I never knew my Grandpa Buman. He died before I was born. My dad describes Grandpa as “progressive.” In the 1940’s Grandpa decided it was too laborious to farm the curvy creek and so he straightened his ½ mile of Silver Creek in Shelby County, Iowa.Back then, straightening creeks was a common practice. I am sure, given Grandpa’s progressive nature, he was one of the first to straighten his section of the creek. Figure 1 is a photo taken in the 1930’s of Grandpa’s section of creek. Figure 2 shows the same segment in 2011, now owned by my …
When is the cavalry going to respond?
Do you remember the old westerns of the good guy and the bad guys? Invariably the fight would start with a few good guys doing battle with a lot of bad guys. After the few good guys put up a valiant fight, the cavalry would be sent to rescue the valiant foot soldiers. I am waiting for the same thing to happen in conservation. If the foot soldiers are the conservation planning agencies and the bad guy is soil erosion, then who is the cavalry? I believe the cavalry is agri-business. If agri-business can figure out how to “make conservation …
To mow or not to mow… that is the question
One of the people I often think about is Ernie Aust and his unwavering commitment to soil & water conservation. Ernie was one of my favorite Area Conservationists during my 14-year NRCS career. He loved to question conventional wisdom and was always willing to look at different perspectives; indeed a rare trait. I remember a lot of lively conversations with Ernie, but the most memorable was a discussion about grassed waterways and their maintenance.We agreed the conventional wisdom is to mow grassed waterways. In general, mowing …
Celebrate Soil and Water Stewardship Week
When the land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by his land—when both end up better by reason of their partnership—then we have conservation. - Aldo LeopoldIn 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts began a national program to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. Stewardship Week is officially celebrated from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in May. It is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances. The program relies on locally-led conservation districts sharing and promoting …
Precision Conservation: Why we must engage the private sector
Fifty years! Yes, that’s right. At the current rate it will take 50 years to design and install all the grassed waterways needed in Iowa. And this timetable is being generous. The 50 years doesn’t even account for maintenance, repair, and replacement of these grassed waterways after their normal 10-15 year lifespan.This is not acceptable, especially when you consider all conservation practices like ponds, wetlands, water & sediment control basins, terraces, no-till, and cover crops are on this same timetable. Please note, this is not a …
As simple as one, two, three
Sometimes it is the simple things that can make a big difference. Take contouring, for example. It’s easy; so easy in fact that we often overlook it when we consider it in the context of conservation technology. I staked a lot of contour lines for farmers when I was a NRCS Soil Conservationist in the 1980’s. It was easy; just me, my hand level, and a fist full of flags. But it was also time consuming. It took hours to stake 160 acres of cropland, especially when I tried to minimize point rows. Today, my local conservation district no longer …