Buckeye Basins Newsletter: February 2001

Buckeye Basins is produced by the Ohio State University Extension, Community Based Watershed Management Team. It is compiled quarterly for watershed coordinators, Extension specialists, and natural resource professionals to include within their newsletters, programs or however they see fit.

In This Issue:

• Taking a Watershed Approach
• Citizen Scientists: A Valuable Tool for the Professionals
• Consider the Streams When Cutting the Trees
• Dutch Dairy Water Quality Concerns in NW Ohio
• Your Local Stream Needs You!
• The Canary in the Coal Mine: Using Aquatic Life to Determine Stream Health

Taking a Watershed Approach

Jerry Iles, Watershed Management Agent, OSU Extension, South District
(also county agents name if you want to co-publish)

When any water quality project gets started, one of the frequently asked questions the project members have to answer is "Why look at the whole watershed?" Watersheds consist of an entire area of land that during a rain event, water flows across on its way to a body of water such as a stream, river or lake. A watershed does not respect municipal, township or county boundaries but is shaped by natural features.

Watershed management is fast becoming the most common approach for determining and addressing water quality and land use practices. In very simple terms, what we do with our land directly affects the water quality of our streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater. We all need to protect these sources of our drinking water.

Without clean water our local economy, community health, and quality of life suffers.

Since what happens upstream affects our neighbors downstream, taking a watershed approach to problem solving is very practical.

River Network has identified some universal key components to developing a successful watershed approach to problem solving. These components include:

• Understanding the interrelationships between watershed health, human health and economic health and the quality of life of communities within the watershed.
• Making a consistent effort to identify, involve, and work constructively with stakeholders in ALL phases of watershed assessment, planning, implementation, and program evaluation processes.
• Identify local watershed needs and develop action plans based on sound scientific research.

With the help of our OSU Extension researchers, Watershed Management Team, county extension agents and other project partners, we can all contribute to the development of our watershed approach to protecting our valuable water resources.

(My/Our) major role will be to assist project partners with education and outreach activities that will build a stewardship ethic with all residents of the (fill-in your local watersheds) Watershed. (Fill-In Your Local Creek/River/) is a wonderful resource. Lets keep it that way for future generations.

(I/We) look forward to working with all stakeholders upstream and downstream. (this could be left out)

*For more information ask your local extension office for a copy of the Community Based Watershed Management Fact Sheet (WS-1-00)

Citizen Scientists: A Valuable Tool for the Professionals

Dana Oleskiewicz, Watershed Management Agent, OSU Extension, NE District

People throughout the United States and around the world are volunteering to perform scientific observation. They are recording environmental information about rivers and streams, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, estuaries, beaches, coral reefs, air, and the land. Monitoring data collected by citizens is a valuable tool that can be used by professionals in making inferences about the environment and determining management techniques.

Water is the most common environmental component being monitored by citizens. In the United States, this activity started as early as 1969 with the Izaak Walton League's Save Our Streams program. The oldest, and largest, volunteer lake monitoring project in the U.S. is Minnesota's Citizen Lake Monitoring Program, which began in 1973. Over the last 30 years, there has been an explosion worldwide of groups that are performing citizen science in all types of environments and using a wide variety of methods.

Volunteer monitoring programs serve many purposes. Most were started as an educational project to inform citizens about the environment and to connect them to the issue of protection and restoration. The concept of using citizens to collect data has evolved into a much more sophisticated enterprise. Much of this evolution is due to the fact that the citizens themselves wish to do more to help the environment and they want to have their data used by the professionals for the good of society.

Citizen scientists collect information to establish baseline conditions, to screen for problems or as an early warning system, for swimming advisories, and for research. Volunteer monitoring programs are used in environmental advocacy, land use decisions, evaluating Best Management Practices, and for reporting on the states' water quality to the federal government. Their data is being used within their own programs, as well as by federal, state, and local governments, community organizations, and university scientists. The retention rate of the citizen volunteers in monitoring programs is improved when participants see that their data is put to use in some way by researchers or decision makers.

Citizen collected data is gaining in its reputation as robust and accurate. There has traditionally been a perception that if a schooled professional does not collect the data, then the data will be flawed. The truth is, citizen scientists are well trained and supervised by field scientists and can perform data collection as precisely as the professional scientist. A number of scientific studies have been performed of parallel testing done by citizens versus professionals that revealed no significant difference between these two categories of scientists. Citizen collected data are even beginning to show up in peer-reviewed scientific journals bringing credibility to volunteer monitoring.

The scientific and economic benefit of using citizens to collect information about the environment is based on numbers. They can significantly raise the observation sample size, which in science is favored, by increasing the data collection frequency and by monitoring more locations. Time and money is limited for the paid professional to monitor sites. Citizens can therefore enhance and expand the data collection efforts of the professionals at little or at no cost since they volunteer to do so. In addition, volunteer monitoring projects are usually on going therefore generate long-term databases, which are very valuable to researchers.

The environmental benefit of using citizens to monitor their surroundings is the fact that they become fully engaged. This results in stewards for the environment. Through this process, not only do citizens become educated on environmental issues, but they develop a vested interest in seeing that the land, water, and air that they are watching is protected. Using citizens by means of their efforts in data collection is of value for reaching management goals in environmental protection.

Consider the Streams When Cutting the Trees

Eric Norland, OSU Extension, Program Leader Natural Resources

The privately owned woodlands of Ohio are laced with networks of intermittent and perennial streams. While the streambed is private property, the water flowing in it is a publicly owned resource. This means that woodland owners are obligated to protect this resource when conducting a timber harvest that is adjacent to or surrounds a stretch of stream. The most common water pollutant that can result from a harvest is sediment, said Eric Norland, Extension Specialist, Natural Resources. Carried into streams as polluted runoff, sediment fills streams channels and suffocates fish, fish eggs, and beneficial aquatic insects. Preventing sediment from entering a stream is not difficult and can be accomplished through the use of best management practices, or BMPs. These practices are familiar and understood by Ohio loggers, hundreds of whom have participated in BMP training workshops. Woodland owners who plan to conduct a timber harvest should have no difficulty finding a logger who knows when and how to use the BMPs, Norland said.

Best management practices should be used on skid trails and haul roads to divert runoff into the undisturbed forest floor where the water is quickly absorbed and the sediment is left in the leaf litter. If a stream must be crossed to access part of the timber sale, the crossing should be carefully chosen. Better yet, said Norland, is to use a portable timber bridge that can be placed over the stream. With a bridge, skidders and other logging equipment can drive over the stream, not through it. The "best" best management practice, however, is thorough planning before the harvest begins. Skid trails should be planned and located before the harvest begins. Too often, the trails are constructed as the cutting proceeds and without sufficient forethought, Norland said. Finally, it is essential that the woodland owner and logger go to the woods before the harvest and clearly understand what will take place and ask questions of one another. Assuming that the necessary BMPs will be used is no insurance that they will be.

Robert McCall, Watershed Management Agent, OSU Extension, NW District

After becoming employed a few short months ago with OSU Extension, I quickly became aware of one of the hottest issues in the NW District... the Dutch Dairy opposition. Many of the concerns showing up in local papers have concentrated on water quality degradation. Following are two of the many quotes from local newspapers followed by what the best available information suggests.

QUOTE: "Many polluters avoid responsibility. When a spill occurs the water quality suffers... rarely is the factory farm required to pay the costs of damages. "

The best available information suggests that these new Dairy operations are state of the art to prevent such spills and increase production efficiency. There is a network of state agencies that provide cost share practices to prevent surface and ground water contamination from the unlikely event of a spill. These agencies monitor Controlled Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to make sure they are in compliance with state and federal regulations, i.e. SWCD, NRCS, ODA, OEPA and ODNR. If spills occur and are left unchecked, producers are liable and can be severely fined and possibly jailed.

QUOTE -- "Applying livestock manure to farm fields in Northwest Ohio will result in nitrates leaching through the soil and contaminating ground water."

The best available information suggests that for the majority of land area in NW Ohio, groundwater vulnerability to nitrate contamination is very low (David Baker et al, 1989, Nitrate and Pesticides in Private Wells of Ohio: A State Atlas, Water Quality Laboratory, Heidelberg College, Tiffin, OH).  Nitrate contamination in wells is rare in NW Ohio (David Baker, 1990, Groundwater quality assessment through cooperative private well testing: An Ohio Example, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, Vol.45:230-235). Most area wells draw water from limestone bedrock aquifers. These aquifers are generally anaerobic, so the potential for nitrates to exist in groundwater is very low. Surface water contamination by nitrates poses a much larger problem.  Both fertilizer and manure can contribute to the nitrogen content of the soil.  Build up of phosphates in the soil due to over-application of manure (or fertilizer) could also pose a threat to surface waters.

Although there are inherent risks with livestock operations, there are also risks with installing the currently used home septic systems, applying lawn protection chemicals to a yard or even fertilizing the lawn. Whether or not we live in a rural, urban or suburban community, we will always have some measure of negative and positive impact on the environment. The most important part of that equation is not to let the negative outweigh the positive in such a manner that reduces our natural resources and the quality of life we wish to sustain. Based on the research, the two newspaper quotes above are concerns. But they are concerns with minimal risk in northwest Ohio.

In some respects we can be thankful that we do have watchful groups to help ensure that human impacts on agricultural lands are minimized. Federal and state agencies are constantly trying to help the agriculture industry achieve environmental compliance through cost share programs and grants.

At the last count by OSU Extension staff in the NW District there are 15 new Dutch Dairy operations either operating, under construction or under development in Ohio, 3 in Indiana and several more in Michigan. While no recent lawsuits have been filed, there have been two letters of intent to file against the new Dairies in Putnam County.

Your Local Stream Needs You!

Anne Baird, Watershed Management Agent, OSU Extension, SW District

WANTED: Energetic volunteers seeking adventure needed to protect Ohio's estimated 61, 532 miles of streams.

WHY:

• It's fun and a great way to meet new people and new creatures.
• Water is vital to Ohio's social and economic health. In 1997, there were more than 178 water plant intakes that withdrew an average 899 million gallons per day for more than 6,000,000 people.
• Ohio streams and watersheds provide water to more than 60,000 of Ohio's inland lakes, reservoirs, and ponds.
• Since more than 88 percent of Ohio is privately or locally owned the health of Ohio's streams is dependent upon the attitudes and conservation stewardship of landowners and local communities.
• Streams provide habitat for more than 14,000 species of aquatic wildlife

Chances are there's a group of enthusiastic individuals working to protect and restore a stream or river near your hometown. These groups work to develop a long-term protection and improvement plan for streams they live or work near. Typically this planning is done on a watershed scale. A watershed is a defined land area that captures rainfall and other precipitation and funnels it to a particular stream. The reason that stream protection efforts look at the whole watershed is that streams are more than just water flowing through a channelÞthey are complex and intimately connected to and affected by the surrounding landscape.

Improving Ohio's Water Resources

The physical quality of many steams in Ohio has been degraded by the loss of streamside forests in the watershed. Streamside forests function to improve water quality and quantity by:

• Providing shade
• Filtering out nutrients and pesticides
• Reducing soil erosion
• Providing an area for fine sediment to settle
• Storing flood water for slow release
• Improving aquatic habitats by providing nutrients (in the form of woody debris and leaves) and fish cover (such as undercut banks and deep pools)
• Providing habitat for mammals, amphibians, and birds

To address this problem many watershed groups are working with landowners and their local conservation organizations to enable them to permanently protect or establish streamside forests.

Local Involvement for Long-Term Success

After the group forms they get busy obtaining maps of important features such as wetlands, miles of streamside forests, and areas of the stream that might need improvement. They also collect information such as land use and population data, known water quality problems, soil types, and numbers and kinds of fish and other aquatic creatures.

In addition to compiling data and understanding the physical aspects of the watershed they try to increase involvement and input from the communities in the watershed. This is often done through monthly meetings, special town-hall planning sessions, and events such as stream clean-ups or festivals. These opportunities serve as a way for the group to share what they've learned and begin to incorporate the residents' values, concerns, and opinions on how to identify and address problems and opportunities in the watershed.

It's More Than Science

Volunteers with a wide range of skills and interests are needed to support these efforts. Currently there are an estimated 120 watershed groups for the roughly 326 watersheds in the state of Ohio. Most groups operate with just one full or part-time time paid employee. The majority of the group members are volunteers or resource professionals who donate a limited amount of time to assisting the planning effort. Volunteers for watershed groups come from all walks of life. Some own businesses in the area, others work in local industries, some are retired, and others are students. Watershed volunteers develop web sites, take photos, do computer work, fundraise, compile local natural history information, and develop brochures and press releases. And for those who like getting their feet wet there are stream clean-ups, tree plantings, and fish and aquatic insect surveys to assist with.

Watershed Resources and Contacts

How can you get involved? Start by contacting your county's Soil and Water Conservation District or Ohio State University Extension office. Not a watershed group near you? Consider starting one yourself, talk to natural resource professionals in your area and do some of your own research on the World Wide Web.

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Watershed Coordinator (phone: 614-265-6647)

World Wide Web Resources:

Community Based Watershed Management
http://ohioline.ag.ohio-state.edu/ws-fact/0001.html

Costs of Organizing and Sustaining A Watershed Group
http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~swest/wq/Watersheds_WS-2__revd.pdf

Ohio Watershed Network
http://ohiowatersheds.osu.edu/

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/

Center for Watershed Protection
http://www.cwp.org/

Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC):
http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/CTIC/CTIC.html

*(Source: A Guide to Ohio's Streams, 2000, Ohio Chapter of the American Fisheries Society)

The Canary in the Coal Mine: Using Aquatic Life to Determine Stream Health

J.P. Lieser, Watershed Management Agent, OSU Extension, East District

The fish and aquatic insects that live in a stream are an excellent indicator of its health. For an aquatic creature to survive they must have resources such as food, adequate amounts of dissolved oxygen (DO), sediment free gravel areas for reproduction and shelter from predators. All organisms have differing survival needs for instance; one may eat any type of algae, while another preys on only one type of insect. The types, abundance, and health of aquatic species change in predictable ways, biological monitoring can help determine if impairment is caused by chemical pollution or habitat alteration. Simply taking chemical readings (ex. pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Conductivity, and Temperature) or evaluating the physical habitat, may not give us the entire picture. Furthermore, by comparing fish and macro invertebrate assemblages upstream and downstream of a suspected source of pollution, biologists can tell if the stream is meeting the goals of the Clean Water Act.

High quality streams have clean water, natural habitats, and diverse biological assemblages that include pollution sensitive or rare, and endangered species. Low quality streams have degraded chemical water or sediment quality and extensively modified habitats. The typically have few pollution-sensitive organisms and no rare or endangered species.