Locals to advocate filter strip rule change

CELINA - Mercer County soil and water officials plan to attend a national meeting in New Orleans to support a federal conservation rule change they believe would increase filter strip planting.

The Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts this year endorsed a resolution introduced by the Mercer Soil and Water Conservation District that would allow farmers to mow and/or harvest part of their filter strips as hay at a reduced soil rental rate. The action by the state agency allowed the National Association of Conservation Districts to consider the resolution at its annual meeting in New Orleans in February.

Farmers currently are not allowed to harvest hay from filter strips.

"The NACD delegate body will vote on whether or not the resolution will become a priority for lobbying efforts of NACD," said Nikki Hawk, Mercer SWCD administrator/education specialist.

Hawk and Mercer SWCD board members Dale Albers and Nick Renner plan to attend the national forum.

"I believe the three of us, if we go, our job is to be down there and talking to delegates when we are in breakout sessions, on tours and at meals and try to garner support for it," Hawk said of the resolution. "That's our whole reasoning for going. I don't know if the board would be willing to send three delegates if they didn't believe we had a resolution they believed deserved to go before the whole body."

Mercer SWCD officials have said the change would promote filter strip planting, which helps keep phosphorous out of waterways. Phosphorous is the main nutrient feeding toxic blue-green algae blooms in waterways such as Grand Lake and Lake Erie.

Filter strips planted between farm fields and creeks and steams have been proven to reduce runoff of soil and nutrients and improve water quality, officials have said.

USDA conservation programs included in the farm bill pay farmers to take cropland out of production and instead plant filter strips to conserve soil, improve water quality and create wildlife habitat.

Similar Mercer SWCD resolutions in 2004 and 2005 never made it out of committee for a vote by the state group. The main reasons cited were that mowing filter strips would negate wildlife benefits and harvesting hay would lead to a double payment to farmers.

The local SWCD board on Tuesday passed a motion to pay $1,000 toward each staff member's cost to attend the national meeting. The entire trip likely will cost about $1,500 per person, plus the cost of extra tours and about $80 for the awards banquet, Hawk said.

Board members also on Tuesday approved spending up to $500 for SWCD staff and board members who want to participate in the Grand Lake Ag Leaders Program, which starts Jan. 7. The cost to participate is $100 per person. If more than five staff and board members attend, funds will be prorated, the board said.

Hawk said the program is starting up after a two-year hiatus. The six-month-long program will include one session per month. It will feature special speakers on ag-related topics, trips to local ag operations and possibly an overnight trip. Topics will include public policy, large livestock farms and environmental issues, marketing, finance and human resources issues and emerging agricultural industries, a letter from the event sponsors states.

The board also reviewed an invalid allegation of improper manure application reported Dec. 1 and a pollution complaint reported Nov. 25 that was referred to the Ohio Department of Agriculture for review. Both alleged incidents were in the Grand Lake Watershed, Mercer SWCD Engineer Theresa Dirksen said.

An anonymous caller left a phone message for officials Dec. 1 stating appropriate setbacks were not followed when manure was applied to a field on Dicke Road, north of Clover Four Road. A county SWCD official and an Ohio Department of Natural Resources official who viewed the area found solid and semi-solid dairy manure had been surface applied to a corn stubble field with setbacks ranging between 60 to 90 feet from the road ditch. The minimum setback requirement for surface application to corn stubble is 35 feet.

Another anonymous phone message was left Tuesday, stating more manure had been applied in the same area. Soil and water officials again checked the area and found manure had been applied to more of the field with a 54-foot setback from the road ditch.

A caller Nov. 25 reported that manure was running off a farm field at the intersection of state Route 219 and Bruce Road. Soil and water officials viewing the area found surface water from recent rain running off the field where hog manure had been applied and into a catch basin at the edge of the field. The water tested less than one part per million for ammonia and dissolved oxygen tested between 5-6 ppm; 13 ppm of ammonia is considered chronic toxicity to aquatic life and most species can survive in water with dissolved oxygen levels as low as 1-2 ppm, Dirksen said.   Setbacks from the road ditches and catch basins ranged 60-75 feet and the manure was not incorporated in the bean stubble field. SWCD and ODNR officials referred the complaint to the Ohio Department of Agriculture because the farm that generated the manure is an ODA-permitted facility. ODA will forward its findings to local officials after a report is finished.

The next SWCD board meeting is 8:45 a.m. Jan. 8 at the office.