Agricultural News
Oklahoma Makes Conservation Progress, Removes 11 Streams From EPA 'Impaired' List
Sat, 19 May 2012 12:14:02 CDT
Oklahoma has made a lot of progress in the last year with water quality issues. So much so that several streams that have long had issues with sedimentation, excessive nutrient levels and bacterial contamination are being removed from the EPA's list of impaired streams.
Clay Pope, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, says the success is due to the hard work of farmers and ranchers working in concert with their local conservationists. He recently spoke with Ron Hays about the progress of conservation efforts in the Sooner state which, in many ways, are leading the nation. You can listen to their full conversation about several conservation topics- including the EPA impairment list, Conservation in the 2012 Farm Bill and state dollars for conservation this legislative session. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this story.
We also have the conversation that Ron and Clay had on KWTV News9 in the Ron Hays In the Field segment seen on Saturday mornings- click on the play button in the video box below.
"What we've been able to do in Oklahoma this last year is take over 11 of those streams off of that list. That makes over 30 streams we've been able to take off in Oklahoma, which is one of the best records in the United States."
He said only Tennessee had a slightly better record last year because their efforts were focused on a single stream system. The streams removed from the EPA impaired list in Oklahoma were more widely dispersed and represented a wide-range of eco-regions that required different abatement procedures.
But, Pope said, all of the Oklahoma projects shared a common denominator.
"We've been able to show, through voluntary conservation practices, you can address some multiple lists of non-point-source pollution challenges."
There are those, he said, who say you can't tackle poultry litter problems through voluntary conservations efforts.
"Yes, you can, because we've shown that you can," Pope said. He said the same holds true for issues caused by livestock and nutrient runoff from crop land. Conservationists and landowners have been successful in addressing each of those threats.
"We've shown that you can address problems with those issues, not through regulation, not through lawsuits, but through voluntary, locally-led programs that work with agricultural producers that take into consideration their financial situation, that respects their private property rights, but at the end of the day solves problems."
It is due to those efforts, Pope said, that the EPA's end of the year report will show Oklahoma has surpassed Tennessee as the number one state in reducing non-point-source pollution.
"And that's a real testimony to the work that farmers and ranchers are doing out there on their land. They're putting their own money into this effort. It shows the stewardship ethic that our producers have--their willingness to address problems.
"In Oklahoma, the way our partnership works is you have local folks that are leading this locally-led process. You have conservation district directors who are producers themselves saying 'We have a problem. Let's work together to solve it,' rather than having somebody from the EPA or the state come out and say, 'You have a problem and you have to do something about it.'"
He said Oklahoma conservationists and landowners developed and implemented specific, measurable practices to nurse the targeted streams back to health. In different areas for different problems they adopted strip till and no-till farming methods. Some landowners fenced off riparian areas and provided alternate water sources to keep livestock out of streams. Others put highly-erodible land back into grass or modified stocking rates to reduce erosion issues.
These practices were "simple things that, at the end of the day, are in a lot of cases good for the producer's bottom line over the long run."
Another key to Oklahoma's success, Pope said, is monitoring results.
"That's one of the things that's really unique about Oklahoma. I mentioned those EPA dollars. Some of those dollars actually go to put monitoring into these tributaries so we can see what works and what doesn't work. And by monitoring those tributaries we've been able to show a lot of success."
Pope said Oklahoma's success so far is only the tip of the iceberg. He said he is very excited that the 2012 Farm Bill, so far, seems to treat conservation fairly. He said there is no substantive difference between the Senate and House versions, so he's encouraged by what he sees.
You can hear more from Clay Pope in the full interview with Ron Hays by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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