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Nebraska Watersheds News and Views         Winter 2006 Issue 7

Hello, and welcome to the quarterly electronic Nebraska Watersheds News and Views newsletter. I hope this issue and the ones to follow will provide useful information that will increase both your knowledge and interest of water resource issues. The purpose of the electronic newsletter is to provide information on watershed topics and issues, share ideas, programs and publicize events to watershed council members, watershed project coordinators, Extension educators and specialists, agency personnel, watershed management professionals and natural resources professionals. The newsletter is intended for educational purposes only. Newsletter information may be reprinted or reproduced. If you intend to use this material, please acknowledge the authors and the source of information. Interested persons are invited to contribute articles, news items, photographs or other materials for publication. Please, feel free to ask questions, share ideas, or provide feedback.

Steve Tonn-University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator in Douglas/Sarpy Counties/Omaha Lakes Extension Coordinator

In This Issue

• Heartland Regional Water Coordination Initiative Forum
• The Watershed Ethic
• Nebraska Buffer Strip Program Funding Available
• The Husker F.A.R.M. Program
• Waves Activities Views Events Successes
   

The Heartland Regional Water Coordination Initiative Forum
Steve Tonn, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator in Douglas/Sarpy Counties

The Heartland Regional Water Coordination Initiative is a partnership of the land grant universities in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, USDA Cooperative State Research Education Extension Service and EPA Region 7. The overall purpose of the Heartland Initiative is to strengthen multi-state, multi-institutional partnerships to make research, education and extension resources of the land grant universities more accessible to public efforts on regional water issues. Involvement of communities in watershed management is one of the Heartland’s regional priorities.

The Heartland “Community Involvement in Watershed Management Team” is planning a regional forum in November with the goal of improving watershed management by increasing successful collaboration among the agencies, non-governmental organizations and universities that work with local communities on watershed issues. Extension and non-Extension representatives from each of the four states are serving on a forum planning committee. Forum planning committee members from Nebraska are Scott Merritt and Don Vogel, Nebraska Corn Growers Association; Elbert Traylor, Nebraska Dept. of Environmental Quality; Rod Horn, South Platte NRD General Manager and Steve Tonn, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator. The Nebraska committee members will be inviting representatives from agencies, non-governmental organizations, and Extension in Nebraska to attend the November forum. The goal of the forum is to increase the collaborative efforts with stakeholders in watershed management in each of the four states and in the four-state region.

For more information about the Heartland Initiative or this regional forum, please contact Steve Tonn at 402-444-4237 or email stonn2@unl.edu. To learn more about the four state initiative visit the web site www.heartlandwq.iastate.edu

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The Watershed Ethic
Steve Tonn, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator in Douglas/Sarpy Counties

No matter if we live in an apartment, a house, in the city, in a suburb, on a farm, or an acreage we all live in a watershed. A watershed is all the land that drains runoff rainfall, snow melt or irrigation to a specific stream, creek, lake or river. We can live miles away from a stream, creek, pond, lake or river but we still live in a watershed. Watersheds can be small or large.

Let’s compare a watershed to our home or farmstead. Do we only care what happens in the basement and not to any other room in the home or in the yard? Do we care only about our house and neglect the other buildings on the farmstead? If we have damage to the driveway does that impact the entire home or farmstead? Yes, it has an impact on the appearance of the home and the value of the home and lot or access to the farmstead. What if we have damage to the carpet in the family room or the barn roof? That impacts the entire property. Or water damage in the basement? Or a brown spot in the lawn? Or broken down corrals? We can’t separate out a particular room or area from the entire home or farmstead. We care about the well being of our entire home and farmstead. The same is true about a watershed. If we have pollutants running off farm fields, construction sites, lawns, yards, sidewalks and driveways, parking lots, and streets, they all impact the watershed and its specific water body. We can’t separate out any specific area in a watershed. What happens at each one of our homes, farmsteads or fields has an impact on the entire watershed and the specific creek, stream, lake or river that it drains too. We have to care about the entire watershed.

It is a principle of watershed science that each of us is personally responsible for contributing some of the pollutants that run off our farmsteads, farm fields, lawns, driveways, streets, and parking lots. Runoff pollution is the major cause of water quality problems in most watersheds. Since in a watershed the land drains to its lowest point, runoff water picks up pollutants and carries them away to our creeks, streams, lakes and rivers. Some of those pollutants come from our each or our properties. Therefore no matter where we live in the watershed we have a responsibility of preventing runoff pollution from leaving our property and being carried to a water body.

A watershed ethic means that we care what happens on our property and the impact it has in the watershed. Having a watershed ethic means that each person is willing to make some changes in their behaviors and practices to minimize their collective impact on the watershed. Such a watershed ethic is critical if we are to protect and improve the quality of our watersheds.

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Funding available through the Nebraska Buffer Strip Program
Joanna Pope, Public Affairs Specialist – NRCS

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture announced that funding is still available to install buffer strips through the Nebraska Buffer Strip Program. Cropland adjacent to seasonal and perennial streams, wetlands or ponds are eligible for the Buffer Strip Program. Two kinds of buffer strips are eligible - filter strips, which are narrow strips of grass; and riparian forest buffer strips containing trees and grass.

The program was designed to be used in conjunction with the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) however it can be used by itself, as well. Rental rates are calculated as follows:

• For irrigated cropland, rental rates are $150 per acre minus payments from other programs.
• For non-irrigated cropland without CRP, the rental rate per acre is equal to 120% of the average CRP soil rental rate plus $5 per acre, up to a maximum of $150 per acre.
• Non-irrigated cropland enrolled in CRP is no longer eligible.

There is no sign-up period. Landowners may sign up at any time, but this funding is available to eligible landowners on a first come first serve basis. Interested landowners should contact their local Natural Resources District or USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service office to begin the application process. Additional information about the program can be obtained by contacting Craig Romary, Nebraska Department of Agriculture at craiglr@agr.state.ne.us.

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The Husker F.A.R.M. Program
Steve Tonn, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator in Douglas/Sarpy Counties

The Nebraska Corn Growers Association Husker F.A.R.M. (Farmers Advocating Resource Management) Program is designed to help producers balance their needs with the need for ground and surface water stewardship. The program is available to any corn producer. A producer does not have to be a Nebraska Corn Grower Association member to participate in the free program.

Growing corn profitably and efficiently is always a challenge. So is keeping crop inputs in the field where they belong. The Husker F.A.R.M. Program was developed by growers to provide a free analysis of the best management practices that can help to preserve and improve ground and surface water quality…and preserve your right to use plant nutrients and pesticides. In the future, farm program payments will likely be linked to Best Management Practices (BMPs). It will be in the best interest of every producer therefore, for every farm to have a Best Management Practices plan. The Husker F.A.R.M. program is designed to help producers develop a plan that provides for stewardship of water resources while allowing for efficient and profitable production.

When a producer enrolls in the program, a consultant will work with the producer in reviewing their operation to help determine which management practices are best for their farm, with the future of the operation always in mind. The consultant and review are free of any charge and are completely confidential. The review will include a free analysis of the home’s drinking water.

Call the Nebraska Corn Growers Association at 1-888-267-6479 to arrange a free and confidential Best Management Practices review of your operation.

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Watershed Activities Views Events Successes

Omaha Metro Area Erosion and Sediment Control Seminar
Steve Tonn, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educator in Douglas/Sarpy Counties

The fourth “Building for the Future – Erosion and Sediment Control Seminar” was held in February in Omaha. 220 construction industry professionals attended the seminar. Participants included developers, builders, contractors, consultants, engineers, agency and commercial erosion control suppliers. The educational seminar included presentations by the EPA Region 7, NDEQ, NRCS, Omaha Public Works Dept., Papillion Creek Watershed Partnership, US Army Corps of Engineers and commercial erosion control product suppliers. The seminar provides the construction industry with the latest information on stormwater management regulations on the federal, state, district, and local level. The goal of the seminar is to reduce erosion and sediment losses from construction sites and to ultimately improve the water quality in Omaha metro lakes and streams. The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension in Douglas/Sarpy Counties partners with NDEQ, NRCS, Papillion Creek Watershed Partnership, Papio-Missouri River NRD, Metro Omaha Builders Assn., Nebraska State Home Builders Assn., US Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Omaha Public Works Dept. to sponsor the seminar.

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Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln cooperating with Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension educational programs abide with the non-discrimination policies of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture.