Conservation * Development * Self-Government

WELCOME NEW STAFF! 

The Delaware Soil & Water Conservation District is happy to introduce the two newest additions to the District staff.  Nancy Hopkins began working for the District in June as our new Secretary/Receptionist, while Julie Jackson, Streams & Watersheds Specialist, started working for the District in July. 

Nancy Hopkins is a lifetime resident of Delaware County.  She comes to the District from Ohio State University’s Harding Hospital in Worthington where she served as a Nursing Services Coordinator for the past year.  Nancy will be serving as both receptionist and office secretary for the District.  Nancy, her daughter, and two sons live in Delaware.  Please help us welcome Nancy to the District staff. 

Julie Jackson joins the District staff in the newly created position of Streams & Watersheds Specialist.  Julie is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland where she majored in Natural Resource Management with a concentration in land and water management.  She comes to us with field experience in water sampling and analysis, and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater, sediment, and erosion control work.  Julie also has worked with the public on natural resource issues and has been involved in many watershed groups.  A native of Massachusetts, Julie came to Ohio to be closer to family.  She now lives in Columbus.  Please help us welcome Julie to the District staff and to Delaware County. 
 

No-Till Drill Available for Wheat Planting 

This is just a reminder that the District’s 15-foot John Deere No-till drill will be available to rent to Delaware County farmers this fall for wheat planting.  Using no-till will help because: 
it cuts the time required to plant by reducing the number of trips across a field. 
it helps to build a crop residue layer thus reducing erosion. 
encourages earthworm activity. 
NO-TILL SAVES $$$ ON FUEL COSTS! 

The rental rate for the drill is $9.00/acre.  If you plan to use the drill this fall, please call or stop by the SWCD office for a rental agreement. 

The Delaware SWCD has a new home on the World Wide Web.  We have recently moved our web page to www.delawareswcd.org.  In addition to this move, we are also nearing completion of a redesign of the site.  If you have not visited the site recently, you might want to check it out because much has been updated and added. 

The Delaware SWCD website contains information on many facets of the District program.  We have descriptions of our programs available and e-mail links to the staff members that can best serve your needs.  You can also e-mail a general question to the District address, and a staff member will get back to you.  There is information on District rentals and sales, profiles of the Board of Supervisors, a calendar of activities, this newsletter, and even a map to our office. 

Perhaps the most significant addition to the website is the on-line publication of portions of the Delaware County Soil Survey.  Soil maps, as well as some of the Soil Survey text and table information, can now be viewed over the web.  There is a brief tutorial on how to interpret a soil survey map if you’ve never used one, and descriptions of the soil map units. 

The goal of the Delaware SWCD website is to provide an avenue of communication and extension of District services to the citizens of Delaware County.  We would gladly take any suggestions you might have for improving our current site, or if you would like to see something added to the site.  E-mail suggestions to bret-bacon@oh.nacdnet.org. 
 

What is Your Watershed Address? 

We all live in a watershed.  A watershed is an area of land that “sheds” precipitation such as rain or melted snow into a stream, river, lake, wetland, or surface water.  A healthy watershed filters and stores water for a river or stream.  Watersheds can be very large or very small, and are sometimes referred to as drainage basins.  The outlet of a watershed is the mouth of a main stream or river.  The mouth may be where it flows to another stream or river.  It may also be the place where it empties into a lake, estuary, or ocean. 

A watershed address is a synopsis of the flow of water from a particular point on the land to the furthest downstream point to which the water will flow.  A watershed address always begins with the downstream point.  There are two different beginning points for all watersheds in Ohio.  Any land that is north of the Ohio Divide flows to Lake Erie and the Atlantic Ocean.  Any land south of the Divide flows to the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Delaware County is on the south side of the Ohio Divide so everybody’s watershed address in the county will begin with Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, Ohio River, Scioto River.  At this point, watershed addresses will begin to differ based on within which of the four major watersheds, the Scioto, Olentangy, Alum Creek, or Big Walnut, land is located. 

Here is an example of a watershed address for the village of Kilbourne: 
Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, Ohio River, Scioto River, Big Walnut Creek, Alum Creek, Alum Creek Reservoir, Alum Creek. 

It is important to know your watershed address because everything that goes on in the upper reaches, or headwaters, of a watershed can have an effect downstream.  A pollutant that enters Alum Creek in Kilbourne could eventually travel to the Gulf of Mexico.  Conversely, water quality improvements upstream can help to improve water quality downstream.  To learn more about watersheds, and to get help finding your watershed address, check out the USGS website at http://water.usgs.gov/wsc/. 

      It is no secret that Delaware County is experiencing growth at an incredible rate.  In fact, from 1990 to 1998, Delaware County’s population growth of 38% was higher than any other county in Ohio.  This growth and development, while bringing many good things to the county, has also had an impact on our watersheds and streams. 
       As development progresses, an increasing amount of land that was grassland, meadow, or forest is converted to streets, houses, driveways, etc.  This produces an increased amount of land within a respective watershed that is impervious.  The imperviousness of a watershed can be used as an indicator to measure the impacts of development on aquatic systems.  Impervious land does not allow precipitation to infiltrate into the ground; consequently, the total amount of runoff from any particular storm is increased.  The result of this is a “flashier” watershed. 
       The “flashiness” of a watershed refers to a measure of stream depth over time or a hydrograph.  In an urbanized watershed, stream depth can rise very quickly because of the increased amount of runoff.  The hydrograph for such a watershed rises and falls very sharply thus the term “flashy.”  Scientific studies have shown that most aquatic life cannot tolerate these rapid changes in water depth or the rapid influx of pollutants that accompanies a large amount of runoff in an urban area. 
       Studies have shown that stream degradation begins once watershed imperviousness reaches 10-15%.  The goal of urban watershed management is to limit the amount and/or size of impervious areas within a watershed.  This is accomplished thought the use of Best Management Practices.  This can include clustered development, shorter residential driveways, reduced radii and donuts in the middle of cul-de-sacs, vertical parking structures, stream buffers, open space requirements, permeable spillover parking areas, and retention and detention ponds. 
       If you would like more information on urban watershed management, contact Julie Jackson, Streams & Watersheds Specialist, at the District office. 

Source:  “The Importance of Imperviousness”, Watershed Protection Techniques, Vol. 1, No. 3, Fall 1994. 
  

Equip Yourself with EQIP Again! 

The Upper Big Walnut Creek  (UBWC) Water Quality Partnership will continue involvement in the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) this year.  There have been 49 tracts of land enrolled in the program for the 2000 fiscal year: 31 tracts in Delaware County, 14 in Morrow County, 2 in Licking County, and 2 in Knox County.  The enrollment of these tracts produces an additional 4333 acres covered under EQIP contracts in the Upper Big Walnut Watershed.  A total of $216,492 will be allocated among these tracts of land. 

The 1998 and 1999 accomplishments of EQIP were reviewed at the UBWC Executive Committee meeting in July.  Throughout the UBWC watershed, 13,150 acres have been or will be planned by the end of September 2000.  The UBWC Water Quality Partnership has requested additional EQIP funding from USDA so that the success of this program can be continued.  As in the past, these funds, if granted, will be used as incentives for conservation tillage, pesticide planning for corn, and nutrient management within the UBWC. 
 

Big Walnut H.S. Places 13th at State Envirothon 

The Big Walnut High School Envirothon team scored a 13th place finish at the State Envirothon held June 11-13 at the Dawes Arboretum in Licking County.  As reported in the Spring issue of The Conservationist, the Big Walnut team earned the opportunity to compete in the state Envirothon by placing in the top four at the regional Envirothon held in May.  The state competition features the top four teams from five regional envirothons across Ohio.  The top scoring team from the state Envirothon, Franklin High School, will represent Ohio in the Canon National Envirothon at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. 

 
Did You Know . . . 
Only 1/10,000 of the water on the Earth is drinkable?  The rest is either confined in the polar ice caps, in the oceans, or is too polluted to drink. 
 
 

As the summer gets longer and hotter, conflicts over agricultural odors become more common and more heated.  Every individual’s tolerance for odor is different.  A smell that one person doesn’t even notice may be intolerable to someone else.  Farmers and their rural neighbors often do not see eye-to-eye on this issue.  Too often, rural residents will say that any amount of odor is unacceptable.  The producer, however, can take the position that that the farm was here first, and their neighbors just moved here two years ago, thus the neighbors have no right to complain about odors.  Who’s argument is correct here?  The answer is neither side is right or wrong.  Rural residents have as much right to quietly enjoy their land as the farmers do to conduct business on their land.  While some amount of odor should be expected, a neighbor’s complaint about excessive odors should not be ignored.  The question then becomes what can neighbors do to avoid conflict which will not benefit either side?  Here are a few tips that everyone can follow to keep the peace in your community: 
Talk to your neighbors.  As a society, we have lost the knack of holding a conversation over the fence post.  Open lines of communication between neighbors can go a long way to solving many problems. 
For the producers:  Timing of manure application is critical.  Plan spreading when temperatures and humidity are lower, and avoid spreading on weekends or holidays if possible.  Incorporation of manure can greatly reduce odors and retain nutrients if done immediately. 
For the neighbors:  Let the farmers know if you are planning a large event outdoors.  Chances are, if you give them enough notice, they will gladly arrange their schedule so they do not come in conflict with your activity. 
Do not jump to conclusions.  Talk to everyone involved, and make sure you have all the facts before making any decisions or taking any action. 

Hopefully, these tips will help your community from drawing the battle lines over odors this summer. 

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