Bear Creek project just keeps rollin' along

The secret of success is constancy to purpose.

--Benjamin Disraeli

Since 1990, the Leopold Center's interdisciplinary Agroecology research team has toiled to restore a stretch of Bear Creek running through Ron Risdalžs cropland near Roland in Story County. Their goal: to re-establish vegetation along streambanks and decrease the amount of sediment and farm chemicals carried into the creek by runoff.

For nearly a decade, the team has worked with area landowners to expand the riparian buffer to what is now a five-mile stretch of the creek. Their "constancy of purpose" is paying off in many ways, including yet another national recognition as a "National Restoration Demonstration Watershed" by a federal cooperative effort called the Clean Water Plan. Bear Creek was selected as one of 12 projects nationwide by the nine-member coalition. Just last year, the project was designated as a national research and demonstration site by the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Tom Isenhart, Agroecology team and ISU forestry department member, is excited about the opportunities the recognition opens for the project. Says Isenhart, "We're thrilled by the recognition. It validates what we're doing but even more, we can now go to the landowners and say, 'Look at what you've accomplished'!"

And, of course, Isenhart says, the visibility enhances the project's credibility, thus helping the team's efforts to gain outside funding. To date, funding has come from the Leopold Center, USDA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Geological Survey, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Pheasants Forever.

While the interdisciplinary nature of the project is a model for other research, Isenhart emphasizes that the partnership of disciplines came out of necessity. "Nobody has all the abilities--and showcasing interdisciplinary work wasn't our goal," he says. "I believe the most important ingredient was that we worked with actual landowners." Isenhart adds that building the buffers on actual farmers' land lent an immense amount of credibility to the project.

Where do they go from here?
So where does the Agroecology team go from here? "Our plan is to continue to enroll more landowners and establish riparian strips along even more of Bear Creek," Isenhart explains. The team also is working to put information on the Clean Water Action Plan web site, http://cleanwater.gov. The Bear Creek pages will include a number of related links on riparian buffer management.

In 1998, Trees Forever, Novartis, Iowa Farm Bureau and other agricultural organizations began a project to establish 100 buffer demonstration sites in Iowa. The project recommends using the Bear Creek system of buffers, wetlands and stabilized streambanks as a model. (Fact sheets about establishing riparian buffers are available from ISU Extension or on its publications web site at http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1626A/homepage.html and http://www.exnet.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1626b.pdf.

Public events
As word of Bear Creek gets out, the brisk pace of visits to the site will only increase. In fact, the federal coordination team of the Clean Water Action Plan, accompanied by Julie Elfving from EPA Region 7, visited the site in late August.

Plans are also underway for a field day for landowners and other interested people in September. For details on the date and time, contact Isenhart at (515) 294-8056.

About the Clean Water Action Plan
The cooperative federal effort was organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Vice President Al Gore asked several federal agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive plan that would help revitalize the nationžs commitment to water resources. The result was the Clean Water Action Plan, released on February 19, 1998.

Participating agencies include the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Defense, Commerce, Energy, Transportation and Justice; Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Since its establishment, the coalition has documented 111 key actions affecting watersheds, protecting public health, controlling polluted runoff, developing incentives for private land stewardship, protecting public lands, restoring and protecting wetlands, and expanding citizens' right to know.