In the May/June 2009 issue of The Iowan

New Horizons Ecology and economy dovetail in the Boone River Watershed Project. [ story and photography by Ty C. Smedes ]
Brian Stroner loves to canoe the Boone River. He’s been paddling in and camping along the flowing water since he was a young boy. When he isn’t at home or at work, he’s usually there, enjoying the beauty and serenity of the place, spotting a bird of prey overhead, noticing the delicate bloom of a lady’s slipper orchid. As Webster City’s environmental and safety coordinator, Stroner has an interest in the Boone that runs deep. The river flows right through his community.
Arlo Van Diest has farmed nearby for nearly half a century, growing corn and soybeans on 2,250 acres that drain into the Boone River. Like other Iowa commodity farmers, Van Diest is concerned with costs, yields, and returns. He aims for improved harvests with nitrogen fertilizer but understands that rainwater eventually carries some of that additive to the river. Not only is the fertilizer expensive, its impact on water quality could become the target of federal regulation.     Strange bedfellows though they may seem, both Stroner and Van Diest are part of a collaborative effort to initiate new practices in the Boone River Watershed — practices that meld agricultural, conservation, and recreational needs into a new way of working and living.	Both Brian Stroner (above) and Arlo Van Diest (below)     share a conservation ethic that they believe can contribute     to economic success.
A River Runs Through It The Boone River begins its journey in Hancock County and winds southward nearly 100 miles to join the Des Moines River. Spanning out from the river into parts of five counties is a network of row crops, drainage ditches, and tributary streams covering 581,000 acres in north-central Iowa. Every raindrop that falls on this area — an expanse identified as the Boone River Watershed — eventually makes its way to the Boone River.     From its origin in Iowa, runoff eventually flows all the way to the Gulf of Mexico — the collection point for all Midwestern pollutants that travel down the Mississippi River. Nitrogen runoff — predominantly from fertilizer — feeds a growing algae bloom, depleting the northern Gulf of oxygen, destroying dependent marine life, and devastating fisheries in what has become known as “the dead zone.”     A 2004/2005 study by The Nature Conservancy — a worldwide conservation organization — identified the Boone River Watershed as one of 47 priority areas in the five-state Upper Mississippi River Basin. Its immense biodiversity within a region that is 85 percent row-cropped makes the Boone River Watershed an important case study as new agricultural methods are introduced.     The Nature Conservancy is partnering with both Prairie Rivers of Iowa and Prairie Winds Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) offices, the Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and other participants to collect analyze, and share information. Together, as the Boone River Watershed Association, these scientists, farmers, and public officials are identifying, prioritizing, funding, and implementing new practices to improve the environmental performance of farming in the watershed.	Spanning parts of five Iowa counties, the Boone River     Watershed (above) consists of a network of tributary streams     and drainage ditches, all feeding into the Boone River.
Challenges and Opportunities Nature Conservancy Freshwater Ecologist Kristen Blann and ISU mussel expert Kevin Roe spent an afternoon last summer wading in the Boone River, collecting living mussels (known as clams) along with the shells of many deceased specimens — some as large as a hand, some as small as a fingernail.     “Iowa once had 53 species of mussels,” says Roe, describing the native freshwater wildlife that should be expected to reside there.     “Just 17 species remained in the Boone River in 1982 and only 4 species by 2005,” adds Blann, highlighting key ecological attributes that are currently out of balance.     A drop in the number of mussel species and other stream life, like the small endangered fish Topeka shiner, are indicators of the Boone’s suboptimal health. “Iowa is known to contribute 20 percent of the nitrates that make up the Gulf dead zone,” says Blann, describing the watershed’s role in the challenges faced some 1,200 miles away.	The Nature Conservancy’s Kristen Blann (left) and ISU’s     Kevin Roe (right) lead a field trip along the Boone River with     observer Sue Grosboll. Fewer mussel species and other      native aquatic life are indicators of an ecosystem      out of balance.
Sean McMahon, The Nature Conservancy’s Iowa director, says one major goal of the watershed project is to witness a leveling off of species decline. By measuring changing levels of nutrients — primarily nitrogen and phosphorous — as well as changing population levels of mussels, invertebrates, fish species, aquatic mammals, and vegetation, project participants can gauge how new practices are impacting the health of the watershed. “If mussels are doing well, the river is probably doing well,” sums up McMahon.
High nitrate levels in the watershed are fed primarily by the runoff of fertilizer used on crops. The breadth of water quality issues, spanning from the Midwest to the Gulf, could lead to federal regulation and increased costs for producers. The Iowa Soybean Association, recognizing the growing challenge its members face — feeding and fueling the world while conserving and protecting its natural resources — took a seat at the Boone River Watershed Association table.
Tony Seeman, a water quality technician for the association, made weekly visits last summer to several water sampling stations located on farmland in the watershed. Timed samples are automatically collected by equipment that reaches into the drainage tiles below, drawing water and depositing it into bottles in a revolving carousel. A laptop computer plugged into the station collects readouts correlated with local rain events, signaling how quickly water infiltrates the ground and moves on.     “Right now we are still taking baseline measurements,” says Seeman of the nascent nature of the project. “High levels of residual nitrogen in corn stalks will indicate a need to cut back on future applications.” A savings for farmers; a respite for the river.	The Iowa Soybean Association’s Tony Seeman programs     automated collection of water samples from a field tile     and retrieves information indicating velocity, depth, and     nutrient levels.
Farms of the Future Proven agricultural and conservation techniques — fall cover crops, re-created wetlands, minimum till methods — will continue to be a part of the solution. Streamside bank erosion may be the single worst pollutant, and these practices can reduce the volume of water making its way to the Boone following heavy rains.     Forthcoming are the Soybean Association’s plans to install bio-reactors that filter water from field tiles. Each bio-reactor consists of a 25' x 50' underground filter of wood chips. The wood chips naturally attract bacteria, which de-nitrify the water and may reduce nitrate loading of field-tile water by up to 40 percent.
Soon to begin is the Lyons Creek Paired Watershed project, focusing on a smaller watershed within the Boone River Watershed. A three-year test will compare the results from one side of the Lyons Creek sub-watershed, using conventional agricultural practices, with the other side, using a variety of new and experimental methods. Many factors will be compared, including crop yields, runoff, erosion, and contaminants entering from each side of Lyons Creek.     The watershed coalition is even reaching back to past civilizations for ideas. Research in South America has revealed that historically poor jungle soils are often very fertile near the ruins of ancient villages. Researchers have uncovered, literally, areas of char, a charcoal residue created and tilled into the earth by early inhabitants. Areas where char was mixed with the soil became very productive, enabling villagers to grow abundant crops long after nearby jungle soils had worn out. The discovery has prompted conversations about possible modern-day application.     The Boone River Watershed Project could become a model for similar efforts in other parts of Iowa. New watershed and water-quality improvement grants offered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will allow groups such as Soil and Water Conservation Districts and other organizations to address challenges throughout the state. Reinventing the Boone Webster City has big plans for the Boone River, envisioning its future as a destination river for paddlers and other recreationalists. Because the river passes right through town, the community stands to benefit from increased tourism and economic development. “People from all over the state and from out of state already come to camp, fish, hunt, and paddle on or near it,” says Stroner of the river’s popularity. “If the river’s water quality is poor, then it will affect everything from local government budgets to small businesses.”     Van Diest shares his concerns. He also has a deep respect for nature and has been known to canoe the Boone. “Farming with a true conservation ethic means more than just doing things that are easy. We want to show how farmers can succeed economically while preparing a farming operation for transition to a new generation of ownership and management. It’s in that way that we feel we are fulfilling our own personal conservation legacy.”     Healthy farms and healthy watersheds are the signs of success that project participants are seeking. Jen Filipiak, director of conservation science with The Nature Conservancy’s Iowa office, describes a holistic approach, looking at all elements collectively — including people. “You have to have local buy in for this to work, the concern of the community, an ambition to participate. Otherwise it’s not sustainable,” she says, emphasizing the importance of local stakeholders. “They know their land the best.”     Many traditional agricultural and conservation practices are being utilized by the Boone River Watershed Association, but this diverse partnership is thinking outside the box, developing new strategies that will simultaneously improve agricultural methods, reduce farmers’ costs, and lessen river contaminants. Instead of farming practices and conservation practices, project participants see the opportunity for simply good practices. Their success could be the new face of agriculture in Iowa and beyond. “Iowa has the opportunity to be at the forefront of policy and education,” says John Paulin, Prairie Rivers RC&D coordinator. “To be the trendsetters in water quality and profitability.”

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