Watershed Outreach Media June 2010 A newsletter for Rathbun Land and Water Alliance Board members Volume

June 2010 A newsletter for Rathbun Land and Water Alliance Board members Volume 5 Issue 2
The Swartz family, 2008 Lucas County Rathbun Lake
Contact Kathleen Chester at 641.774.5940 Protectors, were featured in the June 2010 issue of
or by email at chester@sirisonline.com Wallace’s Farmer. The magazine’s editor, Rod Swoboda,
has requested a quarterly submission about the Rathbun
Lake Protectors. Subsequent features will run a September, December, March, June rotation. Worth noting: Swoboda became
interested in featuring the Protectors on a quarterly basis after listening to the
WHO Radio interviews on The Big Show. Five more interviews are scheduled
to air with Bob Quinn—four in 2010 and one in 2011. Alliance Matters and Partner News Alliance requests partner support to
expand the Protect Rathbun Lake Project
Press releases were sent to local media to alert landowners that if they owned Contact Marty Braster at 641.647.2416
eligible land, they would soon be contacted by new watershed coordinators or by email at mbraster@rrwa.net The Alliance has presented a proposal that will significantly
Gene Pace and Alex Billings. KTVO interviewed Margaret Cope and Gene expand the Protect Rathbun Lake project to the Iowa
Pace regarding IJobs funding. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and IDALS
Division of Soil Conservation (DSC). The funds requested in the proposal would support the expansion of project activities into five
A photo of one Protector per county standing next to new targeted sub-watersheds. If approved by the DNR and DSC, the proposal and associated financial support would bring the total
their installed landowner sign will be sent to local pa- number of targeted sub-watersheds in which Protect Rathbun Lake project activities are underway to 35 of the 61 sub-watersheds in
pers to promote the installation of project signage as the Rathbun Lake watershed.
shown to the left.
The five targeted sub-watersheds identified in
Exhibits the Alliance’s proposal to the DNR and DSC
are South Fork Chariton River #1 (Wayne
Five project posters were developed for display in shower house
County), Upper West Jackson Creek (Wayne
exhibit boxes at Rathbun Lake. At right: A previous year’s poster is shown with
County), Upper Jackson Creek (Wayne
the current year’s poster shown below it.
County), Lost Branch (Lucas and Wayne
Counties), and Chariton River #6 (Lucas
Alex Billings joins Protect Rathbun Lake Project team County).
Jeff Pfeifer (shown below at left), field design and layout technician for IDALS-DSC reviews a Rathbun
Lake Watershed map with Environmental Specialist, Alex Billings, who was recently hired as a The number of acres of priority land, row
watershed coordinator for the Protect Rathbun Lake crop use of land previously enrolled in the
Project. Conservation Reserve Program, and land-
owner interest led to the targeting of these
Billings earned his Environmental Studies degree at five sub-watersheds. Funds requested in the
Central College in Pella, Iowa, and says he looks Alliance’s proposal would be used primarily to
forward to getting back into agriculture after being provide landowners with the technical and
away from it during the years he earned his degree. financial assistance needed to apply best
management practices (BMPs) for priority
Although he is housed in the NRSC office in Chariton, Billings will work with land.
landowners in each of the six Rathbun Lake Watershed counties as needed. He
originates from Dallas Center where he spent summers on a family farm. This proposed expansion of the Protect Rathbun
Lake project into five new targeted
sub-watersheds would lead to the installation of
Please remember to support the Alliance in 2010 BMPs for more than 6,800 acres.
As in previous years, the Alliance’s Board of Directors has asked its members and local partners to contribute $200 each to the
organization in 2010. Alliance member RRWA matches dollar-for-dollar the contributions of other members and local partners. The These practices would reduce the annual
funds contributed are used to help complete the Alliance’s financial audit and carry out watershed outreach activities including our delivery of sediment and phosphorus to Rathbun
annual Protect Rathbun Lake meeting. These activities are important for the Alliance to continue to be an effective, volunteer-based, Lake and the lake’s tributaries by an estimated
non-profit organization. Invoice requests for calendar year 2010 contributions have been mailed to each of the Alliance’s member and 10,200 tons of sediment and 34,000 pounds of
local partner organizations. Alliance members and local partners can contact project staff if they have any questions about, or would phosphorus.
like a new invoice for, the 2010 request for support.
The Alliance’s proposal also requests support for
one additional Environmental Specialist to join
Th e R ath bun L ak e Spec i al P r oj ec t i s a par tner s hi p of th e f ol l o w i ng i ndi vi dual s , ag enc i es , and or gani zati ons : P ar ti c i pati ng l andow n er s i n th e R ath bun L ak e
W a t ers h e d; Iowa D e par tm e nt of A gric ul t ur e a nd La nd St ew ar ds hi p’ s D i vis i on of Soi l C ons er va ti on; Iow a D e par tm e nt of Na t ur al Re s ourc es ; Iow a St a t e the Protect Rathbun Lake project team of field
University; Iowa Watershed Im provem ent Review Board; Southern Iowa Devel opment a nd Conserva tion A uthority; US Army Corps of Engineers; US
Environm ental Protec tion Agency; USDA Farm Ser vice A genc y; USDA Natur al Res ources Conser vati on Ser vice; Appanoose, Clar ke, Decatur , Lucas , staff.
Monroe, and Wayne Soil and Water Conservation Districts; Appanoose, Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, Monroe, and Wayne Counties; Iowa Farm Bureau at the state and county levels; and Rathbun Regional Water
Association.
 Velvet’s View Watershed Improvement Review Table 1: SFY2010 summary of BMPs installed and load reductions achieved in the 28 targeted sub-watersheds
Board Report and Best Management
Contact Velvet Buckingham at 641.872.1350 Practices Update
or by email at Velvet.Buckingham@ia.nacdnet.net July 1, 2009 – May 31, 2010
Shown below is the progress of the Watershed
Improvement Review Board funding. Tables located
Gross Erosion
on opposite page summarize BMPs installed and load Units Acres Reduction Sediment Delivery Phosphorus Delivery
reductions achieved in the 28 targeted sub-watersheds. The top right table reflects activity since July 1, 2009 and the table at Practice Installed Benefited Tons/Yr. Reduction Tons/ yr. Reduction Lbs./Yr.
bottom right is a cumulative summary since 2004.
Terraces 133,938 ft. 1183 1983 2091 9894
WIRB #2 BMP Progress—June 30, 2010 Water & Sediment Basins 26 no. 69 90 130 665
Grade Stabilization Structures 10 no. 334 145 581 2153
Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance Sediment Basin 0 no. 0 0 0 0
Seeding $4,550.00 $0.00 $549.00 $4,001.00 Livestock Exclusion 0 ac. 0 0 0 0
Waterways $13,200.00 $437.00 $1,548.75 $11,214.25 Pasture & Hayland Seeding 9 ac. 9 32 13 59
Terraces $356,662.00 $4,461.00 $308,131.10 $44,069.90 Grassed Waterways 2.1 ac. 3 10 9 34
CRP buffer / filter strips 0 0 0 0 0
Basins $43,000.00 $2,067.00 $34,408.03 $6,524.97
Fence 0
Structures $61,950.00 $0.00 $63,618.93 -$1,668.93 Heavy Use Protection Areas 0
Total $479,362.00 $6,965.00 $408,255.81 $64,141.19 Pipeline 0
Tanks 0
WIRB #3 BMP Progress—December 31, 2010 Brush Management 0
Nutrient Management 0
TOTALS 1598 ac. 2260 t/y 2824 t/y 12,805 lbs/y
Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance
Seeding $10,500.00 $0.00 $0.00 $10,500.00 Table 2: Cumulative summary of BMPs installed and load reductions achieved in the 28 targeted sub-watersheds
Terraces $330,600.00 $82,088.48 $196,761.13 $51,750.39 CUMULATIVE (FFY ‘04- May
31, 2010)
Basins $24,000.00 $19,257.88 $883.90 $3,858.22
Gross Erosion
Structures $87,720.00 $20,196.45 $32,399.84 $35,123.71
Units Acres Reduction Sediment Delivery Phosphorus Delivery
Total $452,820.00 $121,542.81 $230,044.87 $101,232.32 Practice Installed Benefited Tons/Yr. Reduction Tons/ yr. Reduction Lbs./Yr.

WIRB #4 BMP Progress—December 31, 2011 Terraces 846,558 ft. 8129 10,295 13,638 62,998
Water & Sediment Basins 173no. 526 647 1092 5262
Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance Grade Stabilization Structures 89 no. 2783 1697 4439 17684
Terraces $104,742.00 $116,554.73 $5,494.41 -$17,307.14 Sediment Basin 10 no. 2175 723 5746 19,682
Debris Basins $50,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $50,000.00 Livestock Exclusion 8 ac. 8 84 32 158
Structures $32,412.00 $0.00 $0.00 $32,412.00 Pasture & Hayland Seeding 717 ac. 717 2934 996 4453
Basins $19,296.00 $8,042.63 $2,974.35 $8,279.02 Grassed Waterways 37.8 ac. 549 468 461 2333
CRP buffer / filter strips 92.7 ac. 110 591 192 1079
Waterways $2,643.00 $0.00 $0.00 $2,643.00
Fence 13,022 ft.
Seeding $3,936.00 $0.00 $0.00 $3,936.00
Heavy Use Protection Areas 10 no.
Total $213,029.00 $124,597.36 $8,468.76 $79,962.88 Pipeline 3160 ft.
Tanks 7 no.
WIRB #5 BMP Progress—December 31, 2014 Brush Management 280 ac.
Nutrient Management 159.7 ac.
Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance
TOTALS 14,997 ac. 17,439 t/y 26,596 t/y 113,649 lbs/y
Seeding $6,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $6,000.00
Summary of financial support for BMP application in targeted sub-watersheds
Waterways $2,950.00 $8,385.00 $0.00 -$5,435.00
IDALS- EPA IDNR
Terraces $129,000.00 $42,333.15 $10,694.63 $75,972.22
NRCS NRCS IDALS-DSC DSC Watershed Section
Debris Basins $250,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $250,000.00 Total Cost EQIP AWEP WPF/WSPF IFIP Initiative WIRB 319 Landowners
Cumula-
Basins $29,250.00 $12,626.78 $0.00 $16,623.22
tive (FY $10,662 $1,149,295
Structures $51,200.00 $0.00 $0.00 $51,200.00 04-10) $7,278,072 $1,909,496 $1,044,982 $42,192 $460,878 $436,603 $2,244,956
Total $468,400.00 $63,344.93 $10,694.63 $394,360.44
SFY 2010 $1,228,240 $269,308 $10,662 $119,315 $3,698 $0 $194,934 $201,661 $428,660