Actions residents can take to help Grand Lake St. Marys
Sharply limit or eliminate use of lawn chemicals.
Wash vehicles at car washes only and not in streets or driveways. Car wash water is collected and then goes to a treatment plant.
Don’t leave pet waste on the ground. Pick it up and dispose of it in the trash.
Don’t put anything down storm sewers designed for rainwater and snowmelt.
Source: Ohio EPA
ST. HENRY — Along the highways and roads of the 59,000-acre watershed south of Grand Lake St. Marys are the agricultural industries that keep the towns around here prosperous.
Livestock farms — the highest concentration in Ohio — have 3.5 million laying hens, 165,000 turkeys, 80,000 hogs, 8,600 dairy cows and 11,000 beef cattle, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The dry fowl manure is prized as easy-to-handle, potent fertilizer and is much desired. The crucial issue for the health of the lake is how the other livestock manure is handled. Applying it to local cropland can result in runoff.
A key to controlling this runoff is adoption of a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan, a detailed blueprint written by technical experts for each livestock operation.
Since state warnings began in 2009, about toxins from cyanobacteria at the lake, more farmers have stepped up to do their part.
Only about 23 percent of the watershed’s cropland has a plan approved in the past five years. But when you add to that applications for plans that have been filed, the number jumps to 40 percent of cropland, said Terry Mescher, an agriculture engineer with the ODNR Division of Soil and Water Conservation.
There’s a serious backlog for getting the plans approved, he added. About 100 applications have come in during the past year, Mescher said.
“We don’t have enough staff to keep up with the agricultural producers coming in the door,” Mescher said.
Keeping nutrients in the watershed from heading north through tributaries into Grand Lake St. Marys is the goal. Early results from a three-year study on Chickasaw Creek show nutrient flow to the lake isn’t a year-round trickle, but a flood during rainfall and snowmelts several times a year.
The study by the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service shows “annual delivery of nutrients to the creek occurred on only a few days with high flows of water, mostly associated with rainfall or snowmelt,” said Terry Cosby, state conservationist.
Some cite applying manure to frozen ground as a key driver of lake bacteria. It’s possible that manure storage needs to be increased, said ODNR spokesman Mike Shelton.
“If we can build more capacity for storage, it’s not sitting out there when the snowmelt comes,” he said. There have been proposals for harvesting manure for power generation, Shelton said, but no firm plans yet.
Livestock farmer John Wuebker, 54, and his wife Nancy, 51, live outside St. Henry. They’ve used a nutrient management plan for about five years. From the farmer’s perspective, the plan maximizes the effectiveness of manure and fertilizer applications and avoids over-application.
“I’ve had no problems with it,” said John Wuebker. “It’s a little more paperwork. It’s the right thing to do, and it saves money. We still buy fertilizer, but not what we used to. By a long shot, it’s worth keeping track of.”
It can take some time from the submission of a nutrient management application to getting the plan in place, up to a couple of years, said Jill Smith, organization director for the Farm Bureau in Auglaize, Logan, Mercer and Shelby counties.
John Bruns, 59, a Mercer County commissioner, operates a 42,800 hen operation and manages 25 sheep on seven acres just west of Maria Stein. He’s working on his nutrient management application, but since he’s been shipping his manure out of the area since 1990, it’s not as imperative as others.
“Farmers all along have been improving, but there is still more improving that needs to be done,” Bruns said.
ODNR’s Mescher said he believes the vast majority of farmers are working to achieve optimal management. “At the end of the day, farmers are independent businessmen and there are personalities of all types out there,” he said. “The overwhelming response is, ‘What can I do to turn this around?’ ”
Very few seem to be balking at efforts to have nutrient management programs cover every farm in the watershed.
“There are always some detractors in the group, but that will always be a small minority,” Mescher said.
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