06/07/2005

When All Streams Come Together

Writer:

Mauricio Espinoza
espinoza.15@osu.edu
(330) 202-3550

Source:

Richard Moore
moore.11@osu.edu
(330) 202-3538

Jason Parker
parker.294@osu.edu
(330) 202-3535

WOOSTER, Ohio — In 1998, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency labeled the Sugar Creek watershed in north-central Ohio the state’s second most degraded watershed. The agency found high stream sedimentation from soil erosion, riparian habitat destruction, excessive nitrogen and phosphorus loadings, and high levels of fecal coliforms.

Today, said Ohio State University scientist Richard Moore, the watershed is still facing the same health and environmental challenges. But things are different.

“Something has changed in Sugar Creek,” said Moore, a researcher with the Department of Human and Community Resource Development based on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s (OARDC) Wooster campus. “Back then, people in the watershed were not aware of the problem or didn’t think the stream was that polluted. Now, they have mobilized themselves to address the problem and try to do something about it.”

The change has much to do with the Sugar Creek Headwaters Project, a grassroots effort teaming Ohio State agricultural scientists and community members and agencies in Wayne and Holmes counties. Led by Moore, the project was started in 2000 to help citizens — many of them farmers, a large number Amish — create a watershed vision based on their values and aspirations. The focus is on the headwaters because studies show they play an important role in affecting the waters downstream, and cleaning them pays big dividends. Sugar Creek is a headwaters of the Muskingum River watershed, which drains about one-fourth of Ohio and dumps its share of pollutants into the Mississippi rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.

Part of OARDC’s Agroecosystems Management Program (AMP), the Sugar Creek project includes a team of 25 university researchers and agency personnel working in partnership with the Wayne and Holmes counties Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), Ohio State University Extension, Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Wayne County Health Department, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, Ohio Farm Bureau, Ohio Farmers Union, Innovative Farmers of Ohio, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, the Stratford Ecological Center, and local community-based watershed groups. Faculty from the College of Wooster, Kent State University and the University of Illinois are also involved.

Project goals include understanding the ecology of agricultural pollution; generating an entrepreneurial mechanism that catalyzes stewardship values and synergy between farmers and industry to lower pollution levels while mutually increasing profitability and social capital; and creating ways for farmers to transition toward more ecological farming while increasing earnings.

Moore said raising awareness about the watershed’s impairments (and getting citizen buy-in) would have never been possible without the tremendous amount of research that has been conducted during the past four years. Water testing that began in 2001 with 21 sites throughout the 357 square-mile watershed hiked to 101 sites in 2005 — that’s roughly one site per each 3.5 square-mile, one of the country’s highest watershed testing ratios, according to Moore. What’s even more important, the increase was carried out by request of the farmers, who felt it was their responsibility to know if a particular problem had its roots on their properties.

“To understand the problem, you need good data,” Moore pointed out. “And the data we have collected has helped Sugar Creek people understand what the watershed’s condition really is. By having such a large number of testing sites, we have been able to identify ‘hot spots,’ or areas that constantly show high pollution levels. This information has allowed us to rule out possible pollution sources and find the exact cause of the problem to solve that hot spot. We can have a bigger impact this way.”

Monitoring of each site is constant. Every other week, two teams from OARDC and the Wayne and Holmes counties SWCD gather water samples and test them for nitrogen and phosphorus (two major nutrients that lead to excessive algae growth, which in turn reduces the amount of available dissolved oxygen in the water) and dissolved oxygen itself, which is vital for aquatic life. The teams have also conducted studies on fecal coliforms, including potentially deadly E. coli.

Rigorous testing and compilation of benchmark data on the watershed’s biological processes has led to targeted efforts to clean up the streams, said Jason Parker, coordinator of the project and an OARDC research associate. These include nearly 20 innovative conservation measures that are offered to farmers free of charge or on a cost-share basis. Implementation has been so successful that the Ohio EPA has recognized Sugar Creek as the Ohio model for building community support in water-quality improvement initiatives.

One conservation measure is the Late Spring Nitrate Test (LSNT), which shows how much nitrogen a field needs, ensures the crop is fed enough, and prevents unnecessary applications that can lead to water pollution — nitrates can cause ecological harm and human illness, such as “blue baby” syndrome. The project offers free LSNT soil samplers, sample bags and analysis, and if desired will coordinate with the farmer’s crop consultant.

According to a 2004 study in the Journal of Environmental Quality, widespread adoption of the LSNT could cut how much nitrate gets into the water by 30 percent or more in the Midwestern Corn Belt. With help from OARDC technician David McCartney, one Sugar Creek farmer whose farm was a “hot spot” used the test last year and saved $3,000 in nitrogen application without compromising his corn yields.

“He was applying more nitrogen than needed, but he didn’t know that,” Parker said. At a recent community meeting, the farmer spoke about his positive experience with the test. The result: four other farmers, who own 400 acres of land, signed up for the program. Both Parker and Moore expect the nitrogen levels in that “hot spot” to be significantly lower soon.

Another successful management practice implemented in Sugar Creek involves installing exclusion fencing to keep livestock away from rivers and streams. The idea is to reduce the amount of manure, a source of coliform bacteria and nitrates, that gets in the water. Also, the hooves of livestock can break down stream banks and tear up soil-holding streamside plants, causing erosion and sedimentation; grazing may damage those plants even further. This practice not only improves water quality — it also benefits livestock health, consequently increasing farmer profits.

“A dairy farmer near Kidron noticed his cows were getting sick and had a high rate of mastitis,” Moore said. “After he started using exclusion fencing, the health of the cows improved significantly. They had less mastitis and lower somatic-cell counts (an indicator of udder health). This translated in improved herd health that increased production and milk quality.”

Going from 365,000 somatic cells per milliliter of milk to 165,000 allowed the farmer to receive a 75-cent per hundredweight (cwt) premium when he joined the Green Field Farms Cooperative — a recently formed, Mt. Eaton-based chicken, milk and vegetable operation whose leaders have had experience with the Sugar Creek project. Starting this year, the 30-family Amish co-op will phase in some 40 jobs to the economy, and another 600 families have already expressed an interest in joining the operation.

While much of the pollution in the Sugar Creek watershed is attributed to agriculture, a leading contributor of non point-source pollution, industry also plays a role as a generator of point-source pollution — which is regulated through National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NDPES) permits by the Ohio EPA. Recently, Ohio EPA established a new policy, Total Maximum Daily Loads or TMDL, to set maximum watershed loading limits for both non point-source and point-source pollution. This policy, Moore said, will have an impact on economic activities within the watershed, especially for industries.

In order to comply with the new regulations and promote economic development at the same time, the Sugar Creek project has helped Winesburg-based Alpine Cheese draft a nutrient-trading permit to lower phosphorus pollution stemming from its operation. The pending permit — only the second one in Ohio, but the “first that specifically tells how to get the job done,” according to Moore — will make it possible for Alpine to expand its plant for increased production of Jarlsberg, a specialty cheese for which the manufacturer has the exclusive U.S. contract from Norway’s TINE Dairy. The phosphorus TMDL set for Sugar Creek is one milligram of phosphorus per liter of water. Under the permit, Alpine Cheese will be allowed 10 mg/liter or a maximum of 1.7 kg/day; in exchange, the plant will pay local farmers, the Holmes County SWCD and OARDC approximately $800,000 over five years to implement conservation measures that will further reduce phosphorus levels. Lance Williams, an assistant professor with the School of Natural Resources, is monitoring habitat changes to see the effect of reduced phosphorus levels on aquatic life such as fish and salamanders.

“We thought that complying with the TMDL would be cost prohibitive for our operation because of the high cost of the filtering system needed to accomplish such requirement,” said Robert Ramseyer, president of Alpine Cheese. “So we said, ‘Let’s see if EPA would be willing to negotiate a permit through which we could work with local people to reduce phosphorus content in the stream.’ And that’s what we have done. This has allowed us to become an even greater market for milk from local producers, and we are also putting money into the community. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.”

To be phased in between 2005 and 2006, the expansion will create 12 new jobs and allow the plant to process approximately 900,000 pounds of milk per day — 250,000 pounds more per day than in 2004. One-hundred percent of this milk will be Ohio-produced Grade A Class III milk, valued at $14-15/cwt to the producer. This increase in local milk usage amounts to $36,000 per day or the equivalent production of 126 small dairy farms each with 40 cows. Production of Jarlsberg will increase by 100 percent to 50,000 pounds per day, each pound with a retail value of $6-10.

Soybean farmers in the area may also reap benefits through the Japan Consumer Cooperative Soybean Marketing, an initiative of the Sugar Creek project. The initiative has helped producers achieve a per bushel price increase of $2 for organic and low-input tofu soybeans. The first 730-bushel shipment is expected to be made to Nagoya, Japan, this year.

“The collaboration between OARDC, the citizens and all the different community organizations involved in Sugar Creek is what has set this project in motion,” said Rachel Webb, Sugar Creek watershed coordinator with the Wayne County SWCD. “Being a small local agency limits the amount of work we can do, so having OARDC getting grants and doing a phenomenal amount of research has been a great help. We have been able to bring environmental and economical sustainability together in the watershed, and we will continue listening to what the community needs and wants.”

Funding for the Sugar Creek project has come from the National Science Foundation, Ohio EPA, USDA and OARDC.

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