Wetland, conservation farming efforts are a group project

HENRY, Ill. — What makes a Smart Wetland different from an ordinary wetland? How can groups get more farmers to buy in, literally and figuratively, to conservation farming practices? Why do we need more farmers to practice conservation farming?

Jill Kostel, senior environmental engineer for The Wetlands Initiative, took some time to answer these and other questions.

She attended the recent field day for a Smart Wetland at McCuskey Farms in rural Marshall County.

The field day was cut short due to approaching severe thunderstorms that hammered the site with 88 mph winds and torrential rainfall.

What is a Smart Wetland?

Kostel: We call them Smart Wetlands because we are using the latest and greatest technology and GIS models to help site them, design them and do the modeling for the hydrology. The other part about the “Smart” is that we use SMART as a management acronym — Specific; Measurable, we can measure nutrient loss; Aligned, with the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy; Resilient; Timebound, it’s timeless. This is a practice that will keep working as long as there is water going through it.

Why not just leave the original wetlands alone?

Kostel: Obviously, we would love to have all of our wetlands on the landscape, but that is just not feasible. We understand the need for tile drainage. We don’t want existing farm wetlands necessarily tiled, but those that are prior converted, they are already in agriculture. It would be great if we could take those thousands and thousands of acres back, but that is not feasible.

What type of ground is good for a Smart Wetland?

Kostel: Let’s take those acres of farmland that are not profitable, that are maybe a problem to farm in terms of access and machinery getting in and out and let’s use those acres to do a tile treated wetland. We are specifically designing these for nutrient removal, these smaller wetlands.

What is something that farmers may not understand about a Smart Wetland?

Kostel: When we say “wetland,” that is a very scary word to a lot of farmers. They may think we want to tear up their fields and take them all back to wetlands. No. If they want to do that, that’s great. But that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about very specifically sited and designed wetlands for water and tile treatment.

How do we get more farmers aware of and interested in conservation farming and practices like Smart Wetlands?

Kostel: Having a good financial assistance program and state financial and technical support services is one way. We just have to keep talking about it and we have to have our leading farmers in these areas do these and have the farmers talking about it. The peer-to-peer conversation is the most important one. We are very fortunate to have landowners who want to do field days and have conversations with other farmers and landowners about these practices and having them encourage their neighbors to take this on.

Can you speak to the “all of the above” approach to addressing nutrient loss?

Kostel: We believe in this “suite of systems” approach. We would love for farmers to do no-till as well as cover crops with our tile treatment wetlands. We think it’s going to take everything out there to address our nutrient loss issue. Not everyone can have a tile treatment wetland — it’s not necessarily appropriate for everybody, but we really work with our partners to encourage other practices that can help address the nutrient loss issue.

What kind of partnerships does TWI have?

Kostel: We are fortunate to have the big-name organizations out there supporting this, the Farm Bureaus, the Association for Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Illinois Corn Growers Association has been our funding from the very beginning. We have the Illinois Soybean Association’s support. We have the Illinois Corn Growers Association support. We have great support through the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership.