Posted: 8/3/04
Watershed gets good look, good review by citizens, congressmen
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Two United States congressmen took a tour of the Bear Creek Watershed on July 30, and they liked what they saw.
United States Representatives Gil Gutknecht from Minnesota and Tom Latham from Iowa, along with about 30 other people, visited two sites in Iowa and one in Minnesota.
It was organized to inform the public about the projects, and to keep the funding from Washington flowing for more of the same.
(See sidebar for an explanation of the Bear Creek Watershed.)
The tour was sponsored jointly by Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Houston and Winneshiek Counties.
It started at Big Canoe Lutheran Church, about 15 miles southwest of Spring Grove. After eating a pizza lunch, people watched a Powerpoint explanation of the project, then heard from several speakers.
Lots of people are waiting for dams, said Wilber Stoen, who is on the watershed board. His group is hoping to get more money in order to complete the project, he said. So far only five of 52 watersheds have been completed, five years into a 15-year time frame.
ìWe think our congressmen can help in the funding,î Stoen said.
Walter Langland, who has a mile of Bear Creek flowing through his farm, echoed that concern. ìThe structures are beginning to do their job but more needs to be done,î he said.
Watershed dams keep the spring-fed streams clean and reduce silt, Langland said. Good farming practices like contour strips, conservation tillage go hand-in-hand with that, he added.
North, Middle, and South Bear Creeks are some or the best trout fishing destinations in Iowa, Bill Kalishek of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources said, and are important to the local economy, he said. That was something that Walter Langland alluded to when he said that he had met trout fishermen on Bear Creek from 200 miles away.
Ten years ago there was no natural reproduction of trout on North Bear Creek, Kalishek said, but now brown trout are reproducing naturally.
Gil Gutknecht, a Republican
who represents the first district of Minnesota, said he cares about these issues. The work couldnít be done without local help, he added after giving a thank you to the people at hand, many of whom work on the project.
Tom Latham, a fourth district Republican in Iowa, said it was important to see local support. It showed him that the money was well spent. He said he would work with Gutknecht to advance the project as quickly as possible.
First hand look
After the church meeting, people piled into vans and cars and drove over the back roads of Iowa and Minnesota to look at three of the projects. They got out at the Curtis Vickerman site in Spring Grove Township. It was a nice sunny afternoon, hot but with enough breeze to keep things comfortable. They saw a pool of standing water about five acres in size at the bottom of a broad, sloping pasture. (The pool will grow to more than 11 acres in size during floods or spring run-off.)
The land had been shaped just right, and the road raised, using 27,000 cubic yards of fill. The result is a dam that catches run-off from 457 acres. Instead of rushing downstream carrying topsoil with it, the water flows slowly through a culvert and backs up to settle in this spot. The dam reduces the sediment by an estimated 614 tons per year. The project, which was done, last year, cost $56,312.
Vern Fruechte of Caledonia has the eye of a trained farmer, and he noted an abundance of thistles by the dam. He mentioned it to Gary Larson of the Natural Resource Conservation Service in Houston County. Larson said he would see that they are sprayed.
But other than the thistles, Fruechte liked what he saw. ìI think itís a good, good practice.î
Larson said two more projects in Minnesota and two in Iowa are coming. But funding is a problem, he added, emphasizing a point that the congressmen heard numerous times.
Larry Lane, another local farmer who had a dam built on his property, said he was happy with it. One side benefit was that the road was raised, so it is much easier to drive on now. Workers used 32,734 cubic yards of fill on his project, which catches run-off from 179 acres. It reduces the sediment by an estimated 280 tons per year. The project cost $85,900.
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