 Cedar Creek Farmers President Al Schmidt, welcoming people to a Cedar Creek Farmers soil health fall field day tour.
In Washington and Ozaukee Counties, a group of farmers got together in 2017 to share their mission of improving soil health and protecting water quality. With assistance from Washington and Ozaukee County Land Conservation and the NRCS, the Cedar Creek Watershed Farmers are spreading the word about innovative farming practices that not only protect soil health and water quality, but can also improve a farmers bottom line.
While adopting new conservation practices, such as no-till farming and cover crops, may sound simple to non-farmers, the actual process of converting conventionally farmed land to these innovative practices can be challenging. This is why the Cedar Creek Farmers have been hosting numerous workshops, field days, and farmer meetings to share ideas and learn how to successfully adopt practices from one another. Examples of their outreach events include:
- providing education and outreach to area producers about the principles of soil health,
- soil and water quality improvement conservation practices,
- development of the Cedar Creek Farmers (CCF) incentive program to install low-cost conservation practices, and
- farm tours to showcase usage of these practices in the local community and build support for their sustainable farming initiative.
Field days for farmers allows for peer-to-peer sharing of knowledge and ideas on working farms, where farmers can learn first-hand, how conservation practices have been incorporated into different types of farms in a profitable and workable manner. In September, 2018, farmers in the region visited Cedar Creek Farmer, Al Schmidt’s farm in Jackson Township. He farms more than 400 acres. Schmidt transitioned from conventional tillage to vertical tillage in 2011. More recently he has begun testing no-till and the use of cover crops. He’s doing so with input from Paul Sebo, a conservationist, and Stephanie Egner, a project technician, both from the Washington County Land and Water Conservation Division. These practices are incredibly beneficial for soil health and greatly reduce the risk of runoff and soil erosion.
If you would like to learn more about Cedar Creek Farmers and help spread the word about their efforts, feel free to attend their educational events, or contact below:
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 Steve Kratz (of Kratz Farms - Slinger, WI) next to a field of Green Mix (Forage Peas & Forage Plus Oats). Kratz Farms is an advocate of using green cover crops to not only provide forage, but protect soil and water quality on agricultural lands (photo credit: Ricky Kratz).
Kratz Farms Hosts Field Day Demonstrating Practices that Protect Water Quality in Washington County
Kratz Farms (Slinger, WI), a 4th generation dairy and cash-grain farm and seed supplier, hosted a field day with participants of Cedar Creek Farmers to demonstrate the numerous conservation farming practices they have successfully incorporated into their farming operation, including:
- No-till planting covers into corn silage,
- Strip-tillage for grain corn,
- Protecting soil with a living crop Spring, Summer, and Fall,
- Focusing on natural fertilizer, like manure, to build soil health and recycle nutrients, rather than importing foreign nutrients into the watershed,
- Manure optimization to only apply nitrogen as needed,
- Use of waterways for natural water flow and erosion control,
- Fall cover crops to hold nutrients through the winter and minimize leaching and runoff in the spring.
Ricky and Steve Kratz, members of the Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil and Water, farm land in both Dodge and Washington County and have been ardent supporters of innovative and sustainable agricultural practices.
In August of 2018, the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust (aka Sweet Water) provided an update on the Milwaukee Basin Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP). Since then, substantial progress has been made on its development! Follow the link below to learn about what the WQIP is, what’s coming up over the next few months, how the WQIP is relevant to you, and how you can get involved.
Milwaukee Basin Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP)
Next Meeting: All are invited to the 4th community meeting for a Fredonia-Newburg Nonpoint Source Watershed Restoration Plan.
- May 7, 9am-11am, Village of Fredonia, Government Center Board Rm.
- Meeting Topic: : Watershed Goals & Prioritization
Presentations from Past Meetings
Contact Karen Nenahlo, MMSD Project Manager, for more information.
The April 3rd spring grazing workshop in Jefferson has been rescheduled to Tuesday, April 23rd at the UW Extension Office in Jefferson.
Jefferson County
UW Extension Building
846 Collins Road
Jefferson, WI 53549
The grazing workshop will include speakers presenting info on:
- Seeding and stocking rates,
- Emergency forage options,
- Grazing nutrition,
- DNR grazing program opportunities,
- and an Agency and Grazing Partners panel discussion
Register by April 17TH by contactibng Kirsten Jurcek:
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Ozaukee County No-Till Spring Planter Setup Workshop
The Ozaukee County Demonstration Farm Network is pleased to announce their spring no-till planter setup workshop Wednesday April 3rd. The event will be at Brian Karrel's Farm, 1522 Lake Drive, Port Washington.
For more information, view the event flier
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The weather is warming up, snow is melting, and for many Spring fever is in full effect! The summer field season will soon be right around the corner. In preparation for this, we are now starting to reach out to AIS Intern candidates for interviews with the expectation of a mid-May start date. If you know of anyone who would still like to apply, we encourage them to submit their applications as soon as possible!
The AIS Coordinator is also prepping for a busy April with outreach events such as:
- Invasives in Our Ecosystem - Retzer Nature Center, April 15th
- Earth Day Celebration - Retzer Nature Center, April 27th
- Assisting the Riveredge Nature Center with their Testing the Waters Service Learning Program
The AIS Coordinator will be attending the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention in Steven's Point on April 10-12th. This is a conference full of presentations and workshops about lake health, invasive species, aquatic plant identificaton, fishing and more! Want to attend? The early bird registration was over on March 13th, but there is still time to register! Click the following link to learn more: http://www.wisconsinlakes.org/
Please see below for details on the Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention, which draws over 500 people annually and is a great place to connect with DNR technical staff, lake and river organizations, and citizens around the state of Wisconsin.
This year's theme, "Pay it Forward," is a popular concept. When someone does something for you, instead of paying that person back directly, you pass it on to another person instead. This practice can certainly be seen with lake and stream volunteers, professionals in natural resource management, and all those who value our precious water resources. Many of us automatically do this type of activity every day. At the 2019 Convention, we will share some of these inspiring stories of "paying it forward." More details here
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The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is migrating geospatial data to the ESRI ArcGIS Open Data Portal. This portal is a free resource for locating, viewing, and downloading data developed and/or maintained by the Wisconsin DNR. Geospatial data may be viewed, queried, and downloaded from this portal and are categorized into the following themes:
In addition, numerous geospatial data themes and applications are available via the Wisconsin DNR GIS web portal.
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The DNR has rolled out the Point of Contact (POC) viewer to help the public locate the appropriate program staff by region and county. The information to identify the appropriate staff person through the POC viewer is pulled from the staff directory.
A recording of the Proposed Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit Informational Webinar is now available on the Department of Natural Resources’ Municipal storm water presentations and fact sheets web page. Held on March 12, 2019, the webinar provided an overview of the proposed MS4 general permit revisions relating to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Remand and eReporting Rules.
Online Notice of Termination (eNOT) for Construction, WisDOT and Industrial Storm Water Permits
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is pleased to announce that the new electronic submittal process for Notices of Termination (eNOT) is now available on our Water permit applications web page under the Storm Water and WisDOT pulldown menus.
You can find links to the eNOT in the Storm Water and WisDOT pulldown menus.
A recording of the March 18, 2019, informational webinar regarding the eNOT is now available on the Department of Natural Resources’ Storm water practices presentations and information web page
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DNR seeks comments on revised surface water bacteria criteria to protect recreation.
The public comment period runs from Mar. 4 to Apr. 30, 2019.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is proposing revisions to water quality criteria for pathogens (specifically, bacteria) to protect recreation in lakes, rivers, and streams. This revision follows EPA recommendations to change from the current state criterion based on fecal coliform to one based on E. coli, as E. coli is a better indicator of the risk of gastrointestinal illness. The rule revisions will change certain permit requirements for sewage treatment facilities accordingly, but is expected to have a minimal economic impact. The public comment period for this rule will be from March 4 through April 30, 2019. Two public hearings will be held during this period:
- Thursday, April 18, 2:00, room G27, Madison Dept. of Natural Resources Bldg., 101 S. Webster St., Madison, WI
- Tuesday, April 23, 1:00, Eau Claire Dept. of Natural Resources Bldg., 1300 W. Clairemont, Eau Claire, WI
Materials for review may be found on the DNR’s website at https://dnr.wi.gov/news/input/ProposedPermanent.html, under rule number WY-17-15.
Comments can be submitted to: DNRAdministrativeRuleComments@wisconsin.gov.
This notification is being distributed to those sewage treatment facilities that may be affected, the department's distribution list for impaired waters and water quality standards, the WPDES permit notification list, and other entities that may be interested in the proposed rules.
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