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Episode 28 | Managing Water at the Edge of the Field with Saturated Buffers by Illinois Extension
The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction podcast explores efforts to reduce nutrients in Illinois waterways from agricultural runoff to municipal wastewater with host Todd Gleason and producers Rachel Curry, Nicole Haverback and Luke Zwilling with University of Illinois Extension.
Read the blog at extension.illinois.edu/nlr/blog.
Episode 28 | Managing Water at the Edge of the Field with Saturated Buffers
00:00:06:05 - 00:00:30:29
Todd Gleason
This is the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast. Episode 28 managing water at the edge of the field with saturated buffers. I'm Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. Ryan Arch serves as the executive director of the Illinois Land Improvement Contractors Association. He joined us to talk about saturated buffers and how they're put into place. I started by asking him just exactly what it is that he does.
00:00:31:04 - 00:00:46:04
Ryan Arch
Well, my background is, biology, environmental studies. But I've been in ag here for over ten years, doing everything from, resource conservation work to ethanol production. So kind of the full gamut of the ag arena.
00:00:46:10 - 00:00:50:17
Ryan Arch
What do the members of the Land Improvement Contractors Association do?
00:00:50:20 - 00:01:01:22
Ryan Arch
So our members started off really, back over 60 years ago here in Illinois as earthmovers contractors, running excavators and bulldozers out on the landscape.
00:01:01:25 - 00:01:08:29
Ryan Arch
And since then, our members offer all kinds of services, from drainage to landscape to concrete work. So a little bit of everything.
00:01:08:29 - 00:01:17:18
Todd Gleason
One of the things that they certainly will have been used to taking look at and trying to put in place is a saturated buffer. Can you tell me what that is?
00:01:17:26 - 00:01:25:07
Ryan Arch
Sure. Saturated buffers is really one type of conservation drainage practice or edge of field practices are known.
00:01:25:09 - 00:01:48:25
Ryan Arch
That's really used to implement or it's really implemented to reduce nitrate losses from subsurface tile drain systems. And the way they do that is they take the subsurface tile drainage water that would normally outlet directly into a ditch or surface water and redirect that back into the soil profile under a vegetated buffer strip that's parallel to the ditch or the surface water.
00:01:48:27 - 00:02:08:22
Ryan Arch
And by doing that, you create a saturated soil profile that's really the perfect environment for soil microbes, already inherent there in the soil to remove the nitrates from that drains water, which they do just by converting the nitrates, to nitrogen, nitrogen gas, which is, you know, an inert gas that makes up most of our atmosphere.
00:02:08:22 - 00:02:34:12
Ryan Arch
So the whole process is, is really accomplished with a water control structure. And for those that aren't familiar with the water control structure and what that is, it's essentially a water type, vertical box that has removable dividers that, that we call stop logs or weirs. So we can take this, water control structure, bury it subsurfacely and tie it into the existing outlet.
00:02:34:15 - 00:02:59:20
Ryan Arch
And then by raising these weir boards, we can essentially, divert water into newly installed tile lines or lateral lines installed parallel to the ditch so that they're, again, that allows the tile water that would normally outlet to be diverted into the into the lateral lines, where it actually seeps back into, and infiltrates the soil profile, allowing those nitrates to be removed.
00:02:59:23 - 00:03:02:11
Todd Gleason
So the laterals must be perforated in that case.
00:03:02:11 - 00:03:02:28
Ryan Arch
Correct.
00:03:03:02 - 00:03:07:29
Todd Gleason
What are the site considerations for farmers interested in implementing this kind of buffer?
00:03:07:29 - 00:03:33:16
Ryan Arch
So there's a few site considerations, but probably one of the most critical is soils. So the soils need about 1.2% organic matter at a minimum. And the top 2.5ft of soil, what that does is that indicates a strong carbon presence, essentially for those microbes to work as they kind of break down, consume that carbon, allows them to to breathe in those nitrates and exhale that nitrogen or convert it to nitrogen.
00:03:33:18 - 00:04:02:04
Ryan Arch
So it's also critical that within that saturated buffer soil profile, that the soil conditions are just such that you can hold a water table. So there needs to be some sort of restrictive layer or high, existing water table in that area that's really free of any, you know, sand pockets or gravel lenses where water that is pushed out into the laterals and into that profile, you know, would have a chance to bypass, you know, through one of those, un-uniform soil types.
00:04:02:07 - 00:04:23:23
Ryan Arch
So, so it's important we have that, that water table to, again, allow that slow percolation out of the lateral lines. Bank stability is a big consideration as well with saturated buffers. So, you know, we want to make sure there's not a lot of, bank erosion or sloughing of the banks. You know, they should be vegetated and have a nice little slope to them.
00:04:23:25 - 00:04:49:13
Ryan Arch
And then we don't want banks that are in sized, you know, really over eight foot. And again, the thought there is that if you're going to be saturating that soil profile, you don't want to create any more instability, along the bank. Some other things to think of in terms of, placement on, on the landscape is these are really most cost effective if you have the opportunity to treat up to about, 15 acres at a, at a minimum.
00:04:49:16 - 00:05:08:22
Ryan Arch
It really makes them and more cost effective. And so also on that tile system, it's important not to have any surface intakes or very few surface intakes. The thought there is that we can reduce any additional soil or debris inputs into the, into the system. We wouldn't want that to, you know, hinder any of that filtration out in the saturated buffer.
00:05:08:25 - 00:05:35:29
Ryan Arch
And then, of course, you really need, you know, that 30ft minimum vegetated buffer along your surface water ditch. So whether that's an existing, vegetated buffer or that you have, you know, confirmed that you have room to install at least 30ft. So beyond that, I think you know, one of the thing that works works well for, saturated buffers is, is if you can get them placed a little lower on the landscape, then you're contributing tile acreage.
00:05:36:01 - 00:06:00:22
Ryan Arch
Reason being, not so you can't put them on on flat slopes, but we do, you know, raise that water table, to get the functionality of the saturated buffer to push water into the into the lateral lines. So if it's a little bit below, the rest of your field, that helps from raising the water table, maybe into your cash crop on the last couple rows or something so that that's, you know, if you're not after drainage water management, that certainly situation we don't want.
00:06:00:24 - 00:06:22:15
Ryan Arch
This is an active rather than a passive system meaning it does take some work during the year to manage it. It does. Yes. They're you know, they're great practices. You know, they can remove anywhere from 25 to 40% of the nitrates. There's data that shows, you know, they can remove over 80%. You know, so they're fairly low maintenance systems, which makes them attractive as well as well.
00:06:22:15 - 00:06:56:10
Ryan Arch
But yes, there is some, some management involved. And that really comes in the form of managing those, weir boards, the height of those weir boards. So again, similar to like, drainage water management situation for those that are familiar with that, you know, you would lower or remove your weir boards, about two weeks before planting or before harvest, to lower that water table to make sure you can get in the field and do what you need to do, and then essentially replace those weir board settings, for the functionality of your saturate buffer, during the growing season, so that you get that nitrate removal.
00:06:56:14 - 00:06:58:24
Todd Gleason
And it does still continue to allow
00:06:58:24 - 00:07:02:24
Todd Gleason
the tiles to run if there are large rainfall events.
00:07:02:29 - 00:07:22:25
Ryan Arch
It does. Exactly. So yeah, there's this is a failsafe system. And it will never actually, back up your current free flow drainage system. So that may sound a little counterintuitive, but under normal, drain flow conditions, we can divert most of that tidal water into the saturated buffer laterals to get that nitrate removal.
00:07:22:27 - 00:07:55:27
Ryan Arch
But these systems are designed, you know, on about a 5% minimum full flow drainage capacity. So meaning when that systems run in full flow, we're only treating about 5% of that system. So during high flow events, we're not actually capturing, can't possibly push all that volume of water through the saturated buffer. So what happens in that instance is the excess water that couldn't go into the saturated buffer, literally just over tops the weir board setting and would go out the same outlet as if there were no structure in place before.
00:07:55:27 - 00:08:10:09
Ryan Arch
So again, we're never backing up, that water system, we're just diverting it to get the flow. We need. But again, in heavy rain events or, large flow situations, it's simply going right back out of the outlet, untreated.
00:08:10:11 - 00:08:12:15
Todd Gleason
What are the typical costs for installation?
00:08:12:17 - 00:08:19:01
Ryan Arch
Good question. So typical cost range is anywhere from 4000 to $8000.
00:08:19:08 - 00:08:40:08
Ryan Arch
It's a big range, I know, but it really depends kind of on the linear footage of the lateral installation on the bioreactor as well as the structure type. So obviously the more lateral you can install, on your property, the more opportunity, you have to get that on your property, the more tile costs would go up just based on linear footage and then structure type.
00:08:40:08 - 00:08:54:20
Ryan Arch
There is a couple different designs for saturated buffers. And that mostly hinges on whether or not a producer wants to utilize drainage water management in conjunction with a saturated buffer. So there's different types of control structures that can be used there.
00:08:54:24 - 00:08:56:15
Todd Gleason
Are there share cost opportunities?
00:08:56:18 - 00:09:02:26
Ryan Arch
There is. So actually there's there's quite a bit of what do you would think of as maybe the traditional cost share opportunities.
00:09:02:26 - 00:09:31:16
Ryan Arch
So through the FSA with the CRP program, they have some cost share money through clear again, which is under a CRP program. The NRCS, you know, has has the regular, financial assistance programs that would cost share unsaturated buffers including EQIP and CSP, as well as the state Soil and Conservation Districts, soil and water conservation districts, through Department of Ed funding has state cost share moneys as well for saturated buffers.
00:09:31:16 - 00:10:03:21
Ryan Arch
So, those are some of the more traditional funding aspects. But we also have a lot of state level conservation partnerships right now that are at a cost sharing installation of these types of practices, to help, you know, drive the awareness and implementation of them on the landscape. So, for instance, Illinois, like you just hear in the last couple of years, you know, we've been partnering with groups like the Illinois Sustainable Partnership, Illinois Farm Bureau, Government agency and university partners, to get these installed saturated buffers in particular as part of a larger field days.
00:10:03:22 - 00:10:07:19
Todd Gleason
Any advice for producers interested in installing a saturated buffer?
00:10:07:20 - 00:10:28:07
Ryan Arch
Yeah, I would say start the conversation early. You know, certainly by now, you know, we hope that most producers are considering adopting an edge of field practice really has a way to to compliment their in-field management, you know, to reduce on farm nutrient losses. And if, if you're a producer that's of that mindset, you know, I think I'd encourage you to have that discussion and open dialog.
00:10:28:07 - 00:10:49:13
Ryan Arch
Now, if you're not already, you know, your families, your neighbors, your landlord, your drainage contractor, you know, soil and water, NRCS staff, because, you know, even though these saturated buffer practices don't really require a large, time commitment to physically install, they do require some planning and designing, to make sure they're a good fit for, you know, your operation.
00:10:49:13 - 00:11:03:22
Ryan Arch
So just encourage everyone to, you know, kind of openly chat through this process. I think it's just going to allow you to learn more about the practice and then help you openly address any, you know, upfront practice concerns that you may have with those that will really be helping you implement the practice on your farm.
00:11:03:25 - 00:11:04:20
Todd Gleason
Thanks so much, Ryan.
00:11:04:23 - 00:11:05:29
Ryan Arch
Appreciate it. Thanks Todd.
00:11:06:01 - 00:11:27:08
Todd Gleason
Ryan Arch is the executive director of the Illinois Land Improvement Contractors Association, or Illinois LICA. Laura Christianson is a crop scientist at the University of Illinois. She's also been working with saturated buffers, getting some of the real raw numbers in place. I asked her exactly what it is she does.
00:11:27:11 - 00:11:36:09
Laura Christianson
My tagline for what I do is that we help farmers do what they do best, in growing crops while keeping water clean.
00:11:36:09 - 00:11:42:25
Laura Christianson
So we're interested in reducing nitrogen and phosphorus that we send downstream from our farms here in Illinois.
00:11:42:27 - 00:11:46:15
Todd Gleason
How do you set about accomplishing that goal?
00:11:46:18 - 00:12:00:17
Laura Christianson
Most of our, large part of our research program involves farms across the state, both private farms and university research farms, or partner farms, where we put conservation practices on the ground.
00:12:00:17 - 00:12:12:06
Laura Christianson
And then we go out and monitor how well those conservation practices are working. That means we go out to these farms and collect water samples, bring them back to our lab and analyze them to see how much nitrogen or phosphorus is in the water.
00:12:12:07 - 00:12:17:16
Todd Gleason
I know that you've been working with saturated buffers. Tell me about some of that research, please.
00:12:17:18 - 00:12:47:18
Laura Christianson
Well, saturated buffers is an important practice for us to be researching because it's a relatively new conservation practice, over the last 5 or 10 years or so. And it's not a practice that's officially recommended in our state nutrient loss reduction strategy. The reason for that is because it's a new practice. And there just wasn't enough data or, you know, science and research to confirm that it should be included as a recommended practice or it should not be included as a recommended practice.
00:12:47:20 - 00:13:18:06
Laura Christianson
And so with our saturated buffers across the state, we're currently monitoring three, we go out to the site, we collect water samples. We look at how much water is getting routed into the saturated buffer, and then we analyze how well are these saturated buffers working. And towards the end of this year, really within the next 12 months or so, we're going to be digging deeply into our data to evaluate, is this a practice that we should recommend be added as a recommended practice in our nutrient loss reduction strategy?
00:13:18:08 - 00:13:24:10
Todd Gleason
I know you can't make a recommendation at this point, but do early indications point one way or the other?
00:13:24:13 - 00:13:43:00
Laura Christianson
Oh, yeah. Saturated buffers are a practice that works. That's clear there, nitrogen is removed by the practice of a saturated buffer. Now, they're not perfect, but no practice is perfect. And one of the hardest things is really in the siteing of the saturated buffer.
00:13:43:00 - 00:14:05:03
Laura Christianson
Finding the right site is, kind of the limiting factor right now because you have to have a buffer or being be willing to put a buffer in. And there's characteristics of the soil in the buffer that have to be right. And so the siting is really the sticky part right now. But yeah, definitely saturated buffers are a practice that work to clean nitrogen from tile drainage.
00:14:05:09 - 00:14:08:02
Todd Gleason
What is it exactly?
00:14:08:05 - 00:14:35:00
Laura Christianson
Well, it's really, in kind of scientific terms where we reconnect the hydrology at the edge of the field. Traditional with our tile drains, we have tile pipes that go straight from the field. They go straight underground. If you have a buffer between the field and the stream, and those tile pipes go straight underground underneath that buffer and send that drainage water straight out to the stream. With a saturated buffer,
00:14:35:02 - 00:15:06:02
Laura Christianson
we cut into that tile pipe or that tile main, and we route water to the side. So rather than going through that pipe to the stream, the water actually gets re diverted to flow through the buffer soil. So it just seeps slowly towards the stream. And when the buffer gets or when the water gets reconnected, with how water would normally go to a stream, there's a lot of treatment that can happen with good microbes that live in the soil and plant uptake of the nitrogen and the water.
00:15:06:04 - 00:15:12:25
Laura Christianson
And so we're we're just really kind of reconnecting the hydrology or reconnecting how the water is supposed to get to the stream.
00:15:12:27 - 00:15:14:03
Todd Gleason
It's not a wetland?
00:15:14:05 - 00:15:26:05
Laura Christianson
No, no. And it's actually kind of, a misnomer a little bit. I like the I like the term saturated buffer, but it's a little bit of a misnomer because you're not saturating the buffer, all the way up to the surface.
00:15:26:05 - 00:15:39:01
Laura Christianson
It's not going to be squeaky and squelchy when you step out on there. Which the name kind of implies, and it's certainly not a wetland. You're not raising the water table in the buffer all the way up to the surface by any means.
00:15:39:04 - 00:15:44:06
Todd Gleason
So it's just a lateral that allows the water to seep back into the soil profile.
00:15:44:07 - 00:16:05:00
Laura Christianson
That's right, that's right. It's just tile drainage working in reverse. But it's it is a powerful conservation drainage technology because your drainage system in the field can continue to function how you need that drainage system to function. But then at the edge of the field you get this extra treatment for the nitrogen. So you get the drainage benefits.
00:16:05:00 - 00:16:07:29
Laura Christianson
But you're also helping with our, with our water quality.
00:16:08:03 - 00:16:08:28
Todd Gleason
Hey, thanks so much.
00:16:08:29 - 00:16:09:21
Laura Christianson
Thanks, Todd.
00:16:09:25 - 00:16:26:14
Todd Gleason
Laura Christianson is a crop scientist at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. She certainly is not the only researcher in the state looking at saturated buffers. I will move next to Southern Illinois University and Jon Schoonover.
00:16:26:16 - 00:16:31:22
Jon Schoonover
I'm Jon Schoonover, I'm a professor here in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Southern Illinois University.
00:16:31:22 - 00:16:57:06
Jon Schoonover
I've been here almost 15 years. I'm a native to southern Illinois, attended SIU for my bachelor's and master's degree. Then I went off to Auburn University down in Alabama and ended up coming back here, teach a couple classes in soils, two different four soils classes, three watershed management classes, and, three ID classes here at SIU.
00:16:57:06 - 00:16:59:14
Todd Gleason
What are your research interests?
00:16:59:15 - 00:17:19:05
Jon Schoonover
Well, my research interests is always focused on soils and water quality. Early on in my career, I did, several projects with the, Department of Defense looking at sediment movement on military bases. And then that led into a couple projects in urban areas where I looked at the same type of issues water quality, sedimentation and hydrology.
00:17:19:05 - 00:17:49:12
Jon Schoonover
But my heart's kind of always been in agriculture. I grew up kind of on a farm with my grandparents. And, you know, I've always been trying to work with farmers to, to to determine how different best management practices could be used to meet their water quality goals, or in increase their crop yields on their farm. So I've kind of always had a foothold there in agriculture, doing whether it's riparian buffers or these saturated buffers, cover crops, things of that nature.
00:17:49:17 - 00:17:54:29
Todd Gleason
Now, tell me about these saturated buffers and what they are and what kind of research you're doing with them.
00:17:55:06 - 00:18:12:03
Jon Schoonover
Okay, our saturated buffer research. First of all, I'd like to thank the folks that have funded it's Illinois Nutrient Research and Education Council. We've kind of collaborated on these projects with, NRCs, the Illinois Farm Bureau, and, Illinois Land Contractors Association.
00:18:12:03 - 00:18:45:02
Jon Schoonover
So it's kind of been a joint effort putting these projects together. Our research goal has always been to kind of tweak the existing saturated buffer designs to see if we could make them more effective in terms of nutrient intensity, duration and, see if we can and kind of broaden the range where they can be applied, because right now it's like there's only a few little parts of the state that these things are, you know, suitable for based on organic matter and, and water table and saturated hydraulic conductivity and things of that nature.
00:18:45:02 - 00:19:21:04
Jon Schoonover
But we're trying to, to tweak those designs to where we can use them on a broader range of sites. So we've looked at a couple different designs. Our original thought was to use a two stage buffer, where we had the two two different control structures, where the typical saturated buffer just has a single control structure. We had two, so the first one came in and the water came off the tile, and then kind of saturated a zone that we'd plant with cover crops where the farmer could go in and, and, terminate those cover crops and then plant over that section.
00:19:21:04 - 00:19:44:27
Jon Schoonover
So we didn't take any land out of production on that first zone. The second zone was more of a perennial grass that would stay there. So the the land was taken out of production. So one of the things we found was that was the thing that we noticed most often. They worked great during low flow. You know, we'd see reductions in, the outlet flows.
00:19:44:27 - 00:20:09:16
Jon Schoonover
But then as the water would come up, the water table's rise, we tended to have a lot of back flow issues. So it looked like the dispersion lines were actually contributing to the outlet. So we'd actually increase the water leaving the system. So that's what kind of led into the next design, where we had the saturated buffers and, and we designed a new one that's got we call it the pitchfork buffer.
00:20:09:24 - 00:20:35:04
Jon Schoonover
And the reason is it kind of looks like a pitchfork. So it goes out laterally instead of having a single dispersion line like a standard buffer has a, three dispersion lines, the one nearest the field edge, the farmers, they can, farm over that on the outer line. We have a shut off valve on it so we can shut the water off so we don't push any water out there so it kind of can dry off before they get in the field.
00:20:35:06 - 00:20:57:08
Jon Schoonover
And then for the whole system, we put in a backflow valve. So once the water goes out into that, dispersion line, it can't return. So if the water table or to come up in that zone, it can't come back into our system. So that's been the biggest change. So we're doing a side by side comparison right now up in Moultrie County just off the north side of Lake Shelbyville.
00:20:57:10 - 00:21:20:12
Jon Schoonover
And what we've seen is the standard saturated buffer when we get, you know, during the fallow time of the year, not a lot of evapotranspiration going on. We're seeing more contribution from those lateral lines to that system. Whereas in the pitchfork design that's equipped with that backflow, we're not seeing this water returns. We're actually seeing water go out and no increase is coming back.
00:21:20:12 - 00:21:35:14
Jon Schoonover
So that's kind of what we wanted to do with that design is to show that it can, you know, treat that water so it stays out there. So you got potential, attenuation from plants, so uptake. And then you've also got the nitrification potential out there.
00:21:35:21 - 00:21:39:14
Todd Gleason
Any advice for producers about installing these saturated buffers?
00:21:39:14 - 00:21:45:09
Jon Schoonover
Yeah I mean the first thing you got to do as a producer is make sure your field is suitable for it.
00:21:45:11 - 00:22:06:00
Jon Schoonover
Like I said, we're trying to broaden or widen the range of sites that we can put these on. But your tile system needs to be relatively shallow, so it needs to be 3 or 4ft deep. Your outlet can't be, you know, 12ft down in the ditch because it will get, you know, a water table will come up above above that too often for it to function correctly.
00:22:06:00 - 00:22:31:15
Jon Schoonover
So we're looking for outlets in the 3 to 4ft deep range, you know, organic matter up in the 1.2, 3 percent range to to allow that water to move out there and to have enough carbon available for denitrification. The farmers also got to be willing to give up a little bit of that prime farmland. So we're talking a 500ft long dispersion line by 100ft long.
00:22:31:16 - 00:22:49:03
Jon Schoonover
That's, you know, 50,000ft². So a little bit over an acre of land that they'd be given up. But they may be able to get some incentives with, if they put pollinators in it or, you know, in the future or want to look into if what if we put some, perennial grass out there that they could harvest for hay?
00:22:49:03 - 00:23:21:14
Jon Schoonover
So if they have cattle on their farm, maybe they could remove some of that biomass. Biomass should be attenuating those nutrients so we could remove those nutrients from the site before they became saturated. So, you know, the other thing is the farmer is going to have to go out there and make a couple site visits. So they have to be willing to go out there and put the tile or the stop logs in, in the fallow time of the year to allow that water table to come up and then pull them out, you know, to go out there so they can get access to the field and dry it down a little bit
00:23:21:14 - 00:23:23:25
Jon Schoonover
before they get their equipment out there.
00:23:23:28 - 00:23:45:20
Todd Gleason
That's Jon Schoonover from Southern Illinois University. He's been working on new designs for saturated buffers at Illinois State University. They have actually installed a saturated buffer on the university farm. Jason Lindbom is the farm manager there. And Rob Rhykerd is an Illinois State University professor of agronomy and soil sciences.
00:23:45:22 - 00:23:52:21
Todd Gleason
I asked them, and Rob answered this question, what the process was like to get that saturated buffer in place.
00:23:52:26 - 00:24:21:10
Rob Rhykerd
This was, Todd this is a really cool project. It was, was a joint project, the, Nature Conservancy, actually contacted us, to, to install this, and they were looking at setting up some demonstration sites around the state and, and thought the Illinois State University farm would be a terrific location to have one year where we're right here off the interstate, easy access, high visibility, and, and they had some funding, which, which was really nice.
00:24:21:17 - 00:24:40:05
Rob Rhykerd
As you know, being associated with universities, funding is always tight. And so that really helped us out as well. So it didn't cost Jason much out of his pocket. And one thing is, as a former chair of the department I always like to include is, you know, the ISU farm has to be pretty much self-sufficient financially.
00:24:40:05 - 00:25:03:12
Rob Rhykerd
And so, since they, since they brought some of the cost sharing in this, this was a project that was pretty, pretty attractive to us. So, so from that, they got us in contact with, some of the contractors that were able to put in the, system itself, and I don't know, from their, it's pretty quick, pretty quick process.
00:25:03:14 - 00:25:04:15
Rob Rhykerd
Once they came out.
00:25:04:18 - 00:25:30:22
Jason Lindbom
It was, one thing. We had a, 60ft, buffer side of... that runs through our farm. It runs about, almost a miles length through our farm on the west side there. And we had, had it enrolled previously in, in, CRP program. What the buffer strip would be in a state entity.
00:25:30:25 - 00:26:01:00
Jason Lindbom
We'd never received any funding for that. So when it came time to Reenroll, we took it out of there, out of that CRP program and just for using that or developing their ground, for, purchases for beef cattle and our sheep, sheep flock. So with not having any this buffer area in a contract, it was really easy for the, NRCs and the Nature Conservancy to work together and putting that in out there.
00:26:01:00 - 00:26:24:26
Jason Lindbom
So, as far as the timeline to, to have it installed, I mean, they basically came out they done they did some soil tests. They wanted to check the organic, material in the soil because you don't really want a high clay, clay base in there to put that, saturated buffer strip in that perforated tile.
00:26:24:29 - 00:27:02:26
Jason Lindbom
So they they done that testing? The install took less than a day, but it basically came in and entered our, existing main tile, which is an eight inch tile. Often the covers drains roughly 120 acres of the farm. There. They entered into that, they put in, they put in that drop box there with the 2 or 3, three slots or three compartments and, and then just hooked up the, the 20ft of the perforated tile and they were in and out of here in no time.
00:27:02:26 - 00:27:05:15
Todd Gleason
So what is the day to day management like?
00:27:05:15 - 00:27:27:16
Jason Lindbom
And we really don’t, I don't really manage it day to day. It's more seasonal. So, come harvest time in the fall, we, we, we open those gates back up, we drain that field off so we don't have any water issues. Typically you don't have any water issues in the fall.
00:27:27:18 - 00:27:57:20
Jason Lindbom
So basically we come out there, we open that field back up, and then basically we can, so it's just basically the first k first gate, we lower those gates, basically open that up. So it's just dumping directly into that saturated, strip of tile there. So once then a come in the springtime where we can we kind of raise it up again during thereafter harvest there kind of monitor.
00:27:57:23 - 00:28:27:08
Jason Lindbom
But in the springtime for planting, if we do see notice any wet spots out there before planting. We'll open it up. Kind of drop that water table again out there, let that release into that tile and then, once, once planting is done, we raise those gates back up. So it's basically, is that water table out there when, when, moisture is a crucial time and especially the periods that we're going through right now, during this kind of semi drought that we're having.
00:28:27:15 - 00:28:30:25
Todd Gleason
Rob, do you like this idea? Does it make sense? Agronomically?
00:28:31:03 - 00:28:49:20
Rob Rhykerd
Absolutely. And and I think especially if we take a step back and think of this in terms of the Illinois nutrient loss reduction strategy. This this really ties in nicely with that. It's not this. This is not intended to completely eliminate nutrient runoff from the state. But it's a it's a little a little piece of it.
00:28:49:20 - 00:29:16:12
Rob Rhykerd
Right. So we're we're chipping away. So you know Illinois you probably know the numbers. Estimates are we’re contributing, I don't know, 15 to 20% of the nitrates that are getting into the into the Mississippi River and going down to the Gulf. And so but if we can install these, systems in, you know, long creeks and rivers, streams and so forth, we can begin to chip away at the at the nutrient loss.
00:29:16:14 - 00:29:38:12
Rob Rhykerd
It's a great step at beginning to reduce the nutrient runoff. So yeah, I'm a I'm a really big fan of this. I think this is terrific technology. And the thing I like the most about it and you're alluding to this is this is simple technology. This isn't rocket science. This is you know, Jason can go out and, in ten, 15 minutes, you can have a gate open or closed.
00:29:38:14 - 00:29:53:29
Rob Rhykerd
That's pretty, pretty simple. It's, it's a pretty, it's well designed. It's one of these things. It's, you know, why didn't I think of this type of technology? It just is so simple and works so well and can be easily installed on existing tile lines that we have.
00:29:54:02 - 00:29:58:23
Todd Gleason
Rob Rhykerd is a soil scientist and agronomist at Illinois State University.
00:29:58:23 - 00:30:33:03
Todd Gleason
He was joined by Jason Lindbom at the Illinois State University Farm to talk about saturated buffers. Here on episode 28 of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast. The program was produced in conjunction with Illinois Extension Watershed Outreach Associates. Jennifer Woodyard Jones, and Haley Haverback Gruber, as described within the State of Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction strategy, Woodyard Jones works in phosphorus priority watersheds and Haverback Gruber's work is with nitrogen priority watersheds. I'm Illinois extension’s Todd Gleason.