By Cate Harrington

Jim Leverich comes from a long line of farmers, beginning with his great grandparents who started a fruit and dairy farm in the Sparta area in 1869. He's still on the family farm, but raises beef cattle today.

Jim uses a system of crop production called no-till on his 500 acres where the soil is disturbed as little as possible, reducing the amount of nutrient loss and soil erosion into nearby streams.

One of the challenges facing farmers in Wisconsin and nationwide is keeping sediment and nutrients on the land and out of creeks and rivers.

Jim is also a farm research coordinator with University of Wisconsin Extension and part of a coalition of farmers; UW scientists; public agencies and The Nature Conservancy who are working together to find more efficient and effective ways to improve water quality in streams.

Known as the Wisconsin Buffer Initiative (WBI), the group hopes to improve water quality by using science to target conservation efforts on those fields and pastures with the greatest potential for contributing nutrients to streams.

Pilot Project Launched in Driftless Area

WBI is testing this approach in Dane, Green and Iowa counties on two sub-watersheds to the Pecatonica River that are located in southwest Wisconsin's Driftless Area.

Bypassed by the glaciers, the Driftless Area is characterized by steep-sided ridges and miles of rivers and smaller tributary streams that eventually drain into the Mississippi River.

The area has a strong agricultural tradition and is an important contributor to Wisconsin's economy.

If successful, the partners will look for opportunities to implement this targeted approach more broadly across the state. It may also be transferable to other agricultural watersheds in the Mississippi River basin.

The Nature Conservancy’s involvement in the Pecatonica River pilot project is part of its effort, through the Great Rivers Partnership, to protect and restore the Mississippi River.

Targeting Conservation Practices Where Most Needed

Using research by a UW-Madison graduate student and Dane County Land and Water Resources Department conservation staff, the partners have identified a handful of farms in one of the watersheds that contribute comparatively large amounts of phosphorus to the stream.

Dane County conservation staff are working with these farm owners to identify alternative management practices, including different types of tillage, crop rotations and manure handling that will reduce sediment and nutrient loss.

Because changing management practices can have financial implications for farmers, Jim Leverich and researchers from the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences are helping each farm owner assess the financial costs associated with implementing various management practices on their farms.

The goal is to identify conservation practices that are compatible with the farm's current cropping and livestock system and, where possible, increase or don't significantly reduce profitability. Dane County has secured funding from the NRCS Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative to help farmers implement needed changes that aren't financially feasible.

"We farmers tend to be risk averse," Jim comments. "We have to make it through the rough times when commodity prices are low and the weather doesn't cooperate, so we want to know that new management practices work before we switch gears."

Using Results to Drive Change

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are gathering data on water quality and fish and invertebrate populations in both watersheds so that differences between the watershed where management practices are being changed and the other watershed, where no action is being taken, can be compared.

If they are successful, the partners believe their research will create tools that streamline implementation of targeted conservation efforts in other watersheds. Their data will also be valuable to the agricultural community and other decision-makers in re-shaping public policy related to water quality management not only in Wisconsin but across the nation.

"It seems straightforward," says Pete Nowak, WBI Chair. "But it's actually a very innovative approach to water quality improvement that is not currently being utilized in the United States."

Funding for the project is being provided by The Monsanto Company and the McKnight Foundation through gifts to The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Cate Harrington is a senior conservation writer for The Nature Conservancy.

(October 2009)

Photo credits (top to bottom, left to right): Pecatonica River restoration pilot project, Wisconsin © Stefanie Grieve/TNC; Wisconsin Buffer Initiative Project Locator Map © TNC