Watershed Outreach HUNTERS SELECTED AS 2008 WALLACE’S FARMER April 2008 A newsletter for Rathbun Land and Water
April 2008 A newsletter for Rathbun Land and Water Alliance Board members
MASTER GROWERS
Contact Kathleen Chester at 641.774.5940 Mike Hunter and Nick and Alyse Hunter of Chariton, Iowa
or by email at chester@sirisonline.com were selected as 2008 Wallace’s Farmer Master Growers
along with three other Iowa producers. The Hunters were
inducted into the prestigious organization on March 10, at a
special award presentation ceremony in Johnston, Iowa.
The brothers, who were selected in 2006 as Rathbun Lake Protectors
from Lucas County, were nominated for the award by the Rathbun
Land and Water Alliance at the request of Joe Sellers, who attended the
ceremony along with Alliance representative, Ralph Alshouse.
The Alliance received several positive mentions during the event, which
was also attended by the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey,
ISU Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Wendy Wintersteen, and
Iowa Farm Bureau President, Craig Lang.
Mike and Nick discussed all aspects of their farming operation and
talked about how important it was to them to be good stewards and
protect Rathbun Lake. “Everything we have is located above Rathbun
L –R: RLWA Director, Ralph Alshouse; Mike Hunter, ISU Lake. It feels good to know all that sediment isn’t ending up in the
Livestock Specialist, Joe Sellers; and Nick and Alyse Hunter. lake,” says Mike.
RATHBUN LAKE PROTECTOR FACT
SHEETS FEATURED ON ALLIANCE
WEBSITE
Fact sheets highlighting the 2006 and 2007
Rathbun Lake Protectors have been developed
and will soon be placed on the Alliance web-
site.
Website visitors can click on links that will
take them to more detailed information about
best management practices, available funding,
and contact information for each Rathbun Lake
Watershed county.
ALLIANCE EXHIBIT FEATURED
AT THE SCIENCE CENTER OF IOWA
A light box display was developed to exhibit at the Science Center of
Iowa during the special IMAX showing of Grand Canyon Adventure—a
river at risk—a movie which features the Colorado River. The local
sponsor for the movie is the Iowa Association of Water Agencies, of
which Rathbun Regional Water Association is a member.
The special exhibit will be on display through the month of May and
will be on exhibit again for three months in the fall beginning in
September. The Alliance exhibit may be viewed at the base of the
movie exit staircase.
RRWA CEO and RLWA President, John Glenn and RLWA Director, Sharon Redinbaugh
Volume 3 Issue 2
2008 ALLIANCE MEMBER AND PARTNER
Alliance Matters and Partner News SUPPORT UPDATE
Every year the Alliance’s board of directors asks local
Contact Marty Braster at 641.647.2416
members and partners to contribute $200 each to the
or by email at mbraster@rrwa.net
organization. The Alliance uses these funds to cover the
costs of the annual financial audit, annual meeting, and
other watershed outreach activities. Alliance member
RRWA matches dollar-for-dollar the contributions from other local members and partners. To date in 2008, six Alliance members and
partners have made contributions of $1,100. The RRWA match will bring the total contributions in 2008 to $2,200. If your
organization has not yet made a 2008 contribution to the Alliance, please encourage it to do so.
IOWA STATE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE AND NRCS SUPPORT FOR RATHBUN LAKE PROTECTION
The Iowa State Technical Committee and NRCS
have approved the Alliance’s most recent request
for continued financial support for the Rathbun
Lake Special Project. The Committee and NRCS
awarded the Alliance $195,540 that will be used to
share the cost of BMP application with landowners
in nine targeted sub-watersheds.
The approved support is subject to the availability of
EQIP funds. Since late 2003, NRCS and the State
Technical Committee have provided close to $2.1
million for the application of BMPs on priority land
in targeted sub-watersheds above Rathbun Lake.
ALLIANCE REQUESTS CONTINUED
SUPPORT FROM IDALS DSC AND IOWA
DNR
The Alliance recently submitted a 2008 water qual-
ity / watershed protection project application to the
IDALS DSC and Iowa DNR. The Alliance’s applica-
tion requested $501,585 to assist landowners with the application of BMPs in one targeted sub-watershed. If approved, this will bring
the total number of targeted sub-watersheds in which the Alliance and partners are working with landowners through the Rathbun
Lake Special Project to twenty-five.
The selected targeted sub-watershed is Chariton River #2 in Decatur and Wayne Counties. There are close to 1,300 acres of priority
land in this targeted sub-watershed. BMPs proposed in the Alliance’s application will reduce the delivery of sediment and phosphorus
to Rathbun Lake from the Chariton River #2 sub-watershed by 2,000 tons and 7,500 pounds per year respectively.
WORK ON THE ALLIANCE’S 2007 AUDIT CONTINUES
Alliance members’ staff continues to work with representatives of TD&T Financial Group P.C. to perform the organization’s 2008
financial audit.
The Rathbun Lake Special Project is a partnership of the following individuals, agencies, and organizations: Participating landowners in the Rathbun Lake
Watershed; Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s Division of Soil Conservation; Iowa Department of Natural Resources; Iowa State
Unive rsity; Iowa Watershe d Impr oveme nt Re view Boar d; Southe rn Iowa Devel opme nt and Conser vati on Auth ori ty ; US Army Corps of Engineers ; US
E nvi r onm e nta l Pr otecti on Ag e ncy ; US DA Fa rm Se r vi ce Age ncy ; US DA Na tural Res our ce s C onse r va ti on Se rv ice ; Appa noos e , C la rk e, De ca tur , L uca s ,
Monroe, and Wayne Soil and Water Conservation Districts; Appanoose, Clarke, Decatur, Lucas, Monroe, and Wayne Counties; Iowa Farm Bureau at the state and county levels; and Rathbun Regional Water Associa-
tion.
 Velvet’s View
Special Report THE RATHBUN LAKE SPECIAL PROJECT—
Contact Velvet Buckingham at 641.872.1350 FORAGE COMPONENT
or by email at Velvet.Buckingham@ia.nacdnet.net Contact Mike Knox at 641.872.1350 or by The forage component of the RLSP with assistance
email at Michael.J.Knox@ia.nacdnet.net from Iowa State University (ISU) including Dr.
Russell, Mat Haan and Doug Bear has resumed.
Water sampling began on March 10, 2008. All of the
Summary of Cost Share Expended by Source and County cooperators are participating with the project and we will be taking water samples every two weeks throughout the summer into
the middle of this fall in November.
From 10/1/03 - 12/30/07
Dr. Russell and Mat Haan worked in the Rathbun Lake Watershed in late March collecting bare ground fecal matter cover on
Watershed IDNR project cooperators’ farms. ISU does not know what the results will be but information provided will help to answer some
County Total Cost EQIP WSPF IFIP Initiative WIRB 319 Producers WRP questions about the content of bacteria and viruses in water sources over the winter. Early conclusions are being drawn about the
concentrations of bacteria and viruses in the water that indicate that livestock are not the major contributors to the high level of
Appanoose $417,632 $131,633 $56,589 $7,500 $69,770 $0 $26,050 $126,090 $1,076,596 these organisms but ISU needs to do more research on this matter. Questions are being raised about if the presence of wildlife
could be contributing many more bacteria than livestock, as livestock research has proven that cows are not spending a majority of
Clarke $623,221 $201,399 $86,295 $2,973 $96,857 $15,946 $18,386 $207,112
their time in the streams, rivers and creeks. However, two more years of research will be completed to solidify the common
Decatur $464,794 $77,114 $132,210 $5,355 $86,337 $41,448 $0 $122,329 questions about the presence of livestock.

Lucas $832,030 $206,392 $152,843 $10,591 $91,259 $55,483 $79,536 $235,927 $638,968 Research has also proven that cattle grazing along the stream do not have significant impacts on the amount of erosion and sediment
occurring within the stream and on the banks of the stream at the Rhodes farm near Rhodes, Iowa. The results are inconclusive for
Monroe $109,627 $40,896 $30,166 $0 $7,646 $0 $0 $30,920
Rathbun, because research on the project has only taken place for less than a year. Further research will answer more questions
Wayne $1,468,240 $555,468 $313,570 $6,076 $109,009 $14,099 $22,208 $447,810 $719,811 about what is taking place here. We will continue to work with ISU on this research and we’ll hopefully receive some excellent
results at the conclusion.
TOTALS $3,915,544 $1,212,902 $771,673 $32,495 $460,878 $126,976 $146,180 $1,170,186 $2,435,375

SPECIAL BMP Update This quarter has been a time of meeting with producers,
APPLICATIONS outreach and training. With the announcement of new
WIRB
WIRB #2
#2 BMP
BMP Progress
Progress Staff received word that the Contact Susania Ernst at 641.774.2512 WIRB #3 funds being released for Chariton River #4
application submitted for or by email at Susania.Ernst@ia.nacdnet.net and Chariton River #8, there has been a good response of
Grant Obligated- Special EQIP funding was producer’s interested in building structures.
Practice Obligation Unspent Expended Available Balance approved by the State Technical
Seeding $15,000.00 $397.00 $0.00 $14,603.00 Committee. However, EQIP I had two opportunities for sharing information on the Rathbun Lake Special Project. The first opportunity was the contractor’s
funds are not currently available meeting for Clarke and Decatur Counties. The second was the Women Landowner’s meeting at the Smyrna Friends Church. Both
Waterways $14,850.00 $7,069.70 $0.00 $7,780.30 to fund the approved
Terraces $336,600.00 $150,962.81 $65,619.54 $120,017.65 were great opportunities to discuss the difference between soil conservation goals and water quality goals. The water quality goal
applications. for soil loss is less than 1 ton per acre per year. Soil Conservationists are satisfied when soil loss is limited to “T” or the tolerable soil
Basins $25,800.00 $30,930.45 $1,528.14 -$6,658.59
loss, usually 3 or 5 tons per acre per year.
Structure $61,950.00 $16,255.54 $33,432.71 $12,261.75 Therefore, when NRCS
receives additional EQIP Both were also great opportunities to share with people the positive aspect of how improvements on the farms in Clarke County
Total $454,200.00 $205,615.50 $100,580.39 $148,004.11 funding, the Rathbun Lake
benefit people downstream. Preserving the flood damage control capacity of Rathbun Lake, improving the water quality for 80,000
Special Project application will
customers of Rathbun Regional Water Association, as well as benefiting wild life habitat which in turn promotes tourism through
be awarded funding for
approximately $195,540.
fishing and hunting. Good water quality also provides satisfaction for the 1,000,000 visitors to Rathbun Lake for recreation every
year.
WIRB
WIRB #3 BMPProgress
#3 BMP Progress These funds will be available to
landowners in nine subwater- This quarter I received formal training in Toolkit, the mapping and planning tool NRCS uses to assist customers. It is very
Available sheds. Project staff are working challenging to learn from scratch, but an improvement I’m sure once I become proficient in it, I will grow to enjoy. Cultural
Practice Grant Obligation Obligated-Unspent Expended Balance to complete and submit an Resource Training has increased my sensitivity to others sense of proprietorship for traditions and districts. I also attended the Iowa
application for WSPF/319 Watersheds Conference. It was helpful to hear what project coordinators from other watersheds are doing and what their concerns
Seeding $10,500.00 $0.00 $0.00 $10,500.00 are compared to ours.
funding for a new subwater-
Waterways $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 shed, Chariton River #2—see
map on front page.
Terraces $330,600.00 $27,985.11 $0.00 $302,614.89
Landowners with priority UPCOMING EVENTS
Basins $24,000.00 $8,004.00 $0.00 $15,996.00
ground located in July 8, 2008—Protect Rathbun Lake Workshop—Jimmy Carpenter farm in Wayne County
Structure $87,720.00 $0.00 $0.00 $87,720.00 Chariton River #2 will be The workshop will feature a rainfall simulator from the Iowa Learning Farm with various speakers and a meal provided by
eligible for any WSPF/319 Farm Bureau.
Total $452,820.00 $35,989.11 $0.00 $416,830.89
funds awarded.