2020 annual report - Mower Soil & Water Conservation District

2020 Annual Report

Cover crop field in early June 2020 along the Cedar River in Austin Township

2020 Mower SWCD Board of Supervisors

Covid-19 doesn’t stop conservation in 2020 Local conservation was not deterred in 2020 despite everyone dealing with the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Mower SWCD kept connecting with landowners and producers to partner on conservation projects and practices. Water-quality monitoring and restoration of native prairies and wetlands continued along with the launching Justin Hanson of conservation planning.

Mower SWCD manager As the contracted agency

SWCD staff In April 2020, Mower SWCD staff meet virtually during a pandemic shutdown.

TOP: Larry Callahan, district tech; Jeanne Crump, office manager; Justin Hanson, administrator.

MIDDLE: Cody Fox, project manager; Paul Hunter, watershed conservationist; Tim Ruzek, outreach coordinator.

BOTTOM: Steve Lawler, resource specialist; James Fett, watershed tech; and Alex Block, precision ag associate.

to perform the duties of the Cedar River Watershed District, Mower SWCD led the construction of CRWD’s biggest upland-storage project to date in the headwaters of Dobbins Creek, helping to surpass a five-year reduction goal for stormwater.

Mower SWCD’s soil-health research and outreach also pushed forward in 2020, including through our partnership with Northern Country

Co-op on the Sustainable Answer Acre project.

Much of our permanent restoration work in 2020 was in the watershed of Wolf Creek, a Cedar River tributary that received 900 rainbow trout in spring 2020 for the first time from the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources at the request of our staff.

It was a success and will return in 2021. We all are making a progress together.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Looking Back - 2020 Best Management Practices Cover crops - 5 projects (925 acres)

Grass waterways 11 projects (4.8 miles)

Conservation Reserve Program 457 acres enrolled

Windbreaks 6 projects

Conservation planning 21 plans

Upland-storage effort adds biggest project yet Mower SWCD, in doing the contracted work of the Cedar River Watershed District, surpassed in 2020 its fiveyear goal for reducing peak flows of stormwater at the Cedar River’s confluence with Dobbins Creek in Austin.

Originally, CRWD set a goal of achieving an 8 percent reduction through the construction of its upland-storage structures mainly in the uplands of Dobbins Creek. These are part of CRWD’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

With the completion in 2020 of its largest CIP project to date, CRWD achieved at least a 10-percent peak flow reduction at the Cedar-Dobbins confluence.

This $1.2 million project, Dexter 30-Dam 2, spans nearly 2,000 feet long with a 21-foot peak berm height and temporarily stores stormwater in Dobbins’ headwaters.

Nearly 3,000 acres of mostly cropland overall now are controlled by 11 CIP projects in the Dobbins watershed that is prone to flash flooding. CRWD achieved this progress due to a $3.2 million grant in 2015 from The Hormel Foundation that the district matched with $3.4 million in

Crews work in July 2020 on CRWD’s biggest CIP project yet in the headwaters of Dobbins Creek’s south branch.

Phase 1 (2016-2020) Capital Improvement Project

On time On budget Goals surpassed

state and local funds to build 14 projects overall.

In 2020, The Hormel Foundation awarded another $500,000 to CRWD to match with mostly state funding to continue CIP work in the Dobbins watershed in 2021.

To learn more and view drone footage of CIP projects, visit www.cedarriverwd.org or find the YouTube channel for Mower Soil & Water Conservation.

Terry Hamilton (right) talks about his soil-health practices, including cover crops, in 2017 on his rural Adams farm for a Mower SWCD field day.

Hamiltons honored for conservation Erosion on the Hamilton farm in central Mower County was taking soil from their cropland, altering the landscape and stealing nutrients they purchased to help grow corn and soybeans.

Facing these major, negative effects on their farm, Terry and Cindy Hamilton started looking at soil-health practices that since have saved the family business money through better nutrient management and fuel and labor savings.

Farming more than 1,200 acres near Adams on a corn-soybean rotation, the Hamiltons started in 2012 to use cover crops on their fields and adopted the practice of strip-tillage that led them to see improved soil structure, fewer wet areas and faster infiltration of stormwater in their fields. With improved wa-

Hamiltons harvest soybeans in 2017 in a field with a winter wheat cover crop.

ter management, the Hamiltons eventually found they could farm areas that had been used as artificial waterways.

For their extensive soil-health practices and outreach efforts, the Hamilton family was chosen as Mower County’s 2020 Conservationists of the Year by the Mower SWCD Board of Supervisors.

“The Hamiltons are a great family to work with and an excellent resource for others seeking to learn more about soil health,” said Steve Lawler, Mower SWCD’s soil scientist.

Lawler has worked a lot with the Hamilton family, who have let him and other soil scientists to set up research plots on their Marshall Township farm for a larger soil-health study by Mower SWCD and University of Minnesota.

While other farmers have embarked on soil-health practices, the Hamiltons differ from most in that their transition began by seeding cover crops via airplane for farms across southern Minnesota. They own Ag-Air, LLC. Terry has worked his entire life on the family farm, which his grandfather bought in the 1930s after the Great Depression economic recession. His wife, Cindy, manages much of the operation’s

Cindy and Terry Hamilton on their farm with their airplane Terry flies for ag services, including aerial seeding of cover crops.

bookkeeping and Terry and his son, Travis, handle most field operations.

“I love to watch things grow,” Terry Hamilton said. “And I love to see the soil trying do something. I always felt bad in the fall after taking off our crop, and there it sat. The earth wants to be covered – that’s why we have weeds.”

Cover cropping involves planting a second, unharvested crop in coordination with regular cash crops, such as corn and soybeans.

Well sealings protect groundwater Mower SWCD led countywide efforts in 2020 to seal unused wells to help protect groundwater from pollution.

In January 2020, Mower SWCD extended its well-sealing efforts into a partnership with Austin Utilities. Mower SWCD determines if applicants have an unused or abandoned well in a high-priority area for groundwater protection and assists with the cost-share application.

Any property that uses water from Austin Utilities – the City of Austin’s municipal water provider – will qualify for its cost-share program. Austin Utilities in 2020 was approved for $20,000 in cost-share grant funds for well sealing from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Cost-share assistance from Mower SWCD and Austin Utilities covers 50 percent of the costs for sealing a well but the cost-share cannot exceed $1,000. Contractors licensed with the state for well sealing must be used for the project; Austin Utilities also has criteria to follow under its MDH grants.

Under the local partnership, 22 unused wells have been sealed in Mower County since August 2019, when Mower SWCD started offering cost-share assistance with funds from a state grant for southeast Minnesota.

Groundwater is the source of drinking water for most people in Mower. Unused and abandoned wells pose risks

to the safety of drinking-water resources underground as well as the physical safety of people on the property.

An unused well can act like a drain that allows surface water runoff, contaminated water or improperly disposed waste a direct path into drinking water sources.

When this happens, everyone’s drinking water quality is threatened – city water wells, neighbors’ wells and the landowner’s current well. Mower County landowners interested in cost-share assistance for well sealing should call 507-434-2603, ext. 5.

County posts record septic year Mower County made record progress during the 2020 construction year in working with property owners to get their septic systems into compliance.

Overall, 128 new systems were installed, topping a previous record of 125 systems a decade ago, according to Mower County Environmental Services.

“Poorly functioning septic systems are threats to human health and the environment,” said Angela Lipelt, Mower County’s environmental services supervisor.

Septic systems not in compliance likely are not removing pathogens, nutrients and other chemicals from wastewater before it enters local groundwater, lakes and streams.

In January 2020, the Mower County Board of Commissioners launched a septic initiative to complete the final phase of the county’s long-running initiative to achieve septic compliance countywide.

That same month, the county offered a free workshop in Austin on septic systems and drinking-water wells for homeowners as part of Mower County’s effort to increase septic education and outreach.

Mower SWCD assisted the county with outreach efforts related to the SSTS initiative and will continue that in 2021.

A contractor installs a new subsurface sewage treatment system in summer 2020 in rural Mower County.

Mower SWCD watershed conservationist Paul Hunter views an eroded section of cropland in 2020 near Grand Meadow as part of his conservation planning work for the Root River One Watershed, One Plan that involves doing field walkovers to identify resource concerns.

Mower SWCD made strides in 2020 in its work with other local governments to improve water and soil resources in the Cedar and Root watersheds under a state initiative.

Water quality in the Root River watershed got a protective boost in 2020 with the construction of more than 4 miles of grassed waterways in the upland areas of eastern Mower County. It was part of the Root River One Watershed, One Plan initiative.

Mower SWCD led seven projects that built nearly 4.2 miles – 22,040 feet – of grassed waterways through

mostly cropland in the headRoot River “One Watershed” project area waters of the Root River’s south and middle branches.

These projects involved 10 different landowners, who qualified for state funding to cover 90 percent of the costs.

Grassed waterways help slow stormwater and protect against field erosion.

Under 1W1P, the state is aiming to create plans based on watershed boundaries rather than smaller, political boundaries like counties.

This will ensure that the water, are addressed with planning area are Dodge, Fillmost-significant threats to a practices providing the great- more, Olmsted, Houston and watershed’s water resources, est environmental benefits.

Winona counties in Minnesoincluding surface and ground Others in the Root 1W1P ta’s southeast corner.

shed District and the watersheds of the Little Cedar Riveastern Mower. er, Otter Creek and Wap“These are win-win prosipinicon River in Mower and jects for conservation and the Deer Creek watershed in farmers who are losing proFreeborn County. ductive land to erosion,” said Conservation planning Jim Kellogg, a Mower SWCD Under 1W1P efforts in the board member who farms Cedar and Root, Mower near LeRoy. SWCD has started offering About 13 percent of the conservation planning to Root’s planning area is in landowners and agricultural eastern Mower County, producers. which also hosts the Upper Mower SWCD’s Paul Iowa River’s headwaters.

Starting as a drainage ditch Hunter, a USDA-certified conservation planner, helped in eastern Mower, the Root lead the waterway construcRiver flows east through tion in the Root’s headwaters much geologic diversity, induring the 2020 construction cluding glacial till, karst toseason. He also has worked pography and bluff land before emptying into the Missis- with landowners on overall conservation plans for their sippi River. farms and properties.

As a certified planner, Hunter can create a conservation plan required for anyone seeking to apply for funding from the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) program with USDA-NRCS. Hunter’s work involves Cedar-Wapsi 1W1P covers field walkovers, drone flights 462,295 acres, with most – 57 percent – in Mower County. and landowner conversations to create an in-depth evaluaCedar River Watershed District’s political boundaries tion of a farm. From that, are in the 1W1P planning ar- Mower SWCD is better able ea with Turtle Creek Waterto provide a landowner with Cedar-Wapsipinicon “One Watershed” project area

“These are win-win projects for conservation and the farmers who are losing productive land to erosion.”

Jim Kellogg Mower SWCD board member

A crew builds a grassed waterway during summer 2020 in cropland in Root River’s south branch headwaters of eastern Mower County.

options for potential funding and technical support to help protect or improve water quality and soil health.

Hunter became a certified conservation planner in June 2020 with Mower SWCD watershed tech James Fett after a certification process.

Mower SWCD Manager Justin Hanson said having certified conservation planners on staff enhances what the SWCD offers landowners.

Conservation planners oversee the identifying a resource concern and creating a plan to address it with a landowner or producer.

Field to Stream In the Root’s headwaters, Mower SWCD also continued in 2020 to collect samples during every rainfall that led to stormwater running off

rural fields.

This is part of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s innovative Field to Stream Partnership.

Water samples are analyzed and reported to MDA to determine how implementing best-management practices (BMP) in recent years has affected water quality in the upper Root River.

Mower SWCD continues to promote BMPs in the Root River watershed’s headwaters, especially the new CP43 prairie strip program under the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Several acres of prairie strips will be planted in 2021 in the upper Root.

More details on the Field to Stream Partnership are available online at: rootriverfieldtostream.

Innovative, farmer-led research on the economic and environmental effects of applying nitrogen to cropland continued in 2020 in large part to $50,000 in new grants for a project near Lansing.

Minnesota Corn Growers and The Nature Conservancy approved grants to support the Sustainable Answer Acre (SAA) research project initiated by Mower County farmers in 2019 on cropland in Lansing Township.

Mower SWCD coordinates the project with Northern Country Coop, a farmer-owned, local cooperative based in Stacyville, Iowa, that has six of its 12 sites in Mower County and about 1,500 members, including nine on its board of directors that supports the research.

“We’re trying to come up with solutions for our growers that are sustainable and economical,” said Jeff Irvin, regional manager for Northern Country.

The SAA site includes 8 acres along Mower County Road 2 on an overall 80acre parcel owned and rented out by Northern Country, which operates a grain elevator across the road in the Village of Lansing.

Soybeans were grown on the land in 2020 following a year of corn in 2019.

Under SAA, the team tests current agronomic practices that affect nitrate movement in the soil profile and groundwater while keeping crop productivity and improving soil health by disturbing the soil less and growing cover crops, said Steve Lawler, a certified soil scientist for Mower SWCD. “Our hope is to gain a better understanding on farming practices that benefit both the environmental and the economics of a farm operation,” he said.

Nitrogen is the nutrient most often deficient for crop production in Minnesota but its use can result in substantial economic return for farmers. When nitrogen inputs, such as spraying fertilizer or applying manure, to soil are more than needed by a crop, though, excessive amounts of nitrogen can get in ground or surface water.

The Nature Conservancy, a global, environmental nonprofit, gave $20,000 to the SAA project in 2020.

Area farmers led the launch of the SAA project, including Mower County farmers Tom Cotter and Jim Kellogg, who also is a board member for Mower SWCD and Northern Country. Alan Slowinski, who farms the SAA site, also is a contributor to the project.

Riverland Community College, another contributor, has used the SAA site as a “teaching laboratory” for the college’s agricultural sciences courses.

Steve Lawler cleans one of 63 testing wells in April 2020 at the Sustainable Answer Acre.

In 2020, Lawler led nitrate testing from sampling from the site’s wells. Soil By managing nitrogen effectively, sampling was done for physical and biogrowers can produce crops more profit- logical testing with the University of ably and environmentally friendly.

Minnesota, which assisted him with othThe 2020 grant was the seconder soil-health research projects. straight year Minnesota Corn Growers Lawler continued work on a multigave $30,000 to the SAA project via its year research project funded by a Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion $98,000 grant from The Hormel FoundaCouncil. Its $30,000 grant in 2019 helped tion to study the effects of cover crops launch the research, including the drill- on dozens of plots representing different ing of 63 wells (each 10-12 feet deep). types of Mower County farmland.

Mower SWCD soil scientist Steve Lawler talks about the Sustainable Answer Acre during a June 2020 event organized by Northern Country Coop at the research site near Lansing.

Crews work in August 2020 to break farm tile lines for restoring cropland to native prairie under MN CREP in Lansing Township near Austin.

MN CREP grows in Cedar watershed Permanent native prairie and restored wetlands continue to be added across Mower County’s landscape where corn and soybeans once grew on marginal cropland.

In 2020, Mower SWCD worked with landowners to add 208 acres of former cropland into the MN CREP state-federal program for permanent conservation.

These acres, part of five MN CREP easements, are in Mower County’s Udolpho and Lansing townships in the Cedar River Watershed. Since 2017, Mower SWCD has signed up 344 acres of former cropland into MN CREP for prairie and wetland restoration.

Under MN CREP, 100 percent of the costs for restoring cropland to wetlands and prairie is covered by the program, which obtains a perpetual easement in which landowners retain private ownership of enrolled acres.

MN CREP aims to improve water quality and wildlife habitat through permanent conservation easements.

In 2020, Mower SWCD led the seeding of 75 acres along Roberts Creek in Red Rock Township and another 100 acres along Wolf Creek in Lansing Township, just north of Austin’s Todd Park. Both streams flow into the Cedar River.

During fall 2020, Mower SWCD finalized an agreement with a family to enroll 104 acres of cropland into MN CREP for prairie and wetlands restoration. The property is just upstream of the 100-acre MN CREP parcel on Wolf Creek.

Mower County landowners are encouraged to contact Mower SWCD watershed technician James Fett to learn more about MN CREP, which places a focus on flood-prone or erosive acres that also are referred to as “marginal cropland.”

Each MN CREP site gets seeded with a highly diverse mixture of native grasses and forbs that are beneficial to wildlife and pollinator habitat. This practice also prevents erosion while filtering surface and ground water.

A 2020 MN CREP enrollment of 104 acres in Lansing Township

Mower SWCD plants prairie in June 2020 in Red Rock Township.

Sky high about Mower County’s natural resources Drone photos by Paul Hunter (Mower SWCD)

Mower adds farms certified for water quality Mower County farmers doing good things on their land for water quality gained another reason in 2020 to get certified by the state as conservation leaders.

Gravity Storm, a craft brewery in Austin, teamed with Mower SWCD and the Cedar River Watershed Partnership – a public-private collaborative – to reward Mower County farmers who are certified through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP).

A 64-ounce growler of one of Gravity Storm’s craft beers will be provided for each new certification of a Mower County farmer through MAWQCP, also known as “Ag Certainty,” sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA).

Mower SWCD’s Alex Block, a precisionag associate, worked with Gravity Storm’s head brewer and cofounder Brian Davis on the new incentive for conservation-minded farmers.

“We’re grateful for Gravity Storm’s commitment toward supporting farmers who are putting in the extra work to protect and improve water,” Block said. “It’s also a great fit because clean water makes great beer.”

Brian & Sandy Wolfgram, who farm near Racine in eastern Mower County, were the first to earn the Gravity Storm growler after working with Block on the MAWQCP application process and getting certified in July.

Sandy & Brian Wolfgram hold their Gravity Storm growler and Ag Certainty sign next to Mower SWCD’s Alex Block.

Like all MAWQCP-certified farmers, they also received a “Minnesota Water Quality Certified Farm” sign and are eligible for up to $5,000 in state grants to implement more agricultural “best-management practices” on their farm.

Since 2016, Mower County now has had 14 farm families certified through the MAWQCP initiative.

Drone view of chert mine site in fall 2020

found at sites in 52 counties, dating back to at least 6,000 B.C. when a spear point made of it is known to have killed a buffalo near Granite Falls, Minn.

Growing Mower

After 30 years of service, Jim Gebhardt opted not to seek re-election to the Mower Soil & Water Conservation District’s Board of Supervisors.

A Waltham-area farmer, Gebhardt served from 1991 to 2020 on the board, including many years as the chairman.

As an SWCD supervisor, Gebhardt was a strong leader who played major roles at the local, regional and state levels, including with the Minnesota Association of Soil & Water

Conservation Districts.

Gebhardt will remain an appointed member for Mower County on the Cedar River Watershed District’s Board of Managers on which he has served since its 2007 inception.

Area farmer Rod Moe was elected in November 2020 to replace Gebhardt on the Mower SWCD Board of Supervisors.

To view a video tribute for Gebhardt by the Mower SWCD staff, go online at: youtu.be/0t5iGxtaDMo

Mower Soil & Water Conservation District 1408 21st Ave. N.W. Austin, MN 55912 507-434-2603, ext. 5 www.mowerswcd.org

Mower SWCD staff (left to right) Jeanne Crump, Steve Lawler, Mattie Hackensmith and Larry Callahan deliver hundreds of trees in April 2020 at the Runnings Store in Austin.