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Kingston,Mi | Pete, I never claimed that the man from ASCS/FSA was the brightest bulb but he was crafty enough to get the larger buffer strips okayed by appealing to politicians rather than practicing scientists and conservation planners for a "solution" way beyond what research proved was necessary. Coalition building. The filter strip program initially was just for waters that entered the Saginaw Bay directly, if the water left the farm , entered a ditch, then a river even if it eventually got to the Bay, it wasn't eligible.
In my 30 plus year career this was at least the 3rd attempt to treat sediment aimed at the same subset of farmers. The first 2 were limited in the number of years that a practice could be cost shared (3 years) and when the funding ended , so did the improved tillage (fall chisel plowing rather than fall plowing). We ask many farmers if fall chisel plowing was as profitable as fall plowing. They answered that generally it was. The next question was if it was as profitable or more so, why did you quit? Because you quit paying us was the answer. The CRP filter strips have generally remained in place because they are re-enrolled.
In the late 70's we were installing erosion control outlets at the rate of 40 or 50 a year with a high number of over 140 in a single year due to an eager conservation planner. All these structures did was prevent a gully from allowing sediment bearing water into the county drain. After the establishment of filter strips, we designed or installed another erosion control structure because gullies did not form in the filter strips and water passed over the grass to the ditch. This land where most of the filter strips are located has slopes from 1 or 2 percent to areas where there is 3 to 5 feet of fall across the diagonal on a mile. It is clear now that flipping the first furrow into the ditch is counterproductive.
One NAT poster that has extensive filter strips now has pheasants (when then the conditions are correct, they are not the brightest invasive specie) and credits not only the filter strips but the coyotes that patrol it because they enjoy feral cats as well as pheasant. | |
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Buffer zones ???
