EasternIowaFarmer_Fall2023
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WATERSHED<br />
Farmers Creek<br />
Farmers Creek also has been removed<br />
from the state’s list of impaired waterways,<br />
thanks to similarly intensive efforts. This<br />
tributary of the Maquoketa, which drains a<br />
watershed of similar size to Tete des Morts,<br />
winds through northwestern Jackson County,<br />
including the town of La Motte.<br />
In the late 1990s, two fish kills in the<br />
stream resulted in the loss of more than<br />
137,000 fish.<br />
From 2005 to 2010, landowners and<br />
funders put in place 83 acres of grassed<br />
waterways, 700 feet of streambank protection,<br />
13 grade stabilization structures, 12<br />
water and sediment control structures, three<br />
animal waste systems, five cattle crossings<br />
and 700 feet of fencing to keep cattle out of<br />
the stream.<br />
All these practices are expensive: landowners<br />
along Farmers Creek invested about<br />
$270,000 into water quality improvement<br />
efforts. About a quarter of a million dollars<br />
of funding came from the Iowa Department<br />
of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s<br />
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / CONTRIBUTED<br />
Today trout and other fish thrive in Tete des<br />
Morts Creek thanks to efforts by landowners<br />
and support from the Jackson County Soil and<br />
Water Conservation District.<br />
Watershed Protection Fund, with almost as<br />
much from E.P.A. Clean Water Act Section<br />
319 grants. About $150,000 in funding<br />
came to Farmers Creek from the federal<br />
Environmental Quality Incentive Program.<br />
Money spent in Farmers Creek to improve<br />
water quality during those five years<br />
totaled more than $925,000. The Tete des<br />
Morts project cost almost $2.3 million.<br />
What it takes<br />
These two watershed success stories are<br />
rare in a state with hundreds of impaired<br />
waterways and relatively few improvements.<br />
The two watersheds have one thing in<br />
common: the tireless work and personal<br />
touch of coordinator Michelle Turner of the<br />
Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation<br />
District. Landowners credit Turner as<br />
the secret weapon behind the extraordinary<br />
improvements in Tete des Morts and Farmers<br />
creeks.<br />
Turner sees how a watershed project can<br />
be structured to encourage participation<br />
through personal connection. In a small<br />
watershed, a coordinator gets to know<br />
individual landowners. A coordinator can<br />
explain baffling government acronyms and<br />
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eifarmer.com FALL 2023 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 89
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