The Tainter Creek Watershed Council (TCWC) assembled about 10 members for a meeting with Gays Mills Village President Harry Heisz and Village Trustee Ethan Eitsert from the Gays Mills Village Board on Wednesday, May 7. The subject of the meeting was how the farmers and rural landowners in the watershed could help the village with conservation practices that could buy the village time to plan for replacement of the Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF).
“It’s not just about the village – we also want to make this work to improve the creek,” Harry Heisz said. “WDNR has ultimately said we have to relocate our WWTF away from the banks of the Kickapoo River, but the village is grappling with the costs of that. In the meantime, while we plan, we are looking to offset the very low phosphorous in effluent requirements of the state and the federal government through partnering with farmers and rural landowners on conservation practices that can measurably reduce phosphorous in the Kickapoo River.”
Heisz explained that the village would pursue loans and grants to pay for the practice installations in order to buy time and avoid costly WDNR fines.
The Village of Soldiers Grove at their May meeting approved upgrades to their WWTF which, if grant and low-interest loan funding is approved, will result in an increase of residential sewer rates (average of $580 per year per user) by between $100 to $200 per month in order to meet state and federal requirements.
“To meet WDNR’s phosphorous requirements would cost the village $3 million if we don’t pursue these conservation projects,” village trustee Ethan Eitsert commented.
TCWC grazing project
Longtime TCWC member Chuck Bolstad weighed in on the topic.
“TCWC, through a portfolio of projects like cover crops and our Pasture Project, undertaken partnership with the Wallace Center Pasture Project, and using $1.15 million in funding from U.S. EPA’s Gulf of Mexico Division Farmer to Farmer Program, has already lowered phosphorous in Tainter Creek,” Bolstad said proudly. “We have a proven track record, supported by years of water quality monitoring in the creek.”
Locally, the Grazing Project program was implemented by Valley Stewardship Network (VSN), with technical support from two experienced local grazers – Jim Munsch of Coon Valley and Dennis Rooney of Steuben. Former VSN employees Dani Heisler and Monique Hassman worked extensively on the program, coordinating with farmer participants and Munsch and Rooney, creating maps to support the project, and more.
“We blew our initial goals out of the water with this project, and it has been a wild success,” Dani Heisler (now the DATCP Producer-Led Program Manager) told the group. “Through this project in the Tainter Creek Watershed, we achieved 135 percent of our goal for reduction of phosphorous leaving fields in the watershed, and 170 percent of our goal for reduction of sediment leaving fields in the watershed.”
Heisler said this meant that phosphorous leaving farm fields in the watershed each year is reduced by 2,300 pounds (initial goal was 1,700 pounds). Reduction of sediment leaving fields in the watershed each year as a result of the project is reduced by an estimated 1,600 tons (initial goal was 940 tons).
Need the points
“We know we have to get the points, and we’ve just applied for another five-year waiver from WDNR,” Heisz said. “By the end of five years, if we receive the waiver, we hope to have a new waste water treatment plant.”
Heisz said that any eligible project would have to be documented by soil samples – before and after.
One of TCWC’s founding farmers Grant Rudrud, asked Heisz where the conservation practice installations could occur and still be eligible. Heisz responded that anything upstream of the sewer plant, and below any other WWTF would be eligible.
TCWC member from the Trout Creek Subwatershed, Monique Hassman, asked who is responsible for maintenance and repair if the project is damaged?
“The village has to maintain it and repair it if it is damaged,” Heisz responded. “We will also have to have access on an ongoing basis for maintenance, and for soil sampling.”
TCWC member from rural Soldiers Grove, grassfed beef farmer Bruce Ristow, shared several prospects with landowners he had identified.
TCWC farmer member Jesse Blum shared that fixing sinkholes and ditches could be a good avenue, that would meet the village’s needs and also meet the needs of farmers.
“It doesn’t have to be right on the creek,” Heisz responded. “I think putting in some small dams (farm ponds) could be a good option, and could help with the village’s flooding problems as well.”
Heisz summed up saying, “the next step is to meet with the landowners with the representative of our engineering firm present.”
The Tainter Creek Watershed Council is planning another meeting in June at the Kickapoo Orchard.
At their March 18 meeting, held in Readstown, the group attracted over 65 participants. This drew from the newly-expanded boundaries of the watershed to include four subwatersheds – Tainter Creek, Reads Creek, Trout Creek, and Kickapoo River/Caswell Hollow in Gays Mills. The area now includes the municipalities of Readstown, Soldiers Grove, Gays Mills and Mt. Sterling. Look for more information coming soon about this dynamic group.
