Watershed Outreach April 2009 A newsletter for Rathbun Land and Water Alliance Board members Volume 4 Issue 2

Contact Kathleen Chester at 641.774.5940

or by email at chester@sirisonline.com

EXHIBITS AND TOURS

Exhibits were developed and displayed at various events during the
first quarter of 2009 including The Iowa Water Conference in 2009 ALLIANCE MEMBER AND
Ames March 9 and 10, the 20th Anniversary of REAP at the Iowa
Alliance Matters and Partner News
PARTNER SUPPORT
Capital on March 12 as well as Alliance partner exhibits at Utility Contact Marty Braster at 641.647.2416 As in the past, the Alliance’s board of directors asks local
Day at the Capital and for the Corps and Rathbun Lake or by email at mbraster@rrwa.net members and partners to contribute $200 each to the
Association. organization. These funds help the Alliance complete the
organization’s annual financial audit and conduct our
Exhibits were also place for RRWA plant tours and presentations annual “Protect Rathbun Lake” meeting. The board believes that these activities are important for the Alliance to continue to be an
to Senator Charles Grassley and Congressman Dave Loebsack. effective, volunteer-based, nonprofit organization. Alliance member RRWA matches dollar-for-dollar the contributions of other local
Alliance members and partners. Invoice requests for calendar year 2009 contributions are being sent to local Alliance members and
partners.

PARTNERS CONSIDER REQUEST TO EXPAND

“PROTECT RATHBUN LAKE” SPECIAL PROJECT
IDALS Division of Soil Conservation (DSC) and the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are
considering a request from the Alliance to support the
expansion of “Protect Rathbun Lake” special project
activities into three new targeted sub-watersheds.

These targeted sub-watersheds are Sandy Branch

(Appanoose County), Hamilton Creek (Lucas County),
and Goodwater Creek (Lucas and Wayne Counties). The
Alliance’s request was presented in a water quality/
watershed protection project application that was recently
submitted to the DSC and DNR. As in the past, funds
requested in the Alliance’s application would be used
primarily to provide landowners with the
PLANNED ACTIVITIES planning stages to ensure bikers are informed of the technical and financial assistance needed to apply BMPs for
2006 Rathbun Lake Protector and Wayne County Alliance’s water quality protection activities. All landowner priority land.
producer, Jim Carpenter will be the featured interview on and Protect Rathbun Lake signage will be installed and ready to
WHO Radio with Ken Root during the month of April. view by RAGBRAI participants. ALLIANCE AND PARTNERS’ “HAT IN THE RING” FOR NRCS’S AWEP
Root will travel to the area to conduct the interview and to The Alliance and partners also recently developed and submitted a proposal for NRCS’s Agricultural Water Enhancement Program
see first hand the water quality protection practices The lig ht box wh ich was (AWEP). The Alliance’s proposal requested financial assistance that, together with support from other Alliance partners, would be
implemented through the Alliance. developed to display at the Science used to help share the cost with landowners of applying BMPs for priority land in the three new targeted sub-watersheds. The Alliance
Center of Iowa during the showing requested close to $800,000 in AWEP funds that would be matched with more than $1.5 million in support from Alliance members
Protect Rathbun Lake posters will be developed and of the IMAX Colorado River has and partners. The Alliance understands that NRCS received more than 200 proposals for AWEP funds from across the country.
installed at the five shower houses around the lake prior to been installed at Honey Creek A special thanks to NRCS staff at the local, area, and state levels who assisted with development of the Alliance’s AWEP proposal.
the Memorial Day weekend opening. Resort State Park. The resort
manager has also agreed to allow the ALLIANCE APPRECIATES EXCEPTIONAL MEMBER AND PARTNER SUPPORT
RAGBRAI will travel through portions of Alliance to display Protect Rathbun To date, more than $7 million in Alliance member and partner support has been directed to the application of BMPs.
the Rathbun Lake Watershed during the Lake materials next to the light box.
EPA IDNR
month of July. Outreach efforts are in the
Total NRCS IDALS-DSC IDALS-DSC Watershed Section
Cost EQIP WPF/WSPF IFIP Initiative WIRB 319 Landowners
Cumulative
The Rathbun Lake Special Project is a partnership of the following individuals, agencies, and organizations: Participating landowners in the Rathbun Lake
Watershed; Iowa Depar tme nt of Agri cul ture and Land Ste war dship’s Divi sion of Soil Conse rvati on; Iowa Depar tme nt of Natural Resour ces ; Iowa S tate (FFY 04-09) $5,588,047 $1,545,392 $871,545 $32,495 $460,878 $818,862 $229,978 $1,649,890
Uni ve rsi ty ; I owa W a ter sh e d Im prove me nt Re vie w B oar d; S outhe r n I owa De ve l opme nt a nd Conse rv a ti on Authori ty ; US Arm y C orps of E ngi nee rs ; US
E nv i r onm e nta l P r ote cti on Ag e ncy ; US DA Fa r m S er v i ce Ag e ncy ; US DA Na tur a l Re s our ce s C ons e r va ti on S e r v i ce ; Appa noos e , C l a r k e , De ca tur , L uca s ,
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 SFY 09 $1,420,618 $243,310 $92,530 $0 $0 $666,629 $55,332 $362,815
Association.
 Velvet’s View BMP Update Last year I gave a presentation on the Rathbun Lake
Watershed to a group of women landowners in rural Clarke
Contact Velvet Buckingham at 641.872.1350 Contact Susania Ernst at 641.774.2512 County at the top edge of the Rathbun Lake
or by email at Velvet.Buckingham@ia.nacdnet.net or by email at Susania.Ernst@ia.nacdnet.net Watershed. The ladies were very interested to learn more
about how the improvements they made on their farms to
control soil erosion and keeping the soil on their fields also
TABLE 1: SFY2009 SUMMARY OF BMPS INSTALLED AND LOAD REDUCTIONS ACHIEVED IN THE 24 impacted water quality for Rathbun Lake, Rathbun Regional Water Association, the Rathbun DNR Fish Hatchery, and the storage
TARGETED SUB-WATERSHEDS—JULY 1, 2008 – MARCH 31, 2009 capacity for United States Army Corps of Engineers Rathbun Lake Project.
Gross Sediment
The last couple of months, I have been working with others in the environmental field to prepare a grant for an outdoor classroom
Erosion Delivery
Units Acres Reduction Reduction Phosphorus Delivery
experience for the students at Mormon Trail High School. In discussion with Mormon Trail High School Instructor, Mona Baker,
Practice Installed Benefited Tons/Yr. Tons/ yr. Reduction Lbs./Yr. we discovered young people do not realize what professional career opportunities are available to them in environmental positions.
We realized we could change this lack of awareness, empowering students to have good paying careers, and stay in the area. One of
Terraces 117,529 ft. 1116 1908 1741 8254 the actions we are taking is to support a field trip for the Mormon Trail High School Science and Vocational Career Education
Water & Sediment Basins 26 no. 43 68 80 393 classes to Rathbun Lake. We will visit the DNR Fish Hatchery to watch them collect walleye eggs, the Rathbun Regional Water
Grade Stabilization Structures 9 no. 495 76 668 2910 Treatment Plant, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers Rathbun Lake Project. While visiting, not only will we focus on
Sediment Basin 9 no. 1931 657 5146 17,042 what the facility does, but what the employees there did to prepare themselves for their positions.
Livestock Exclusion 0 ac. 0 0 0 0
Pasture & Hayland Seeding 0 ac. 0 0 0 0 I get opportunities to speak to young people in civic groups, like 4-H. During my presentations, I encourage young people to study
Grassed Waterways 2 ac. 15 0 7 35 math and science, pursue careers in agriculture and environmental science, protect and improve the resources we have, and make a
CRP buffer / filter strips 0 0 0 0 0 positive impact on society. After all, water quality is about everyone!
Fence 0
Heavy Use Protection Areas 0
Pipeline 0
Tanks 0
Brush Management 0
WIRB # 2 BMP PROGRESS
Nutrient Management 0 Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance
TOTALS 3600 ac. 2709 t/y 7642 t/y 28,634 lbs/y Seeding $4,550.00 $397.00 $0.00 $4,153.00
Waterways $13,200.00 $7,069.70 $0.00 $6,130.30
Terraces $331,500.00 $138,020.30 $153,382.96 $40,096.74
TABLE 2: CUMULATIVE SUMMARY OF BMPS INSTALLED AND LOAD REDUCTIONS ACHIEVED IN Basins $43,000.00 $20,871.75 $13,360.08 $8,768.17
THE 24 TARGETED SUB-WATERSHEDS—FFY ‘04- MARCH 31, 2009 Structures $61,950.00 $21,294.00 $40,498.89 $157.11
Total $454,200.00 $187,652.75 $207,241.93 $59,305.32
Gross Sediment
Erosion Delivery
Units Acres Reduction Reduction Phosphorus Delivery WIRB # 3 BMP PROGRESS
Practice Installed Benefited Tons/Yr. Tons/ yr. Reduction Lbs./Yr. Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance
Seeding $10,500.00 $0.00 $0.00 $10,500.00
Terraces 641,742 ft. 6422 7168 10,427 47,257
Terraces $330,600.00 $138,965.58 $100,050.40 $91,584.02
Water & Sediment Basins 147 no. 457 557 962 4597 Basins $24,000.00 $13,511.01 $883.90 $9,605.09
Grade Stabilization Structures 79 no. 2449 1552 33858 15,531 Structures $87,720.00 $29,662.25 $8,159.59 $49,898.16
Sediment Basin 10 no. 2175 723 5746 19,682
Livestock Exclusion 8 ac. 8 84 32 158 Total $452,820.00 $182,138.84 $109,093.89 $161,587.27
Pasture & Hayland Seeding 690 ac. 690 2846 958 4299
Grassed Waterways 35.7ac. 531 458 445 2264 WIRB # 4 BMP PROGRESS
CRP buffer / filter strips 92.7 ac. 110 591 192 1079 Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Available Balance
Fence 13,022 ft. Terraces $104,742.00 $0.00 $0.00 $104,742.00
Heavy Use Protection Areas 10 no. Debris Basins $50,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 $50,000.00
Pipeline 3160 ft. Structures $32,412.00 $0.00 $0.00 $32,412.00
Tanks 7 no. Basins $19,296.00 $0.00 $0.00 $19,296.00
Brush Management 280 ac. Waterways $2,643.00 $0.00 $0.00 $2,643.00
Nutrient Management 159.7 ac. Seeding $3,936.00 $0.00 $0.00 $3,936.00
TOTALS 12,840 ac. 13,980 t/y 22,620 t/y 94,867 lbs/y Total $213,029.00 $0.00 $0.00 $213,029.00