silver Creek. In both cases, it took over 8 years of monitoring and $3-5 million of funding for conservation practices to see those changes. We’re well aware that water quality requires a long-term commitment and are in this for the long haul.
An update on our watershed planning efforts is long overdue. Our NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant for the “Keigley” watershed project wrapped up in September of 2018. Here’s some of the highlights from 2017-2018 and what we’ll be doing next.
A change in focus: No more need to explain that by “Keigley Branch Watershed” we really mean “part of the South Skunk River.” In the future, we’ll be working with the entire 200,556-acre watershed that drains to the South Skunk River above the confluence with Squaw Creek in Ames. On paper, a single ten-digit hydrologic unit (HUC10) seemed like a more manageable project, but as we talked with the public it became clear that watershed plans and partnerships would be more effective if the river’s headwaters in Hamilton County were included sooner rather than later.
Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District
City of Ames
City of Story City
City of Roland
City of Randall
We hope more jurisdictions will join as the partnership takes shape. Good communication between the cities, counties, and conservation districts in a watershed leads to more and better projects that improve water quality and soil health.
Great public input: 80 people—56 residents, 15 high school students, and 9 ISU students—attended our public workshops. The goals and implementation strategies they suggested will provide a great starting point for the WMA to develop an actionable plan for conservation in the Headwaters of the South Skunk River watershed.
An interactive map of conservation opportunities: Between this project and Story County’s assessment of its watersheds, we have identified suitable spots for bioreactors, grassed waterways, constructed wetlands and other agricultural conservation practices across 728,144 acres! Check out our interactive map to get ideas for conservation practices that might work on your farm or in your watershed, along with an explanation of each practice.
Winter is a busy season for grant-writing. We are currently looking for funding to provide education and technical assistance to farmers and landowners in this watershed, to build partnerships with more groups in Hamilton County, to fill in missing information identified during the planning process, and to support the new WMA in completing a plan for the Headwaters of the South Skunk River watershed. This is just the beginning!
Look down from a plane in any part of the state and you will see Iowa farmers’ commitment to soil and water conservation etched into the landscape. Using aerial photos and Lidar from 2007-2010, the Iowa DNR and Iowa State University recently completed a statewide project to map and inventory six conservation practices.
The finished maps are available for most* of the Squaw Creek Watershed, so we tallied up the results. It’s encouraging to see that even in a flat part of the state, producers have been doing a lot to control soil erosion. Thank you for your stewardship!
100 acres of contour buffer strips
1,165 acres of grassed waterways
173 miles of terraces
230 water and sediment control basins
21 farm ponds
However, while Iowa has made a lot of progress in addressing soil erosion, we are just beginning to address nutrient losses. The dead zone in the Gulf this year was the size of Connecticut and shrinking it will require big changes in the way we farm. From the Nutrient Reduction Strategy, here’s one scenario to get us there.
Nitrogen on all acres applied based on Maximum Return to Nitrogen
60% of row crop acres planted with cover crops
27% of cropland draining to a treatment wetland
60% of drained cropland treated with a bioreactor
It’s important to keep both those thoughts in mind. Let’s appreciate what farmers are already doing for conservation while being clear-eyed about the scale of the challenge.
*Two sub-watersheds in Hamilton County are still being checked for accuracy. We’ll add this data once it becomes available for download.
On June 14, Squaw Creek rose to flood stage. On the same day, nitrate concentrations in Squaw Creek dropped from 11.8 mg/L to 2.7 mg/L. Does that mean that June’s storm clouds had a silver lining for Iowa’s nutrient reduction efforts? I’m afraid not.
The nitrate concentration in a river is an important number if (like the Des Moines Water Works) you’re treating it for drinking water and need to stay below 10 mg/L. However, when it comes to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, the number that matters is the nitrate load that is sent downstream: the nitrate concentration in the water times the flow of water in the river.
Data from nitrate sensor installed in Squaw Creek at Moore Park in Ames. Courtesy of IIHR. https://iwqis.iowawis.org/
Not following me? Ponder this analogy. Nutrient loading is like beer. I enjoy craft beer and have learned to pay close attention to the alcohol by volume number, which can range from 5% in a lager to 10% in an imperial IPA. In order to avoid having my judgement impaired, I need to monitor both the strength of my drinks, and the number of drinks consumed over an evening. In the same way, to avoid having our downstream waters impaired, we need to monitor both the concentration of nitrate in a river and the flow of water in the river.
Here are some examples of nitrogen loading from our monitoring station in Squaw Creek at Lincoln Way. As you can see, most of the nutrient losses happen when streams are high and drain tiles are running, and that’s consistent with the research, which has found that up to 97% of nitrate losses and 98% of phosphorus loading happens when flow is above the median. With weather playing such a big role, it’s clear there’s no easy answers to water quality. Applying the right amount of nutrients, preventing nutrient loss through cover crops, and using edge-of-field practices to intercept nutrients from drainage water… it all needs to be on the table.
Story County roads now have 50 signs marking the boundaries between watersheds. Another 105 signs label creeks at bridges. As you drive around Story County, we hope you will have a renewed appreciation for its many creeks and rivers. We hope the watershed signs will help make visible the subtle divides between watersheds and get people thinking about the connections between land stewardship and water quality.
Prairie Rivers of Iowa designed and ordered the signs, identified locations, and researched best practices. Staff with Story County Conservation and the Iowa Department of Transportation put them up. Funding for the project was provided by the Story County Board of Supervisors, Story County Conservation, the Story County Community Foundation, and the Story County Soil & Water Conservation District. Watch the video from the June 6, 2018 press conference to hear from these organizations and learn more about the project.
Similar efforts around the state have helped to draw attention to our water resources and spur interest from landowners in conservation practices, but Story County’s effort was perhaps unprecedented in scale, and one of only a few projects to mark watershed boundaries in addition to creek crossings.
You can find the locations of all the signs that were installed for this project at this interactive web map. Want to know what watersheds you live in? Enter a street address in the search bar and then click on the map to bring up the complete “watershed address” for any point in Iowa using our Watershed Locator Map.
County Supervisor Rick Sanders and County Conservation Director Mike Cox pose with a watershed sign.
