Are We Underestimating the Value of Our Green Lakes?

There are strong negative attitudes surrounding the lakes in the Red Cedar Basin. “The lakes are awful during hot days”, “It’s dangerous to touch the green water”, and the often mentioned “The algae smell is going to plague the entire town soon”. From gauging this public sentiment, one would expect the algal blooms to discourage people from spending time at the lakes. On the contrary, my research team noticed that many people still visit (especially Lake Chetek) for recreational activities even when the water was turning neon green in early July. Perplexed by this anomaly, we found ourselves asking: do people value lakes even when they have poor water quality and if so, by how much?

Finding Common Ground: Cultivating Farmer Communities in Pursuit of Conservation

Over the past two months, my research partner Tara and I have conducted 23 interviews with lakefront owners and farmers across the Red Cedar River watershed. All of these individuals graciously welcomed us into their home environments and willingly shared their experiences with two young women who “aren’t from here". Nine of these interviews were with a diverse range of farmers including conventional and organic dairies, agri-tourism farms, large scale-cash crop operations, small-scale vegetable farms, and alternative “niche-market” farms. My research focused primarily on farmer narratives and the ways in which cultivating a strong sense of community can lead to more effective and conscious conservation efforts. I began this research in an attempt to understand the commonalities between conventional and organic farmers in the region. From an outsider perspective, these two farming communities seem polar in their cultural beliefs and farming practices. After speaking with a diverse group of farmers, we found several common themes between the two main communities.

On the topic of conservation, although individuals had varying degrees in which they believed in and implemented conservation practices, all of the interviewees pursued some type of environmentally minded farming practice. Some of the conservation practices in common included cover crops, the implementation of waterways, no-till practices, the creation of pollinator habitat, rotational livestock grazing, continual soil health management, creating riparian buffer zones, land easements with the Department of Natural Resources or the Nature Conservancy, and the active management of forests and wildlife habitat.

When asked about their individual motivations to pursue conservation practices, many farmers expressed the challenge of straddling economic and environmental pressures and benefits when making decisions about conservation. One farmer concisely stated, “Everything I do is for a conservation reason, but everything I do has a dollar amount attached.” Many found that what was better for the environment and for the watershed, in the long run, helped to produce and better crop yield and increased the overall health of their landscape. Many, simply said that conservation is “what is right” and the feeling that they had to do things right: “I feel as all my neighbors do… We have a responsibility in that we control a significant amount of land, more so than the average citizen. Much more. So, we have an important responsibility in doing things right, because in a real true sense of a way, I don’t really own anything here.”

A fundamental care for place was the root of all of our conversations. Conventional farmers who had been farming the same land for generations expressed their deep connection to the landscape: “My entire history is pretty much right here.”, “We’re very attached to the river. That is out pride.” All farmers expressed some sort of connection to the watershed, but interestingly, the majority of farmers interviewed did not use the lakes, rivers or streams in the area for recreation, citing either no desire, limited free time, or the poor water quality.  

On a community level, what is at the heart of this issue is the fundamental importance of being heard. In a constantly changing economy, farmers continually expressed their fears of losing their land and the pressures they felt to expand and to become more efficient to compete in the regional, national and global marketplace. All farmers expressed financial stress and concern about the market-- either the lowering prices of soy and corn, or the challenge to find a niche market and customer base to sustain their livelihood. These economic pressures are what drive many farmers to use technologies and fertilizing techniques that are notoriously known to increase the phosphorus application in soils. Several farmers posed the question, asking “What will farming look like in twenty years?” Their ideas usually included mass consolidation and the loss of the family farm.

Ultimately, from a summer of research and listening to diverse range of community members and stakeholders, I believe that cultivating farming communities should be prioritized and should be used as a tool for conservation. To build a strong community, we must first recognize and credit farmers. By crediting both conventional and organic farmers for the conservation practices that they have independently pursued, farmers are more likely to feel encouraged and engaged with the issue, rather than feeling blamed or isolated. As one farmer stated, “We forgot that we have done a lot already and that people really do care. I would just like to see us, for people who are doing a good job, reward that somehow. At least recognize it… I don’t believe that it is always recognized.”

Secondly, we must prioritize farmer-led conservation. There are several examples of this across the watershed, ranging from small-scale farmer-led conservation efforts to meetings within smaller watersheds. By prioritizing farmer leadership, individual farmers can consult with one another and feel a responsibility for their community and landscape. One interviewee expressed the his perspective as a farmer, “Farmers are kind of a goofy animal… They’re not followers. They are their own innovators. They kind of have to get it straight in their own mind that it works, so that’s why I say that we’re all a crazy critter. Cause we just don’t change that easy.” This quote emphasizes the importance of patience and respect that must be present to have constructive and thoughtful change.

Finally, to address these issues and to build stronger farming communities, the regional community should prioritize creating a physical space for farmer leadership and conversation. Several farmers expressed varying aspects of individual isolation within the landscape. One farmer mentioned that he interacted with his neighbors and community members “either on the road or at church”. By building a physical space where all farmers can interact and engage in open dialog to share their experiences and advice, a sense of community and ownership can be established. One farmer expressed this idea concisely, speaking of his relationship to his neighbor: “[My neighbor and I], although we have very little in common, like very little, we have been able to find common ground, literally, just by talking about vegetables. I think that is really interesting and allows for the spirit of cooperation.”

Perhaps most important in my summer research was my realization of the importance of being heard and value of listening to others. I quickly found that the extreme differences we see in the rural and urban divide are only intensified by the unwillingness to have honest and open conversations with people who are not like us. This summer, I was welcomed by many individuals that I would likely have never had the opportunity to have an open conversation with about their experiences, the issues they face and how they fit into the movement towards conservation without their trust and the LAKES program. I want to express my most sincere gratitude to all of the farmers, lakefront residents and community members who took the time to welcome us into their home environments to share their experiences with us. We could not have done this work without this community’s willingness and generosity.

An Ecosystem Approach to Pollution

This summer my research team and I explored the possibility of restoring Wild Rice in the Red Cedar watershed.  We dove into this topic because aquatic vegetation has the potential to change phosphorus dynamics in the water, possibly locking up some of the excess nutrients—those same nutrients that cause the toxic cyanobacteria blooms each summer.

One of our Wild Rice study sites

Groundhog Day 2008

I am not a fan of the song "I got you babe" by Cher. I think the disdain originates from karaoke; any time a couple chooses to sing it, I make sure to step outside for a quick "phone call". Interesting hook for this blog, huh? For those of you that have seen Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, this comment may make a bit more sense.

Tackling our Legacy

Where to go from here… That’s a question I’m always facing as a scientist. If you think of all the research tracks I’ve taken as a subway map, I’ve just left the second station on the eighth new train.

I don’t know specifically where this research is going to go. If I did –borrowing from Albert Einstein – it wouldn’t be research. But given the results from this summer, I can make a few statements and arrive at a conclusion:

• These preliminary results show promise in terms of bioremediation of sediment.
• The components and computer code to make Arduino-based remote sensors are relatively easy to build.
• Without addressing the legacy of nutrient pollution in the lakes, land use changes upstream are going to take decades to yield downstream changes.

Given those statements, I plan to keep studying the ability of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to remediate lake sediment. By accelerating the decomposition and oxidation of the organic-rich lake sediments, they will be less likely to release nutrients back into the water column.

The biggest challenge and unknown is how this work scales up. Being able to demonstrate success in a little 4-inch diameter fuel cell is one thing, but MFC electrode materials are expensive and the lake is huge. But the advantages of using MFCs for remediation is that they're passive and they operate 24/7/365.

There are several big research groups looking at using MFC technology in wastewater treatment and it's a small step from treating sewage in a wastewater settling tank to treating organic-rich sediment at the bottom of a lake.

Finding Reconciliation

1) What direction do you plan on going with your intern(s) research project to continue with it after this summer is over? 

I’m very excited about the research my team is doing this summer because it connects to my previous research about how rural America is changing as farmers face continuing economic challenges and increasing numbers of people from urban areas move into rural recreational areas (like lake country in Northern Wisconsin). I’m interested in how people decide what rural spaces should be used for and hope to encourage what are often called “multifunctional” landscapes.

Multifunctional landscapes are used for multiple things including farming and recreation. I’m hoping that my research will encourage us to diversify how we think about rural spaces, including use our lakes and rivers to include things like wild rice harvesting. We hypothesize that native aquatic plants like wild rice can help mitigate levels of phosphorus pollution over the summer when they are most likely to result in blue-green algae blooms. At the same time, wild rice beds provide habitat for many species of wildlife including fish, waterfowl and food that people can harvest. We can’t restore our lakes and rivers to the way they were 200 years ago, but we can pursue what is called reconciliation ecology, that is we can find ways to work with nature to create landscapes that support us economically while also supporting biodiversity and making space for the ecosystems that we rely on for recreation, food, flood control, and other services.  

But to build these kinds of multifunctional landscapes we need to work with the people that live, work, and play here to understand how they use and care for these places, what problems they are facing, and what solutions they see as workable. The best solutions to our problems will come from the grassroots, from working with people rather than telling people what the answers are. This summer Tara and Lucia have been talking to farmers and lakeshore owners about what conservation practices they are already working on and what challenges they are to further progress. I plan to interview more farmers and lakeshore owners this year as well as doing landscape analysis of current land uses and archival research into past land uses in order to find clues from the past and present that will help us build sustainable landscape for our children and grandchildren.

  

2) If you could research anything in the world, what would it be and why does it interest you? (Imagine you have unlimited time and resources for this research.)

Harvesting cork

I’m very happy with the research I’m doing now and I’m committed to working with local communities to find sustainable solutions for the future. But there are some eco-social systems I would really like to study so we can learn lessons that could be applied to other places. For example, I would love to study the cork oak forests of the Mediterranean. These forests have sustainably provided cork for wine bottles, shoes, and other uses for hundreds of years. I want to learn about how the forest supports both biodiversity and human economies.

Harvesting rubber

Similarly, I would love to study and visit the extractive rubber reserves in the Brazilian rainforests. These areas are reserves set aside for growing and extracting rubber from rubber trees. The creation of these reserves keeps the forest from being cut down for timber and cattle ranching and allows rubber tappers to continue making a living from the forest while also supporting indigenous tribes who use the areas.

There are many other examples of these reconciliation ecosystems around the world that I would love to visit and learn from. 

What ever could I do

For this week’s blog, the research students have provided four question for the Mentors to answer, I felt obliged to answer some of the question provided, and just couldn’t resist some of the others. While the last question of what day would I relive ground hogs style? The answer felt pretty simple a day with lots of good friends around and not much going on. 

Here are my answers to the remaining questions.