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Conservation
www.FarmProgress.com July 2011 Wallaces Farmer

Bears bullish for conservation

By KATHLEEN CHESTER
ISIBLE from the front porch of Terry and Lorie Bears Clarke County farmhouse is evidence of the action taken by the couple to protect Rathbun Lake. Their action helped earn them the recognition as 2010 Rathbun Lake Protectors, an award given annually by the Rathbun Land and Water Alliance. Where water once freely owed downstream to Rathbun Lake carrying with it sediment and contaminants is now a dam and a pond lled to capacity less than one year after being constructed. The pond was built as part of the RLWAs Protect Rathbun Lake Project, or PRLP, and reduces sediment delivery to Rathbun Lake, a large southern Iowa reservoir, by 46 tons per year and phosphorus by 245 pounds. Rathbun Lake serves 80,000 people with drinking water and other uses. Terry says they became interested in the PRLP after learning about it from their neighbors, 2006 Rathbun Lake Protectors, Jim and Betty Sullivan, who like the Bears, farm near Weldon in southern Iowa. Velvet Buckingham, an environmental specialist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardships division of soil conservation, says a lot of

farmers are interested in participating in the project. But with 354,000 acres in the watershed, land most likely to deliver contaminants to the lake is given priority. The conservation practices installed on the Bear farm qualied for the 75% costshare funding because it had been identied as priority land. We determine that designation in part by using GIS, she says. In addition to building the pond, the Bears installed 2,950 feet of terraces resulting in an annual sediment delivery reduction of 77 tons per year and phosphorus reduction of 424 pounds.

Eager to share the message

The Bears, who have farmed in Clarke County for 30 years, are second-generation farmers and are eager to share what they know about conservation by sponsoring eld trips and tours of their farm for the local high school agricultural classes. We love helping the young kids, says Lorie. Its important to instruct them on how terraces and ponds are built, but we also need to teach them why they are important. Its about saving the soil for our future generations, she explains. Terry says they like to take the handson approach and enjoyed helping stake the terraces after they were designed by Jeff

LAKE PROTECTORS: Lorie and Terry Bear of Weldon stand on the dam that prevents sediment from traveling from their farm to Rathbun Lake. They built the dam and pond on their farm last year, and are installing a sediment basin this year. Pfeifer, PRLP eld design and layout technician stationed at the Natural Resources Conservation Services Chariton ofce. The Bears installed an additional pond this summer by participating in USDAs Summer Constructive Incentives Program. This summer plan opens up a bigger window of time for us to get the construction completed without having to wait until our crops come out in the fall, says Lorie. The requirement of the program is that we leave our 25 acres idle during the growing season, while the conservation construction takes place, and then we receive a one-time payment of $200 per acre. The Bears southern Iowa farm has 1,000 acres of row crop, a cow-calf operation and a couple hundred acres of hay ground. Chester writes for the RLWA.
For more, visit www.rlwa.org or contact

Chester at chester@sirisonline.com.

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