By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have secured $1 million in new funding under the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQUIP) to clean up Grand Lake St. Marys and its watershed.

This will be the third year of funding for the lake; the watershed encompasses 59,160 acres across Mercer and Auglaize counties. Not only is Grand Lake St. Marys a popular recreational lake, but it serves as a community drinking water source.

The funds will go to qualifying agricultural producers in the lake’s watershed, said David Hanselman, Ohio Department of Natural Resources chief of the Division of Soil & Water Resources.

“That area has the highest concentration of livestock facilities in Ohio,” Hanselman said. There are about 450 farms altogether in the area, and about 300 have livestock. All drain into Grand Lake St. Marys. “With the worries about water quality in the lake, agricultural producers are stepping up their attention to conservation and nutrient management.”

The funding will be used for two kinds of projects. One is land management with conservation systems, Hanselman said. That would include conservation tillage and the use of cover crops, along with nutrient management.

This minimizes the length of runoff using practices such as no-till, conservation tillage and cover crops over the winter.

The second category will include manure storage and other related facilities. Many operations already have adequate storage; at least eight months’ worth, which allows a producer to go through the winter without the need to spread manure, is ideal, Hanselman said. A number of additional storage facilities will be funded. “It is great to see the ultimate utilization of that manure as nutrient for the crops, but along with those other conservation practices on the fields where the manure is being spread and utilized such as buffer filters along ditches and creeks,” he said.

The effects of many of these practices are almost immediate. The vegetation in buffer filter strips begins to act within a month or two after planting. “We’re confident there is a positive effect, based on the science that supports the nutrient load reduction from these different practices,” Hanselman said. “We’ve got decades of on-farm demonstration and monitoring projects in Ohio and elsewhere, that we can extrapolate the nutrient load reductions from the different practices.”

The main issue at the lake is the blue-green algae that produces a toxin. That toxin was measured last year well in excess of the World Health Organization’s recommendation for recreational use of the water, such as water skiing and swimming. Warning signs were posted. Those were removed over the winter as the levels fell, but Hanselman suspects with the return of warm weather those levels will rise again. Grand Lake St. Marys has significant water quality issues – not primarily from nutrient runoff and not just from farms, but also from failing on-site waste systems, houses and also over-application of nutrients on lawns of homes around the lake and in the watersheds, Hanselman said.

“With the focus that we have on the watershed now and so many farmers and producers stepping up their conservation efforts, I’m really optimistic we will see improvement within a year or two or three,” he said. “It will take sustained effort in all sectors, not just agriculture.”

Hanselman wants to thank farmers in the area for stepping up their conservation efforts. “The state really appreciates everything they’re doing,” he said.