balmm currents

Basin Alliance for the Lower Mississippi in Minnesota

June 2, 2004

NEXT BALMM MEETING: Wednesday, June 16, 9-12 am at the Rochester MPCA office. Agenda highlights:

WHY HIGH SEDIMENT YIELDS PERSIST DESPITE LAND USE IMPROVEMENTS: At the June 16 BALMM meeting, Dr. Douglas Faulkner, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire professor of geology, will present his research exploring why high sediment yields persist long after soil conservation practices have been improved. His presentation includes summaries of research projects in several Driftless Area streams, including the Buffalo River, Mill Creek, Coon Creek, and Trout Creek, all in Wisconsin. Following is an abstract from one of Dr. Faulkner’s papers on the Buffalo River: “The Buffalo River has flowed into Rieck’s Lake, a backwater lake that fills the mouth of its valley, since 1935 when Lock and Dam 4 was closed on the Mississippi River. Today Rieck’s Lake is largely filled with sediment. Given its location at the mouth of a 1100-km2 agricultural watershed, it is not surprising that the lake has experienced dramatic sedimentation. It is, however, surprising that the rate of infilling has not slowed in recent years despite widespread efforts to control soil erosion in the Buffalo River watershed. The purpose of this research was to determine whether a sediment source other than agricultural land could be the cause of Rieck’s Lake demise in recent years. Its specific objective was to determine if tributary stream channels have themselves been a significant source of the sediment delivered by the Buffalo River to Rieck’s Lake. To achieve this objective, we relocated and resurveyed more than 25 transects across tributary streams, which were originally surveyed in 1992 and 1993. From these resurveys, we found that tributary stream channels have been remarkably stable over the last 8 to 9 years, indicating that they have not been important sediment sources. Widening at two sites along a recently-incised channel in a small (3 sq km) tributary watershed were the only notable instances of recent channel erosion that we identified. We in fact found shallower, narrower channels and modestly aggraded floodplains at a few sites, suggesting that tributary streams have, in places, been net sediment sinks.”

TURBIDITY TMDL WORK GETS UNDERWAY IN SE MINNESOTA:

The MPCA has hired Barr Engineering Company to conduct Phase I of the LMB Regional Sediment Data Evaluation Project. The main objective of Phase I is to compile existing monitoring data (stream sediment, turbidity, physical and biological data) and to provide assessment and interpretation of the data. An update of the project and a discussion of data sources will be provided at the June 16^th BALMM meeting. The overall project direction is to make the best use of existing data, in preparation for upcoming sediment TMDLs.

A technical steering group will be established to provide direction to the MPCA and Barr. Any person or group having stream monitoring data should contact the MPCA’s Project Manager, Bill Thompson at 507/281-7764 (or bill.thompson@pca.state.mn.us). Greg Wilson (952/832-2672 or gwilson@barr.com) will be Barr’s Project Manager.

This effort will also include a future Phase II (erosion and sediment transport modeling) and Phase III (watershed-specific guidance documents), when funding becomes available.

. These meetings are about the proposed changes to water quality standards in Minn. R. ch. 7050. The purpose is to give affected and interested parties an opportunity to lean more about the changes, to ask questions and provide comments.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF ANTIBIOTIC FEEDING: At the June 16 BALMM meeting, Dr. Satish Gupta, Department of Soil, Water and Climate, University of Minnesota, will report on continuing studies of the development and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria by manure, in southeast Minnesota. Following is a summary of the study, Role of Antibiotics Feeding in the spread of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment: “There were two parts to our study: (1) On the fate and transport of manure-applied antibiotics on land, and (2) The role of antibiotic feeding on the development and spread of antibiotic resistance in manure, soil (where manure is applied), and dog feces. On the first objective, our studies show that antibiotics belonging to tetracycline group, and tylosin are strongly adsorbed by soils. Only a small quantity (0.07%) of these antibiotics are present in the soluble form in surface runoff. Most of the off-site movement of these antibiotics is with the sediments. A majority of the manure-applied antibiotics remain in the field. However, soil adsorbed antibiotics are biologically active. We found no transport of these antibiotics in tile line flow from a high clay soil. We are continuing our work in testing these concepts in karst areas with fractured bedrock and high permeable sandy outwash soils. On the second objective, our results show that bacteria in manure from hog farms that use antibiotics have higher resistance than those farms, which do not use antibiotics sub-therapeutically. We did not find any difference in bacterial resistance in soil or dog fecal material from two types of farms (w/o antibiotic use) whether they are hog, turkey or cattle farm. We also did not find any increased bacterial resistance in manure from cattle and turkey farms. Our testing has been only for three types of antibiotics: tetracycline, tylosin, and monensin. We will be doing additional tests for other antibiotics in coming months. Please also note that these are preliminary results and the sample size in our analysis is relatively small (4-5 farms of each kind). The future plans for this study is expand our sample size.

WATER QUALITY STANDARDS UPDATE FOLLOWING BALMM: At a public meeting following BALMM on June 16, 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm, at MPCA in Rochester, proposed changes in Minnesota’s water quality standards will be presented by water quality standard specialists. Details for this and other meeting locations can be found at:

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/water/standards/rulechange.html

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will be revising Minnesota Rules chapters 7050 and 7052. These rules contain water quality standards and other provisions that help protect surface and ground waters from pollution. If approved, the changes would go into effect in July 2005. The following list of changes is proposed:

o Nutrient Standard for Lakes (new)

o Update the Mercury standard

o Update Human Health-Based Standards

o Update the Ammonia Standard

o Change the Bacteriological Standard from Fecal Coliform to E. Coli.

CALCAREOUS FENS OF SE MINNESOTA – A 2-DAY CONFERENCE: This event, co-sponsored by Rochester Public Utilities, the City of Rochester, and the Minnesota DNR, will be held June 18 & 19, 2004, 9am - 5pm, in Rochester. Calcareous fens are Minnesota's rarest wetlands. Given special protection by Minnesota Statute, they are dependent on ground water and vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts. In the classroom we will address the technical criteria for identification of calcareous fens, learn about data collection methods employed in calcareous fens, hear about the results of studies conducted in Minnesota calcareous fens and discuss the types of activities which, when carried out in or near calcareous fens, would tend to negatively impact the wetland if planning does not take the presence of the fen into account. Several case studies will be presented. In the field we will assess a 'potential' calcareous fen, practice data collection, and discuss planning for calcareous fen impact avoidance and data requirements for situations were calcareous fen management plans become necessary. The first day deals with the definition, hydrogeology and ecology of calcareous fens in addition to calcareous fen land use management strategies and case studies. The second day includes on-site discussions about fen impact avoidance and calcareous fen management plans.

Location:

June 18: Meet in the Community Room at Rochester Public Utilities

(4000 East River Rd. NE)

June 19: Meet at Rochester City Hall to car pool to the fen field site.

(201 4th St. SE, East Wing, Main Entrance) at 8:30 am

Registration

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MGWA Members $ 100

Non-members $ 130

Field Trip Saturday Only $40

Copy of Workshop Materials/Handouts $50

Late Registration (after June 11) or at the door $ +25 Deadline for pre-registration is June 11, 2004.

The Two-day registration includes complete workshop materials, coffee breaks and box lunches. Field trip registration includes field trip handouts, snacks and box lunch. Weather-appropriate field gear and waterproof boots are needed on the field day.

To register, complete the information requested and mail with payment to: Minnesota Ground Water Association c/o WRI, 4779 126th St N White Bear Lake, MN 55110-5910. Register with our secure online ordering system. www.mgwa.org/order

For information about conference content and logistics, contact: Jeanette Leete (651)276-8208

Email: calcfen@aol.com

For information about conference registration, contact: office@mgwa.org

MILK PRODUCERS TEAM WITH BALMM FOR CONSERVATION PARTNERS GRANT: The Minnesota Milk Producers Association is partnering with BALMM along with several state agencies and the U of M Center for Rural Design in a Conservation Partners grant recently submitted to the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA. Just submitted to NRCS, the grant would enable project partners to develop county-specific maps for targeting incentive funding to dairy farmers (1:1 match, up to $1,000) to areas considered by local stakeholders to be of high priority for addressing sedimentation, nutrients, fecal coliform, pesticides, and hydrologic modification. The project utilizes MMPA’s Environmental Quality Assurance Program to conduct comprehensive environmental assessments and develop environmental action plans for 250 dairy farms in the region. A comprehensive evaluation will be used to quantify the economic and environmental efficiency of the innovative tools and strategies employed to achieve BALMM objectives in 12 counties of southeast Minnesota.

WATERSHED RESEARCH GRANT OPPORTUNITY: The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service, under the Integrated Research, Education, Extension Grants Program, is requesting applications for projects proposing to evaluate the effects of watershed conservation practices, with a focus on understanding how the suite of conservation practices, the timing of these activities, and the spatial distribution of these practices throughout a watershed influence their effectiveness for achieving locally defined water quality goals. The deadline for grant applications is July 6, 2004. For further information, go to the website http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1160.

FUTURE OF MINNESOTA WETLANDS: The Minnesota Environment Policy Forum focuses on the future of wetlands in Minnesota. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, June 15, 9:30 am to 3:00 pm at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St Paul. The Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s policy forum, Unfinished Business, will assess progress toward achieving Minnesota's wetland goals of no net loss and net increase, explore emerging threats to the quantity and quality of wetlands and engage a diverse audience in dialogue about a vision for the state's wetland resources.  Accomplished conservation advocate Ron Nargang will moderate the event, and ideas generated at the forum will be shared with Governor Pawlenty’s Clean Water Cabinet.

For more information on Unfinished Business please contact Peter Frosch, Environmental Policy program manager, at 612-334-3388 ext. 108 or pfrosch@mn-ei.org.

BEARS REPEATING: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Send comments and items for future editions to:

balmm currents editor: Norman Senjem, MPCA

Phone: 507/280-3592

Fax: 507/280-5513

norman.senjem@pca.state.mn.us