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Water quality research is a 'team sport’: NGOs can play important roles to expand capacity, outreach

December 10, 2024
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This is the second in a series of INRC articles highlighting important partnerships that help advance science water quality.

"Good data is an integral tool for agriculture," said Roger Wolf, director of conservation for the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), a commodity organization known for its environmental leadership.

"But stakeholders need to be involved to have the best chance for long-term impact. One of the biggest challenges is translating academic, plot-scale research to make it useful at the farm and field level. That's where organizations like ISA can play important roles," he said.

Man with beard, light colored shirt and jeans in outdoor scene
Roger Wolf, director of conservation at the Iowa Soybean Association Research Center for Farming Innovation. Photo courtesy of ISA. 

From science to practice

Over decades, ISA staff and farmers have worked with Iowa State University scientists to study the nutrient-reduction potential of constructed wetlands, bioreactors and saturated buffers. ISA has also led research to explore the potential of drainage water recycling, working with Iowa Nutrient Research Center Director Matt Helmers and others.

The organization has often held field days and sponsored presentations about the latest research. "Then, if the benefits are clear, we have supported the process to add new practices into federal conservation standards to set the stage for incentives to encourage adoption," Wolf said.

ISA's environmental team has also been a leader in monitoring Iowa's water quality. Its in-house certified water testing laboratory handles about 4,000 samples annually, many provided by farmers who understand what is draining from their fields.

"This type of data is important to help identify where best management practices will provide the most value," he said, also referencing the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework, developed largely by the Agricultural Research Service and Iowa State. ISA has helped roll out the tool to farmers and conservation professionals.

Wolf suggests that one of the big challenges ahead is the need to scale up the pace of conservation to have a measurable impact downstream. "With this in mind, ISA is particularly interested in the results of some new studies looking at whether studies can document improved water quality in watersheds with concentrated implementation of best management practices (or better management practices, as he prefers to think of them).


TNC’s Karen Wilke monitoring a reconstructed oxbow in Iowa. Photo courtesy of TNC. 

Research pays dividends

"I think most of our farmers recognize that investments in science and data have paid dividends over time," he said. "ISA doesn't lobby with its soybean checkoff investments, but our farmers often use information from these research partnerships to advocate for conservation programs. We want to see good science get translated into policy and practice."

ISA has been involved with research on reconstructed oxbows, working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and scientists at the University of Iowa, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"TNC, the world's largest private conservation organization, has long had an active role in research," said the organization's Iowa Associate Director of Freshwater Karen Wilke. "We originally got involved in oxbow research and reconstruction because these habitats are so important for the endangered Topeka shiner. Over time, the focus has expanded as we've recognized their multiple benefits."

Wilke helped lead the oxbow research at five locations. In addition to writing grants to the Iowa Nutrient Research Center and others that helped fund the research, she coordinated the restorations, working with landowners, scientists and contractors, and collected water samples.

"This was a fun project that involved a lot of cool technologies to track all the inputs and outputs of water and nutrients from the streams, the tiles and from groundwater," Wilke said. "The results have been impressive. From inlet to outlet, all the oxbows reduced nutrients to some extent. The tile-fed multi-purpose oxbows reduced nitrates from 60% to 100%, depending on the amount of water they received."

The partners worked with Iowa Geological Survey Director Keith Schilling, one of the lead scientists, to publish their findings and used the data to make the case for adding multi-purpose oxbows to the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy practice list. TNC also created an oxbow restoration toolkit for conservation professionals.

Wilke said she estimates 200 oxbows have been restored, with many capturing tile drainage to increase their water quality benefits. So far, monitoring suggests that higher nitrate levels from tile drainage is not hurting the fish (59 different fish species have been documented in the oxbows). In fact, the subsurface tile water cools summer water temperatures, which some species prefer.

"This has been a great partnership effort that has achieved results for water quality and wildlife. In addition, the research and its success have served as a focal point for TNC fundraising and brought us valuable relationships," Wilke said.

Have there been challenges along the way? "Maybe," she said. "The biggest challenge is probably that there are always so many more questions left to answer."

 

Contacts

Roger Wolf, Iowa Soybean Association, 515-334-5051, rwolf@iasoybeans.com

Karen Wilke, The Nature Conservancy, 480-678-2352, kwilke@tnc.org

 

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