Working to Protect our Resources

George Reger                     

Resource Specialist  - Team Leader

Job Duties: surveying, engineering, design and layout projects. I also work with the local districts with conservation projects.

Areas of Interest/Expertise: Working the public and delivering a conservation message to them.

Background:  I was raised on small farm in Boone Co. I was a 10 year member in 4-H, main projects were swine and beef.

On August 29, Jessica Norcross and I show the stream bank erosion table to the 4^th graders from the Montgomery schools. The demonstration show the student that  without protecting our soils with cover crops and reduce tillage the damage can be costly. 

The Montgomery SWCD coordinate this field day and it was held the Cain’s farm.

Our goals at the end of a grass waterway that there will cleaner water. And looking upstream we can see the effect s of soil health taking place. At the end of day we should look back and be thankful for our resources. And hope tomorrow will be as colorful as rainbow.

Working in Watersheds

Hi I’m Sue a Resource Specialist with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Division of Soil Conservation. I have worked for the Division of Soil Conservation for 14 years serving the NW Central part of Indiana. I graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Resources & Environmental Science, specializing in Aquatic Sciences.

With Soil & Water Conservation being the objective, my position is charged with providing technical and educational services to the local Soil & Water Conservation Districts, other units of government, and landusers.  One day I might find myself surveying for a best management practice on a farm and the next, teaching a group of students how to assess the health of their local waterbody. Conservation work all starts with knowing your watershed and the health of your local streams.

What is a watershed?

A watershed is the total area of land that drains into a particular waterbody (wetland, stream, river, lake, or sea).

Land uses and runoff in a watershed determine the quality of surface water in smaller streams and waterways. They can then influence the water quality of larger streams. For example, point source discharges, urban runoff, runoff from landfills and runoff from agricultural areas may contain sediments, organic material, nutrients, toxic substances, bacteria or other contaminants. When these contaminants or pollutants are present in significant concentrations, they may interfere with some stream uses. So it’s important that watersheds be evaluated and assessed.

A tool used to evaluate watersheds:

ArcMap is the software I use to delineate or define watershed boundaries and evaluate other parameters for my projects.  This software allows multiple layers of information, such as, topographic data, soils types, landuse data, and hydrology data to be merged together so the watershed could be assessed.

This software also helps me to analyze various attributes of a watershed so that I can provide more specific recommendations to my clients for implementation of various conservation practices. Practices such as conservation tillage, grassed waterways, rain gardens, rain barrels, 2-stage ditches, water & sediment control basins, vegetative filter strips all help to keep our waterbodies clean.

Biological assessment of your local waterbody or stream?

Simple observations of benthic macroinvertebrate presences can also be used to analyze the ecological health of bodies of water. Benthic macroinvertebrates are animals that are big enough (macro) to be seen with the naked eye. They lack backbones (invertebrate) and live at least part of their lives in or on the bottom (benthos) of a body of water.

Benthic macroinvertebrates include aquatic insects (such as mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, midges, beetles), snails, worms, freshwater clams, mussels, and crayfish. Some species are more tolerant of pollution, while others cannot live where there is pollution.

It is easy for citizens to become involved in ecological monitoring or participate in a stream clean-up of local water bodies.

If you’re interested in such activities contact your local Soil & Water Conservation District or Hoosier Riverwatch at http://www.in.gov/idem/riverwatch/2338.htm

Water History Lessons at the Pathway to Water Quality

Sarah Wolf is an ISDA Resource Specialist, serving Jasper, Benton, Newton, and Lake Counties.

The Pathway to Water Quality committee asked me to serve as a Live Interpreter, teaching water history and conservation, during the state fair to celebrate Pathway’s 20^th anniversary.  Visitors enjoyed learning how to wash clothes the old fashioned way, and all the while I was teaching them how water was used 100 years ago.  

The point I wanted to get across to them was that water was often used for multiple tasks in the past, and we tend to waste a lot of water now because using water is convenient.  In the past, because water had to be carried in buckets from the well, water was conserved.  Pioneers would wash clothes with about five gallons, and then use that water to mop the floor or water their garden.  

Now we wash one load of clothes in the washing machine with about 60 gallons, and that water is not used for any other chore before sending it on to the sewage treatment plant or septic system.  The average household of three people uses an estimated 200 gallons of water every day!  

Visitors brainstormed ideas of how to use less water, and hopefully they will consider changing just one water practice in their everyday lives.  Water is a precious resource that needs to be conserved and protected, and together we can make a difference if we are mindful of how we use water!

Educators can find a water history lesson plan that I complied for 5^th grade students (adaptable for younger students) at http://www.iaswcd.org/district_tools/pwq/pdfs/WHC.pdf.