EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The Illinois EPA’s Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS) has cleared the public comment period and is on track for implementation in April, with the majority of farmers throughout the state positively anticipating voluntary guidelines to help prevent nutrient runoff from fields from entering the Mississippi River waterways system.

This is according to Lauren Lurkins, director of natural and environmental resources for the Illinois Farm Bureau and a key member of NLRS policy working group. Lurkins made her remarks on Feb. 11 during a meeting of the Lake Springfield Watershed Project Committee, and again the following day during the annual gathering of the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in East Peoria.

“The draft strategy document was available for public comment from the end of November until the 24th of January. The Illinois EPA and Department of Agriculture (IDA) will now take under consideration the comments they received and will make any changes they deem appropriate,” said Lurkins, who estimated she had spoken personally with about 750 farmers and others this year about the Strategy, as it is known, at informational meetings around the state.

“At some point (the draft strategy) will be final. I’ve been told they are looking at April, though there is no regulatory or statutory deadline.”

Because the voluntary NLRS is not a legally enforceable measure, input received during its comment period is not required to be made public, according to Lurkins. The IEPA, however, could compile a summary of comments and responses or publish them online in their entirety. “I don’t know what we’ll see concerning what people (submitted),” she acknowledged.

As an active member of the Strategy’s working group representing the IFB, Lurkins has logged a lot of miles along with representatives of other key stakeholder associations, such as the Illinois Council on Best Management Practices and Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Assoc., speaking to farmers and others with a keen interest in protecting the state’s water resources.

In Springfield, she met with farmers, ag retailers, elected officials and government representatives to discuss cover crop research, soil sampling, nitrogen rate trials and other conservation practices being employed in the Lake Springfield Watershed region.

In East Peoria, her presentation for farm appraisers and managers focused more on the broad environmental initiatives farmers are undertaking, and the pressures they are under to reduce nutrient losses. Though she’s encountered a wide variety of responses from different audiences, Lurkins has found most farmers are ready to embrace the Strategy – before the U.S. EPA imposes binding regulations on their industry.

“Generally speaking, I’m talking to farmers who say they are ready to tackle this issue. We’ve got farmers in these crowds that are passionate,” she said. “(Some) want to tell their stories, and that’s part of what I’m asking for when I talk to farmers. We’re looking for those first adopters and those who believe in these practices, to tell their stories to their peers.”

Farmers will likely have chances to attend scattered Strategy focus meetings with Lurkins and other NLRS representatives over the entire course of 2015, save planting and harvest periods. For those who can’t make any of the meetings but want to know more about the Strategy, the IFB and Lurkins have scheduled a free webinar of her hour-long NLRS presentation for the morning of March 12, at 8 a.m., on www.ilfb.org

The Illinois NLRS is led by a steering committee comprised of representatives from the IEPA, IDA and the Illinois Water Resources Center.

Its communication and coordination team is made up of five members, while its policy working group boasts no less than 25 representatives from agricultural associations, sanitary districts, academia, conservation groups, the legal sector and elsewhere.

“We at IFB want to lead by example. We also think it’s important to take this coalition approach because it is such a priority issue. One association cannot solve this problem by themselves,” said Lurkins.

The U.S. EPA recently acknowledged Illinois and 11 other states comprising the Hypoxia Task Force for taking specific actions to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus entering the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River Basin. In addition to adopting the Strategy, the Illinois Fertilizer Act ensures a 75-cent per ton assessment on all bulk fertilizer sold in the state is allocated to research and educational programs focused on nutrient use and water quality.

“It’s going to take time to vastly improve water quality in very large bodies of water like the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico,” stated Ellen Gilinsky, senior advisor for water for the U.S. EPA and task force co-chair. “Federal agencies and states are committing to comprehensive actions and increased resources to spur progress on the ground and in the water.”

States comprising the federal Hypoxia Task Force are Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin.