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Your county's Soil and Water Conservation District office is the place to get answers and assistance for conservation concerns that will help maintain the value of your land. Both professional staff and volunteer commissioners who are passionate about preserving natural resources are ready to help you with your plans.
Water Quality
The quality of our water supply both above and below ground directly effects everyone in the county. The economic impacts of having to cleanup water is becoming a larger issue. Our SWCD is committed to helping producers manage their crop inputs and practices to reduce losses that impact our water. |
Forestry Programs
There are several state and federal programs that can assist landowners in either establishing or managing forest stands. Our office can help you with some of these and also put you in touch with the District Foresters for our area. |
Donate to the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District
Your support will help us to continue our conservation education efforts and support staff that will promote practices in the district
Cerro Gordo SWCD
1415 South Monroe Ave. Ste. B
Mason City, Iowa 50401
641-424-4452
1415 South Monroe Ave. Ste. B
Mason City, Iowa 50401
641-424-4452
Earthworm Middens in a corn field with no tillage for 35 years
Articles in the Globe Gazette
The Globe Gazette has been generous enough to print one article a month in their Sunday business section dealing with conservation issues. The articles are written by Dennis Carney, one of our local commissioners, often with the help of the office staff. A wide variety of subjects have been covered over the past 10 months and many more articles are planned. Check them out.
Article for April 2019 - Soil Health Pays
A year ago, in this space, I reported about traveling around the state of Iowa with Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) scientists presenting research about the emerging science of soil health. Again this year, we presented nine meetings for soil and water district commissioners across the state, under the auspices of the Conservation Districts of Iowa. This time NRCS scientists presented the economic advantages of soil health practices to over 500 attendees. On-farm research and the rapidly expanding acceptance of soil health practices are resulting in economic evidence that soil health changes to a farm’s management are profitable and environmentally sound. In addition, as a sign of real progress, you cannot pick up a “farm” magazine lately without seeing some mention of the emerging science of soil health.
A healthy soil contains more organic matter and therefore more carbon; it requires less fertilization and less herbicides. Healthy soil absorbs more of the rainfall that lands on it, which reduces soil and nutrient losses. Healthy soil water absorption rates are 80-90%, rather than the 30-40% rates of degraded soil. Healthy soil withstands dry periods better, thus reducing runoff and downstream flooding. This water buffering effect can also have a real impact on long-term farm profitability.
So how do we make our soils healthy? The things we can do are simple, the reasons that they work take a little more explanation. First and foremost is to drastically reduce or completely stop tillage. By eliminating tillage, we allow the soil to develop aggregate stability, defined as small marble sized clumps of soil held together by fungal strands, microbial and earthworm excretions, and the leakage of photosynthesized sugars from plant roots. These aggregates give the soil a stable structure, allow for oxygen and water to move into the soil profile, and allow the soil biology (especially fungi) to move nutrients to the plant roots. Tremendous savings in time, equipment, and expense can be made when eliminating tillage.
Second is to maintain a growing crop on the land for as much of the year as possible; this means the addition of cover crops to our usual system of corn and soybeans. These two cultural practices allow soil to begin to build soil organic matter, which is a major key to productivity. Higher organic matter results in more nutrients available to the crop and increased water holding capacity. In addition, cover crop roots do a great job of salvaging unused nutrients before they are leached from the soil and returns them to the top of the soil profile as plant residue. It has been demonstrated that due to increased microbial activity in healthy soils, more mineral nutrients become available to the crop. Commercial fertilizer applications can often be drastically reduced after a few years of soil health practices. This is contrary to what all of us have been taught since the inception of commercial fertilizers nearly 70 years ago.
Producers have traditionally been taught to treat their soils as an inert growing medium that provides only a place for roots to grow to support the plant; with all other inputs needing to be added. Now as we learn about the biologic relationships that this sort of management destroys, we are realizing that there are vast quantities of mineralized nutrients in the soil that certain fungi and microbes are able to convert to usable forms and transport to the crop. Our soils are much more resilient than we have thought and do not need the levels of fertilizers or pesticides that are currently used. Producers across the country are adding to the knowledge base of soil health every season.
All of these advantages of a healthy soil can result in a farming operation with less machinery, less reliance on commercial inputs, and therefore more profit. The single requirement is a small increase in the management level of your farm. For more information on soil health practices and potential cost share options for adopting these practices contact the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District at 641-424-4452 or visit www.cerrogordoswcd.org.
Article for May 2019 - Soil and Water Conservation Week
This past week, April 28 through May 4, 2019 was designated as Soil and Water Conservation Week in Iowa. This year the week was coordinated with national Stewardship Week sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). The Stewardship Week theme was "Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper” and is designed to focus the nation’s attention on the importance of stewardship of our natural resources.
The severe erosion during the “Dust Bowl” years of the 1930s brought about the first efforts to prevent soil erosion, which also helped protect water resources. Iowa passed a law in 1939 establishing a state agency and the means for soil and water conservation districts to organize. This legislation declared it the policy of the State of Iowa to preserve soil and water; protect the state’s tax base; and promote health, safety and public welfare of people of Iowa.
In every county in Iowa, the local Soil and Water Conservation District offices with state and federal staff administer voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs to landowners and operators. Five locally elected Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners oversee programs. Since the system’s inception in the 1930s, what these programs are and their effectiveness on the landscape has evolved.
Almost all of the early work to curb soil erosion in Iowa was done using structures such as terraces, dams, grassed waterways, and drainage ditches. Over time, the emphasis shifted to farming practices such as contour farming, reduced tillage, contour strips, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to take highly erodible land out of production, and buffer strips to protect our streams and rivers. Now the priority has shifted logically to the latest science concerning “soil health”.
If landowners would concentrate on practices that encourage healthy soil, many of the erosion, water quality, land degradation, and even profitability issues faced by today’s producers would be greatly reduced. A healthy soil is protected from surface erosion by crop residue or a cover crop, has a porous structure which allows more water infiltration, and has a diverse and vibrant soil microbiology that digests plant materials quickly while drastically reducing the need for commercial fertilizers and herbicides. To move away from degraded soil and toward healthy soils, producers need to drastically reduce or eliminate tillage operations that destroy soil structure and microbiology as well as strive to keep a living root in the soil for as much of the year as possible. The roots from cover crops help keep the soil biology alive and thriving during the six months of the year when crops are not growing.
We are reminded by Soil and Water Conservation Week and various Earth Day activities that we all can have an effect on our environment through small changes we make in our activities such as recycling, reusing, and reducing purchases of items that cause harm to our fragile ecosystem. Agricultural operations are the leading cause of sediment and nutrient pollution in our streams and rivers, and in the degradation of our valuable soil resources. Inexpensive changes to our farming practices could make a positive effect on the health of our soils and our local environment; best of all, not cost nearly as much as the structures we built in the past to keep our soil in place.
For more information on soil health and other conservation programs please visit our website at www.cerrogordoswcd.org or contact the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District office at 641-424-4452.
Article for June 2019- What can we all do?
Unfortunately, spring 2019 is another season where excessive rainfall has caused considerable planting delays and massive soil loss here in North Iowa. This soil loss has economic and environmental impact, here and downstream where water and silt from our fields finally arrives. A drive through the countryside reveals tons of soil that has eroded off the slopes and fanned out on lower ground or, worse yet, left the fields as dissolved sheet erosion. Iowa, as a whole, has lost more than half of its topsoil in the past 150 years; and what remains is soil inherently less productive, no matter how many inputs we apply to it.
The conventional tillage practices used on too many acres in our area has, and continues to, degrade the soil so much that its ability to absorb rainfall is greatly reduced. Combine lack of absorbed rainfall with a lack of ground cover, grassed waterways, and other conservation practices and you get what is so obvious in many fields: ephemeral gullies, exposed subsoil on hilltops, and prime Iowa farmland filling the ditches and floating downstream in our creeks and rivers. If you are a landowner, this situation will hit you directly in the wallet in the coming years and hopefully move you to be more thoughtful in your selection of a tenant and farming practices.
Field runoff and eroded soil are a big contributor to the problems experienced downstream in a watershed, but so are fertilizers, pesticides, and trash. A surprising amount of these originate in our urban areas. Many residents in our cities and towns forget that the storm drain at the end of the street is a direct route to our creeks and rivers. This water is not treated, cleaned, or even strained; whatever is in the gutter is deposited into our rivers.
Lawn pesticides and fertilizers, which are routinely over-applied, wash off lawns and down the storm drains when water runs off our yards. All the trash, lawn clippings, and oil and gasoline that leaks from our vehicles onto the streets and parking lots is all washed into the storm drains. The global issue of plastics in our oceans begins at our homes. Monumental problems are solved through small actions; we all have a stake in the quality of our water. Water quantity and quality problems at the Gulf of Mexico are reduced by treating one field at a time and one lawn at a time with conservation measures here in the upper reaches of the Mississippi watershed. The great Pacific garbage patch is reduced by keeping soda bottles out of the gutters in our cities and towns.
Farmland owners can make real improvements to the quantity and quality of the water by adopting simple soil health practices and by requiring tenants to do so. Developing and implementing a conservation lease that specifies how the land will be farmed is a first step. Simply by leaving the land covered with last season’s plant residues or by planting a cover crop greatly reduces soil loss. Soil health practices improve the soil’s ability to absorb rainfall, therefore reducing runoff. Urban residents who recycle, reduce lawn pesticide and fertilizer applications, and keep trash and organics off hard surfaces improve water quality. Everyone can do something to preserve the quality of our water.
For more information on programs available to help please visit: cerrogordoswcd.org or contact the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District at (641)424-4452.
A year ago, in this space, I reported about traveling around the state of Iowa with Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) scientists presenting research about the emerging science of soil health. Again this year, we presented nine meetings for soil and water district commissioners across the state, under the auspices of the Conservation Districts of Iowa. This time NRCS scientists presented the economic advantages of soil health practices to over 500 attendees. On-farm research and the rapidly expanding acceptance of soil health practices are resulting in economic evidence that soil health changes to a farm’s management are profitable and environmentally sound. In addition, as a sign of real progress, you cannot pick up a “farm” magazine lately without seeing some mention of the emerging science of soil health.
A healthy soil contains more organic matter and therefore more carbon; it requires less fertilization and less herbicides. Healthy soil absorbs more of the rainfall that lands on it, which reduces soil and nutrient losses. Healthy soil water absorption rates are 80-90%, rather than the 30-40% rates of degraded soil. Healthy soil withstands dry periods better, thus reducing runoff and downstream flooding. This water buffering effect can also have a real impact on long-term farm profitability.
So how do we make our soils healthy? The things we can do are simple, the reasons that they work take a little more explanation. First and foremost is to drastically reduce or completely stop tillage. By eliminating tillage, we allow the soil to develop aggregate stability, defined as small marble sized clumps of soil held together by fungal strands, microbial and earthworm excretions, and the leakage of photosynthesized sugars from plant roots. These aggregates give the soil a stable structure, allow for oxygen and water to move into the soil profile, and allow the soil biology (especially fungi) to move nutrients to the plant roots. Tremendous savings in time, equipment, and expense can be made when eliminating tillage.
Second is to maintain a growing crop on the land for as much of the year as possible; this means the addition of cover crops to our usual system of corn and soybeans. These two cultural practices allow soil to begin to build soil organic matter, which is a major key to productivity. Higher organic matter results in more nutrients available to the crop and increased water holding capacity. In addition, cover crop roots do a great job of salvaging unused nutrients before they are leached from the soil and returns them to the top of the soil profile as plant residue. It has been demonstrated that due to increased microbial activity in healthy soils, more mineral nutrients become available to the crop. Commercial fertilizer applications can often be drastically reduced after a few years of soil health practices. This is contrary to what all of us have been taught since the inception of commercial fertilizers nearly 70 years ago.
Producers have traditionally been taught to treat their soils as an inert growing medium that provides only a place for roots to grow to support the plant; with all other inputs needing to be added. Now as we learn about the biologic relationships that this sort of management destroys, we are realizing that there are vast quantities of mineralized nutrients in the soil that certain fungi and microbes are able to convert to usable forms and transport to the crop. Our soils are much more resilient than we have thought and do not need the levels of fertilizers or pesticides that are currently used. Producers across the country are adding to the knowledge base of soil health every season.
All of these advantages of a healthy soil can result in a farming operation with less machinery, less reliance on commercial inputs, and therefore more profit. The single requirement is a small increase in the management level of your farm. For more information on soil health practices and potential cost share options for adopting these practices contact the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District at 641-424-4452 or visit www.cerrogordoswcd.org.
Article for May 2019 - Soil and Water Conservation Week
This past week, April 28 through May 4, 2019 was designated as Soil and Water Conservation Week in Iowa. This year the week was coordinated with national Stewardship Week sponsored by the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD). The Stewardship Week theme was "Life in the Soil: Dig Deeper” and is designed to focus the nation’s attention on the importance of stewardship of our natural resources.
The severe erosion during the “Dust Bowl” years of the 1930s brought about the first efforts to prevent soil erosion, which also helped protect water resources. Iowa passed a law in 1939 establishing a state agency and the means for soil and water conservation districts to organize. This legislation declared it the policy of the State of Iowa to preserve soil and water; protect the state’s tax base; and promote health, safety and public welfare of people of Iowa.
In every county in Iowa, the local Soil and Water Conservation District offices with state and federal staff administer voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs to landowners and operators. Five locally elected Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners oversee programs. Since the system’s inception in the 1930s, what these programs are and their effectiveness on the landscape has evolved.
Almost all of the early work to curb soil erosion in Iowa was done using structures such as terraces, dams, grassed waterways, and drainage ditches. Over time, the emphasis shifted to farming practices such as contour farming, reduced tillage, contour strips, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to take highly erodible land out of production, and buffer strips to protect our streams and rivers. Now the priority has shifted logically to the latest science concerning “soil health”.
If landowners would concentrate on practices that encourage healthy soil, many of the erosion, water quality, land degradation, and even profitability issues faced by today’s producers would be greatly reduced. A healthy soil is protected from surface erosion by crop residue or a cover crop, has a porous structure which allows more water infiltration, and has a diverse and vibrant soil microbiology that digests plant materials quickly while drastically reducing the need for commercial fertilizers and herbicides. To move away from degraded soil and toward healthy soils, producers need to drastically reduce or eliminate tillage operations that destroy soil structure and microbiology as well as strive to keep a living root in the soil for as much of the year as possible. The roots from cover crops help keep the soil biology alive and thriving during the six months of the year when crops are not growing.
We are reminded by Soil and Water Conservation Week and various Earth Day activities that we all can have an effect on our environment through small changes we make in our activities such as recycling, reusing, and reducing purchases of items that cause harm to our fragile ecosystem. Agricultural operations are the leading cause of sediment and nutrient pollution in our streams and rivers, and in the degradation of our valuable soil resources. Inexpensive changes to our farming practices could make a positive effect on the health of our soils and our local environment; best of all, not cost nearly as much as the structures we built in the past to keep our soil in place.
For more information on soil health and other conservation programs please visit our website at www.cerrogordoswcd.org or contact the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District office at 641-424-4452.
Article for June 2019- What can we all do?
Unfortunately, spring 2019 is another season where excessive rainfall has caused considerable planting delays and massive soil loss here in North Iowa. This soil loss has economic and environmental impact, here and downstream where water and silt from our fields finally arrives. A drive through the countryside reveals tons of soil that has eroded off the slopes and fanned out on lower ground or, worse yet, left the fields as dissolved sheet erosion. Iowa, as a whole, has lost more than half of its topsoil in the past 150 years; and what remains is soil inherently less productive, no matter how many inputs we apply to it.
The conventional tillage practices used on too many acres in our area has, and continues to, degrade the soil so much that its ability to absorb rainfall is greatly reduced. Combine lack of absorbed rainfall with a lack of ground cover, grassed waterways, and other conservation practices and you get what is so obvious in many fields: ephemeral gullies, exposed subsoil on hilltops, and prime Iowa farmland filling the ditches and floating downstream in our creeks and rivers. If you are a landowner, this situation will hit you directly in the wallet in the coming years and hopefully move you to be more thoughtful in your selection of a tenant and farming practices.
Field runoff and eroded soil are a big contributor to the problems experienced downstream in a watershed, but so are fertilizers, pesticides, and trash. A surprising amount of these originate in our urban areas. Many residents in our cities and towns forget that the storm drain at the end of the street is a direct route to our creeks and rivers. This water is not treated, cleaned, or even strained; whatever is in the gutter is deposited into our rivers.
Lawn pesticides and fertilizers, which are routinely over-applied, wash off lawns and down the storm drains when water runs off our yards. All the trash, lawn clippings, and oil and gasoline that leaks from our vehicles onto the streets and parking lots is all washed into the storm drains. The global issue of plastics in our oceans begins at our homes. Monumental problems are solved through small actions; we all have a stake in the quality of our water. Water quantity and quality problems at the Gulf of Mexico are reduced by treating one field at a time and one lawn at a time with conservation measures here in the upper reaches of the Mississippi watershed. The great Pacific garbage patch is reduced by keeping soda bottles out of the gutters in our cities and towns.
Farmland owners can make real improvements to the quantity and quality of the water by adopting simple soil health practices and by requiring tenants to do so. Developing and implementing a conservation lease that specifies how the land will be farmed is a first step. Simply by leaving the land covered with last season’s plant residues or by planting a cover crop greatly reduces soil loss. Soil health practices improve the soil’s ability to absorb rainfall, therefore reducing runoff. Urban residents who recycle, reduce lawn pesticide and fertilizer applications, and keep trash and organics off hard surfaces improve water quality. Everyone can do something to preserve the quality of our water.
For more information on programs available to help please visit: cerrogordoswcd.org or contact the Cerro Gordo Soil and Water Conservation District at (641)424-4452.