Eastern Iowa Farmer Spring 2017

managing your soil
Fifth-generation farmer Lyle Tritz
explains the benefits of land and
soil conservation through various
farming practices.
into the crick,” Tritz said. “If we don’t
take care of the soil, once it goes down
the crick, it’s cost prohibitive to bring it
back.”
His farm is one of more than 130 located
in the Tete des Morts Creek Watershed.
Tete des Morts is a meandering stream
that flows for 16 miles through Dubuque
and Jackson counties, draining directly
into the Mississippi River. The watershed
is 30,433 acres of rock outcrop and gently
sloping to very steep slopes, with about
88 percent of it composed of what are
considered highly erodible soils.
The nature of the sloping landscape,
along with years of livestock grazing
nearby and using it as a water source,
among other things, landed the creek on
Iowa’s list of impaired water bodies. The
goal of a 2009 development grant project,
which ends later this year, is to reduce the
nutrient and sediment runoff and improve
aquatic habitat in the creek. Tritz, who
has been heavily involved in that effort,
serves on the watershed advisory board.
“I’ve always been conservation-minded”
Schoenthaler,
Bartelt,
Kahler
& Reicks
Attorneys Experienced
in Agricultural Law
563.652.4963
123 N. Main | Maquoketa
srbk.com
spring 2017 | Eastern Iowa Farmer 57