Prairie Strips Hold Soil, Protect Pond

Prairie Strips Hold Soil Protect Pond CROPS Miscellaneous Seth Watkins is using strips of prairie to help clean up a farm pond and reduce erosion He seeded 8 acres out of 50 or about 12 percent of the field to native prairie He figures the payback will be well worth the reduced tillable acres “Most of the farm is terraced tiled or pastured ” says Watkins “One 50-acre field was decent tillable ground but steep enough we needed to do something We were getting algae in a pond from phosphorus run off and ruts from soil erosion ” The pond was what Watkins refers to as shallow water habitat He looks for naturally wet areas in the farms he operates and seeds them down rather than tile them They catch and hold run off and attract wildlife The problem field was a perfect watershed draining into a shallow water habitat pond “We get 15 to 20 percent of our revenue from hunting leases ” he explains “Our vision is to hold the soil and bring back birds It’s also the right thing to do ” Watkins pastures a 600-head cow-calf herd and grows row crops and alfalfa on 2 800 owned and rented acres His local Natural Resource Conservation Service district conservationist suggested the prairie strips to hold the soil Research at Iowa State University has shown that planting 10 to 20 percent of a watershed to native prairie reduces sediment loss from a watershed by 90 percent Watkins notes that an earlier program using strips of brome grass didn’t work Low lignin content meant the grass broke down too quickly and a short root system didn’t hold moisture moving through the ground Deep-rooted native prairie grass holds water and has a higher lignin content “We went in with a laser to identify the contours and then seeded the strips ” says Watkins “The ridge above the field breaks fast so we put a pretty wide strip at the top to catch the water off the ridge Then we added a couple more farther down on the hillside to slow it down ” He didn’t follow a formula that identified how much to plant or exactly where “We looked at slope and grade and used some of that information but in part we just looked at the land to see what would work here and there ” says Watkins Watkins acknowledges that putting in some terraces and no tilling would probably hold the soil as well However he sees diversity above ground as a sign of a healthy environment with its own value “The strips look right ” he says “I don’t know if they will work like intended but I like the birds and bees and wildlife they attract We are a cash operation but we look at how we can protect the land for ourselves and for the families we rent it from These strips are one more tool in our toolbox ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Seth Watkins ph 712 370-0430; pinhookfarm@iowatelecom net; www leopold iastate edu/news/07-09-2013/iowa-farmer-tests-new-conservation-practice

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