2002 Annual Report
Research
Use of Research and Modeling Information in Community-Based Watershed
Planning
Gary Sands, Assistant Professor
Bruce Wilson, Associate Professor
Aida Mendez, Research Associate
Lowell Busman, Extension Educator, Southern Research and Outreach Center,
Lamberton, MN
Stewart Melvin, Professor, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa
State University
Jim Baker, Professor, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State
University
Ali Saleh, Texas Institute of Applied Environmental Research, Tarleton
State University
Funding Source
USDA CSREES
Objective
- Provide information, education, and process facilitation that increase the capacity of communities in agricultural watersheds to manage water resource protection based on local, democratic processes.
- Conduct applied research to help define nitrogen and phosphorus losses in runoff and subsurface drainage under various management practices/systems characteristic of agricultural watersheds in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.
- Enhance the practical connection between development of computer simulation
models and the process of watershed nutrient load planning and management.
Project Description
This project is a multi-state effort to address common nonpoint source
water quality concerns from agricultural nutrient loading related to crop
and livestock manure management, with specific emphasis on the interaction
of fertilizer/manure application with subsurface drainage and water table
management practices. The project brings together research, modeling,
and extension resources of Iowa State University and University Extension,
the University of Minnesota, and the Texas Institute of Applied Environmental
Research, Tarleton State University. The principal goal of the project
is to improve the research-based information and delivery methods by which
public sector organizations can facilitate community-based management
of water resources in agricultural watersheds. Initial focus of the project
has been on watersheds in the Maquoketa River Basin of northeastern Iowa,
with additional outreach to the Blue Earth and Le Sueur watersheds in
the Minnesota River Basin. Resources developed by the project are potentially
applicable throughout much of the Midwest corn belt where extensively
drained, wet, medium textured soils are intensively cropped.
Results
A cadre of best management practices was selected through a participatory process with watershed residents in the Maquoketa River Basin. Computer simulation of these practices with the SWAT model has been performed. Results have been communicated to stakeholders and a process of trial adoption is being executed. Automated calibration methods for models are being investigated to improve the efficiency of the calibration/validation process. Additional modeling in the Maquoketa Basin is being conducted with the ADAPT model and will be compared to the results obtained with the SWAT model.