Soil & Water Conservation District Guidebook 2008 - Minnesota ...

AFTER BEFORE
Pictured: This 4.9-acre wetland and upland buffer was restored
through the MPCA 319 grant.
The Elk River Watershed Association is
a partnership formed 13 years ago by Benton and Sherburne
SWCDs and counties. The many accomplishments of the association
include the MPCA 319 grant “Elk River Watershed
Priority Lakes Phosphorus Reduction.” This grant focused on
managing agricultural and lakeshore activities including:
1) Installing high visibility manure management BMP demonstration
plots to illustrate that proper manure management improves
water quality and is profi table;
2) Installing fi lter strips and buffer strips in highly sensitive riparian
areas;
3) Installing low-cost, common sense feedlot practices on small to medium
sized lots to reduce phosphorus discharged into surface waters;
4) Demonstrating the re-establishment of natural shoreline vegetation
and implementing projects to reduce runoff from developed
areas using fi lter strips and methods to promote infi ltration.
The Benton SWCD installed many projects with this program. One
of the main successes was to install 41 manure management test
plots. These test plots were customized for each farmer and com-
Benton Soil & Water Conservation District
pared Best Management Practices for nutrient management
to the farmers’ normal nutrient management strategies.
For users of poultry manure, in nearly all cases the manure
spreaders being used were not capable of spreading
chicken manure at a rate low enough to reduce the nutrient
application to recommended rates for crop needs. To overcome
this barrier a special manure spreader was purchased
with this project and used by cooperators. This proved to
be a key component in assisting users of poultry manure
to adopt manure management BMPs. Benton County has
the highest density of broiler chickens in the state. Yield
checks were completed on the plots in the fall to demonstrate
that BMP’s maintain yields and are profi table.
Top 5 Natural Resource Concerns
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Groundwater
Feedlot/manure management
Development
Water quality in the Little Rock Lake Watershed
Water quality and quantity in the Elk River
Watershed
Future Projects
Clean Water Legacy: In 2007 the Benton SWCD
received funding from the Minnesota Board of Water
and Soil Resources through the Clean Water Legacy
Program. The goal of this project is to provide farmers
in Benton County the opportunity to manage feedlots
and manure in an environmentally responsible manner
that is consistent with state rules. Benton County
has one of the highest densities of feedlots in the state.
The SWCD hired an employee to address these issues
and is completing pollution potential assessments of
feedlots and designing low-cost treatment systems
where applicable. We began our work with the registered
feedlots that have signed a 2005/2010 open lot
agreement with the MPCA. Additionally, the SWCD
has expanded the very popular manure management
test plot program to the entire county.
Little Rock Lake TMDL: Little Rock Lake had a Trophic
State Index over 80 in 2007, experienced extremely
severe algae blooms and is considered impaired for nutrients.
The Benton SWCD is working with the MPCA to
complete a TMDL study over the next two to three years.
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