Tag Archives: nutrients
What goes in the water in Wisconsin comes out in the Gulf of Mexico
A group of farmers in southwestern Wisconsin’s Driftless Area has become acutely aware that what gets into the watershed here can wind up hundreds of miles away. These farmers use conservation practices to keep nutrients on their land and out of lakes and streams. Margaret Krome, policy program director at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, says nutrients that get into the water here follow a direct path down the Mississippi River. “Those nutrients go shooshing right out into the Gulf of Mexico and create a zone with such high nutrients that they end up with a big algal bloom, and that sucks all the oxygen out of the water and kills other organisms,” she explains. “So it’s a dead zone because fishermen can’t fish there.” The Wisconsin farmers have developed a relationship with Gulf fishermen, who are appreciative of the farmers’ efforts to help improve fishing conditions in the Gulf. click here to read the story 10:52
Dairy farms taking a toll on Great Lakes, waterways
On an August weekend in 2009, campers in the Port Huron State Game Area began to realize there was something terribly wrong with the Black River. They were finding dead fish floating on the river’s surface. Eventually, the cause of the fish kill was traced to an excessive application of liquid cow manure at Noll Dairy Farm in Croswell. State officials said the discharge affected more than 20 miles of the river and killed about 218,000 fish. With blue-green algae blooms becoming a part of summer in Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, concern is growing that nutrients — including those from cow manure and from large operations with more than 700 milk-producing animals — could be a long-term problem as farmers look for places to put cow waste. Read the rest here 10:29
