Latest / The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast / Episode 24 | Watershed Based Planning
Transcript
- Episode 24 | Watershed Based Planning 00:00:06:07 - 00:00:28:18 Todd Gleason This is the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast, episode 24 Watershed based Planning. I'm Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has a coordinator for the nutrient loss reduction strategy. His name is Trevor Sample. I asked him just exactly what watershed based planning might be. 00:00:28:20 - 00:00:37:04 Trevor Sample Well, watershed planning is a voluntary planning effort led by citizens in the watershed to identify steps to improve local water quality. 00:00:37:06 - 00:00:58:12 Trevor Sample A watershed is defined as the area of land that drains to a particular water body, like a stream, a river, or a lake. A watershed based plan summarizes the overall condition of the watershed and provides a framework to effectively and efficiently improve water quality in a paired waters, and to protect water quality in waters that may be threatened for a particular source. 00:00:58:15 - 00:01:21:04 Trevor Sample For those in agriculture, a local watershed planning allows for farmers and landowners to identify the conservation practices that they're willing to implement. So we feel this leads to the best chance of implementation of the plan that will lead to improvements in water quality. Now, US EPA offers guidance on what components should be in a watershed plan. There's what we call our nine minimum elements. 00:01:21:06 - 00:01:40:10 Trevor Sample The first is to conduct a watershed resource inventory. So this can be a GIS mapping exercise where you're looking at land use, soil types. What kind of activities are in the watershed? Is it largely agricultural? Is it urban? Is there any mining going on? Is there a large forest area? So we want to look at what's going on in the watershed. 00:01:40:13 - 00:02:03:20 Trevor Sample You also want to look at the pollutants and sources of water pollution in that watershed. You know, what are the pollutants of concern? Now, some of that information can be found in our agencies, what we call our integrated water quality reporting 303 D list. You want to set water quality goals for the pollutants? You want to include the management measures kind of gets to the heart of what a watershed plan is. 00:02:03:20 - 00:02:22:06 Trevor Sample What do we need to do in the watershed to improve water quality? You also want to identify your technical and financial assistance programs that are out there that can help with implementation of the plan. Provide an information education strategy. How are you going to let other citizens know what's what the watershed plan is or what's in it? 00:02:22:09 - 00:02:35:04 Trevor Sample Provide a schedule for implementing the management measures identified in the plan, identify milestones for implementing those practices, and then a monitoring strategy, seeing major progress. That's what we call our nine elements of a watershed plan. 00:02:35:08 - 00:02:42:15 Todd Gleason So why would community, watersheds want to develop a watershed based management plan? 00:02:42:18 - 00:02:48:09 Trevor Sample Well you know we can see watershed management plans as a tool to protect and improve water quality resources? 00:02:48:14 - 00:03:15:15 Trevor Sample For all the things we use water for. Drinking water, recreation and protection of aquatic life. And we encourage the formation of watershed groups, that can consist of local stakeholders such as, the municipalities, counties, local governments, soil and water conservation districts, a lot of times leads these efforts. Landowners and farmers, if there's industry in the watershed, conservation groups want everybody at the table have a say in setting the priorities. 00:03:15:15 - 00:03:32:03 Trevor Sample And these recommended actions, that are in the that will be, in this plan. And, you know, if a watershed is mostly agriculture, it's important for farmers and landowners, to have a seat at the table to discuss the role that they can play in improving water quality in their own watershed. 00:03:32:08 - 00:03:36:29 Todd Gleason Is there financial assistance to support the development of the watershed based plans? 00:03:37:01 - 00:04:03:05 Trevor Sample Yes. There are, watersheds that have approved plans can receive higher priority for certain state and federal assistance programs. Our agency, the Illinois EPA, offers financial assistance to what we call our section 319 grant program. And this is a program offers a 6040 cost share for the development of a watershed based plan or implementation of a watershed based plan and applications are due for this program August 1st of each year. 00:04:03:07 - 00:04:07:10 Trevor Sample And if they want more information, they can find it on our agency website. 00:04:07:12 - 00:04:10:14 Todd Gleason How do I know if there's a plan for my watershed? 00:04:10:17 - 00:04:22:27 Trevor Sample I suggest that they start with contacting their local soil and water conservation district. Oftentimes, they're the lead play a lead role in developing these. So I say that would be a good first step. Contact your local soil and water conservation district. 00:04:22:27 - 00:04:24:04 Todd Gleason Is a watershed 00:04:24:04 - 00:04:25:19 Todd Gleason That has a plan. 00:04:25:19 - 00:04:31:08 Todd Gleason Is it mandatory for farmers to implement conservation practices in that watershed? 00:04:31:08 - 00:04:42:12 Trevor Sample Not at all, no. Watershed plan implementation, is strictly voluntary. There's no regulatory requirements or recommendations. For non-point source conservation practices. 00:04:42:14 - 00:04:53:05 Todd Gleason Trevor Sample works on the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction strategy for Illinois EPA. Jennifer Woodyard and Haley Haverback Gruber work on it for University of Illinois Extension. 00:04:53:13 - 00:04:57:19 Todd Gleason I asked both of them about their roles in extension, starting with Haley. 00:04:57:24 - 00:05:20:19 Haley Haverback Gruber My role with extension is I serve as a watershed outreach associate. And so essentially what this means is I serve as a liaison between farmers and then the researchers on campus on nutrient reduction issues. So I provide a lot of education and outreach for the farmers about what different best management practices there are available for nutrient reduction. 00:05:20:22 - 00:05:43:19 Haley Haverback Gruber And then we also or I also participate in watershed planning. I'm located within the lower Rock River, which spans from Winnebago County down to Rock Island County and then in the Mississippi North central watershed, also known as the Henderson Flint watershed, which is from Henry County down to Hancock County. 00:05:43:26 - 00:05:52:15 Todd Gleason So it sounds like you're really actively involved in a lot of communities and in these watersheds and some of that watershed based planning, what does that look like? 00:05:52:21 - 00:06:21:17 Haley Haverback Gruber Yeah. So I think it depends on, what's going on in the different areas. But in my particular area, there hasn't been a very rich history of watershed planning. And so bringing, me into the position, I've been really just trying to gauge interest and where there is resource concerns in the watershed, but then also areas where there's farmers that are willing to try to mitigate some of those concerns. 00:06:21:24 - 00:06:52:21 Haley Haverback Gruber And so in Rock Island County, they actually had a group that was very interested in trying to get a plan together to try to come up with, some try to come up with a plan to try to reach their water resource goals for a different watershed that was outside of my designated area, which was Coppers Creek. And so these interested farmers came together nearly ten years ago and started to put together an inventory for their watershed, trying to figure out what sort of issues they had. 00:06:52:23 - 00:07:19:21 Haley Haverback Gruber And they were actually able to secure funding to get a grant. And they've done all kinds of different projects because they have their watershed plan in place. And so, some of those farmers were actually, farming within my own watershed in the lower Rock River. And so since they had already seen a lot of the great benefits of watershed planning within the Coppers Creek, they decided to do planning in the adjacent Mill Creek. 00:07:19:21 - 00:07:37:19 Haley Haverback Gruber So since I've been started, I've I've spent a lot of time working within Mill Creek with these farmers. And so the first thing that we did was we held a stakeholder meeting for all of the landowner owners and farm operators in the watershed. And so we sent a letter to all of those individuals that came in at the meeting. 00:07:37:19 - 00:08:03:20 Haley Haverback Gruber We just talked about what issues they saw in the watershed, and we asked them to prioritize how they felt these resources went. So we gave them all stickers, and we had a list of, all of the resource concerns that they named, and then they prioritized that. And then through that meeting, we were able to establish a subcommittee that was sort of our technical committee that met and decided what they wanted to do from there. 00:08:03:20 - 00:08:14:10 Haley Haverback Gruber So, I helped them apply for a 604 B grant, which provides money to hire a consultant to come and write a watershed plan for that watershed. 00:08:14:13 - 00:08:26:08 Todd Gleason It sounds like the kinds of things that you would advise producers and other watersheds to do mean get them involved, figure out what it is that they need. Through all kinds of community involvement. 00:08:26:11 - 00:08:35:11 Todd Gleason Are there is there other advice you have for them? And did you learn anything from the farmers who had already been through this process that was important to you? 00:08:35:15 - 00:08:57:10 Haley Haverback Gruber Yeah. So my advice is, if you see resource concerns on any tributary that you have, just go and reach out to your local soil and water conservation district, try to seek, leaders in your area and try to get a group together, because it's really watershed plans are the most effective when there's farmers that are willing to do practices and to use the. 00:08:57:12 - 00:09:21:16 Haley Haverback Gruber There's farmers that are willing to actually use the plans that have been done. So, I've learned a lot from the farmers, but it was interesting to see some of the farmers that had maybe never even been into a soil and water conservation district that have stepped up and taken leadership roles within the watershed planning process, just because they see that there is a need to fix some of the problems on their own land. 00:09:21:19 - 00:09:24:04 Todd Gleason Why is it important for them to be involved? 00:09:24:07 - 00:09:43:19 Haley Haverback Gruber It's important because, you know, as farmers, we all want to be a good neighbor. We want to do what's right. And what happens on your farm affects your neighbors downstream. And so trying to fix problems, on your own land is benefiting yourself. And then also those downstream. 00:09:43:25 - 00:10:09:03 Todd Gleason So that's Haley Haverback Gruber. She's one of two people that are working for Illinois Extension directly on the nutrient loss reduction strategy. The other is Jennifer Woodyard. She works in the Embarras River watershed, as well as the Wabash River watershed in east-central and southern Illinois. I asked her about the communities she works with and how she's actively engaged with planning and what that looks like. 00:10:09:04 - 00:10:28:26 Jennifer Woodyard Yeah, so we actually have, watershed based planning efforts ongoing in the Embarras River watershed and in the Salt Creek, which is a sub watershed of the Little Wabash. And so in the Embraer, we actually have a really active group of stakeholders that have fundraised some money to apply for a grant through Illinois EPA to update our current watershed plan. 00:10:28:28 - 00:10:46:23 Jennifer Woodyard And so that plan was originally updated in 2011 and now is aging out. And we need to update it. So we're, applying for grant money to work with a consultant who will help us update the plan. And actually a group of stakeholders in the Embarras fundraise a little over $75,000 to go towards this grant as match funds. 00:10:47:00 - 00:11:03:19 Jennifer Woodyard And so this was really, really exciting for us. And now, as we're waiting to hear from Illinois EPA, if we receive that grant, we're kind of, feeling out farmers and hearing some of their concerns about water quality within the watershed. And we're just waiting to hear if we got that funds so we can move forward with the update. 00:11:03:21 - 00:11:29:05 Jennifer Woodyard And then and the Salt Creek, which is a sub watershed of the Little Wabash, we just started a new effort to write a watershed plan there, and it's actually a really new collaboration with a professor here at U of I named Doctor Daniel Snyder. And he has a watershed planning course where the students actually are coming down to the Salt Creek, which is located in Effingham County primarily, and they are working on developing a watershed plan that we’ll be able to use in the future. 00:11:29:08 - 00:11:38:02 Todd Gleason Why is it important that farmers be involved in this process, and why really, would they want to be, and are they? 00:11:38:04 - 00:11:54:15 Jennifer Woodyard Yeah. So it's it's really important for farmers, especially in the watershed that my counterpart, Haley and I are working in, because they are primarily farmed, they're very heavily farmed. And so a lot of the land in the watershed, is under production, and we need farmers input to make these plans successful. 00:11:54:22 - 00:12:14:10 Jennifer Woodyard So the whole idea of these plans is it's basically a plan of attack to help us reduce pollutants within the watershed. So, Haley and I's focus is primarily nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient loss. But there's other things that we're concerned about, primarily, sediment loss, as well as a big concern. And depending on the watershed, there's other things that can come into play. 00:12:14:10 - 00:12:41:12 Jennifer Woodyard But for our watersheds, it's really important to have local input. And farmers are a huge part of that. So we don't want these plans to just sit on the shelf once they're written. They're kind of the middle ground. We really want the plans to be written, and then we want them to be implemented. And so that's the goal is to use these plans to get more conservation practices in place on the landscape, to reduce some of those pollutants within the watershed, and to make this work, we really need local input, and farmers are a huge part of that. 00:12:41:14 - 00:12:44:28 Todd Gleason Do you have advice for farmers and landowners in these watersheds? 00:12:44:29 - 00:12:59:08 Jennifer Woodyard Yeah, so if you are interested in getting engaged with watershed planning, if if you're in one of the watersheds that Haley and I are already working in, please get ahold of us. We're in the our extension offices. I'm based out of Effingham, and Haley's up in Galva, Illinois. 00:12:59:10 - 00:13:09:01 Jennifer Woodyard But also, if this is something that's not currently ongoing, but you wish it was, go talk to your local soil and water conservation district, or NRCs and just get something going. 00:13:09:06 - 00:13:17:21 Todd Gleason On that note about getting something going as it relates to the nutrient loss reduction strategy, you might check with your local soil and Water conservation district. 00:13:17:23 - 00:13:27:21 Todd Gleason Erin Bush works for the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District, and she's been involved in some of the effort to plan around the Embarras River. 00:13:27:22 - 00:13:43:01 Erin Bush I serve as a resource conservationist, so I help, put on programs to educate the community and even youth programs about conservation. And we provide technical assistance to producers in regards to conservation in their agricultural systems. 00:13:43:01 - 00:14:08:13 Erin Bush Yeah. So Champaign County, specifically the Champaign Urbana, is the headwaters for the Embarras watershed. And so it's really important that we what we do at the headwaters is going to help protect and work towards better water quality, reducing sediment loss and improving our soils downstream. And so what we can do at the headwaters, and that's where it all starts. 00:14:08:15 - 00:14:12:12 Todd Gleason What value does this kind of watershed planning bring to farmers? 00:14:12:14 - 00:14:36:13 Erin Bush Watershed planning allows us to go out and ask the farmers what they need, and then allows us to provide the technical assistance for them to get to their goals, and even some financial assistance in maintaining or even erasing the issues and encouraging good land stewardship, which in turn brings resiliency to their ground and allows them to apply for funding to improve their soil and water quality. 00:14:36:15 - 00:15:02:14 Todd Gleason Erin Bush is with the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District. You've been listening to the Nutrient Loss Reduction podcast. This has been episode number 24, watershed based planning. The program was produced in conjunction with the Illinois Extension Watershed Outreach Associates Jennifer Woodyard and Haley Haverback Gruber. As described in the State of Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, Woodyard works in phosphorus priority watersheds and Haverback 00:15:02:14 - 00:15:08:19 Todd Gleason Gruber's work is with nitrogen priority watersheds. I'm Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason.