Water improving

Water quality is improving in the headwaters of the Wabash River, an official from the Upper Wabash River Basin Commission told the 54th annual meeting of the Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District Tuesday.
“I can see an improvement,” said Neil Ainslie, water quality manager for the Wabash commission.
“But we still have a long way to go.”
Sediment continues to be the biggest cause of water quality impairment, Ainslie said, though smart farming techniques like the planting of cover crops and establishing filter strips are making a difference.
“Sediment,” he said, “comes into the river and smothers everything. … To conserve the water, the soil has to be conserved.”
The Loblolly Marsh Nature Preserve is also a factor, he said, noting that there’s a dramatic difference in water quality between the area west of the wetlands and the area to the east.
The wetlands are, in effect, cleaning out the water in a stretch of the Loblolly Ditch. East of the nature preserve, Ainslie said, there is evidence of fresh water mussels. “There is life that is returning to this area,” he said.
Ken Brunswick, east central region ecologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said 1,656 acres of wetlands in Jay and Adams counties are now owned by the DNR or the Friends of the Limberlost. Another 1,065 acres have been put into the wetlands reserve program but remain in private hands.
The Upper Wabash River Basin Commission is completing a period of water quality sampling under a Section 319 grant. A similar grant application has been made by Jay and Blackford counties for the Salamonie River. That application has cleared its initial hurdle with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and is under final review.
In 2012, the Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District saw 239.7 acres established as conservation reserve program filter strips, 167.9 acres established as grassed waterways, 124.4 acres as bird habitat, and 3.6 acres as field windbreaks.
This month, the district purchased a no-till drill that will be available beginning in May for landowners to rent for their seeding needs.
Knox Township farmers Rex and Doug Mahon were recognized Tuesday as the district’s Conservationists of the Year for 2012. The Mahons farm 650 acres using no-till and minimum-till practices.
Barry and Steve Fennig of Fennig Farms were among 55 Indiana farmers recognized as River Friendly Farmers in 2012 by the state of Indiana and were also honored Tuesday.[[In-content Ad]]