Best Management Practice Video - ND 319 Program

This featured Agricultural Waste Management Containment System was made possible as part of the Barnes County Sheyenne Watershed Project. The project is administered by the Barnes County Soil Conservation District and funded by an EPA grant through the ND Health Department. Other components of the project were to work with livestock producers to develop prescribed grazing systems and/or install vegetative buffers, channel stabilization or stream bank protection structures.

The Barnes County Sheyenne Watershed Project is designed to provide technical, financial and educational assistance to all agriculture producers and landowners with riparian acreage within the county. The goals are to restore and maintain the recreational and aquatic uses of the Sheyenne River and its tributaries in Barnes County, and to protect the water quality of the Sheyenne, Maple and James Rivers and their tributaries.

The video was filmed at the Jim Stevens farm on the Sheyenne River South of Valley City. The Ag Waste Containment System was made possible through an EPA 319 grant with 60% paid through the grant and administered through the Barnes County SCD office; the producer paid 40% with credit for in-kind work. The total cost of the project was $71,272.00 Barnes County SCD recently received word that they were funded for another 5yrs of water quality projects.


PICTURE (Upper Right): Map of Basin that highlights the Sheyenne River

PICTURE (Above): Aerial photo of Steven's Farm

Source Links: http://www.ndhealth.gov/WQ/SW/Z1_NPS/B_Project_Directory.htm

http://www.ndhealth.gov/WQ/AnimalFeedingOperations/AFOProgram.htm

Do grassed buffers along fields intercept nutrients?

As producers are coming under greater and greater scrutiny regarding the application of fertilizers, organizations such as Conservation Districts have a supportive role to play through the provision of advice and information to producers and the public at large. Recent regulations under the Water Protection Act has been enacted that restricts the application of chemical fertilizers within 8 m of a Provincial drain, creek or major wetland (i.e. >2 ha). This nutrient application set-back can be reduced to 3 m from the waterway’s edge if those three metres are permanently vegetated. This type of regulation is aimed at protecting the health of our waterways by minimizing the nutrient load to streams. The question is, will this work and does a vegetation strip filter out nutrients contained in field runoff? By tapping into research expertise at the University of Manitoba (Dr. Don Flaten) and with funding support from Manitoba and MCDA, CDs are trying to get to the bottom of this question. In addition, we are also examining how management of the vegetation affects the buffer’sability to hold nutrients.

The East Interlake Conservation District is the lead on this project and has one of the test sites. Two other sites are located in central and western Manitoba within the Pembina Valley CD and the Little Saskatchewan River CD. Combined, these sites represent the majority of the dominant agricultural landscapes within Manitoba.

Starting at snowmelt, staff from each site have been collecting the water that is running from the annually cropped field and through the buffer. This water is sent to Winnipeg for analysis from which we will be able to determine what effect buffer strips of 5 m in width have on water quality. Twice a year the buffers are harvested and the vegetation is removed to see how management of the vegetation within the buffer zone impacts its ability to remove nutrients. This process reflects what a producer would do when haying grassed areas.

Although we are testing the effectiveness of buffer strips in removing nutrients, buffer strips are known to provide a variety of other functions and are a critical part of a healthy watershed. Through the creation, restoration or protection of buffer strips you provide, among other benefits, wildlife corridors, stable stream banks, reductions in sedimentation, improved habitat for aquatic life, and reductions in bacteria; but, do they reduce nutrient loads to waterways?

PICTURE (Above): Spring runoff collection, A. Belanger, Manager, EICD.

PICTURE (Upper Right): Bufferstrip site, Willow Creek on the right, farmers field on the left.
SOURCE: East Interlake Conservation District (http://www.eicd.net/)

Seine River Riparian Enhancement Project

The SRRCD’s Mission Statement is to promote the stewardship of our land and water resources to ensure a healthy and prosperous lifestyle for all watershed residents, now and into the future. The SRRCD operates under the authority of the Conservation Districts Act and Regulations and follows the CD Program Mandate to support and promote the sustainable management of the land, water, and related resources in Manitoba

With funding from Manitoba Water Stewardship and the Lake Winnipeg Basin Stewardship Fund, the SRRCD was able to complete the Seine River Riparian Enhancement Project in the summer of 2009. Catherine Gerardy, Seine River Project Supervisor, spent three weeks kayaking down the Seine River starting in Marchand, MB, and ending at the Manitoba floodway. During this project Gerardy marked 249 sites needing riparian fencing, off site watering systems for livestock, tree planting or river clean up (fallen trees and garbage)

To date the SRRCD has been successful in involving two landowners in projects requiring riparian fencing and off-site watering systems from the data base created through this project. The SRRCD hopes to work with additional landowners to aid in the completion of these projects.

PICTURE (Above): Catherine Gerardy, Seine River Project Supervisor,
kayaking down the Seine River.
PICTURE (Upper Left): Map of Seine River Watershed
Source: http://www.saveourseine.com/page3/page17/page17.html

Completion of the North Ottawa Impoundment Project

Congratulations to the Bois De Sioux Watershed District for completion of the North Ottawa Impoundment Project. At the 27th Annual Red River Basin Land & Water International Summit Conference held January 19-21, 2009 in Grand Forks, ND, the Red River Basin Commission awarded the Bois De Sioux Watershed District the Outstanding Project Award.

In the it's 1st year of operation the project held back 5,700 acre-feet of water during the 2009 spring flood. In full operation the project is expected to provide 16,000 acre-feet of gated and about 2,000 acre-feet of un-gated flood control storage.

To learn more about the North Ottawa Project, please click "Play Video" below.