Proper Organic Management
The Leon River basin is adjacent to the Bosque River basin, where excess nutrients have impaired water quality. Because the Leon River basin contains similar nutrient sources, including dairies, manure application fields, farming and ranching sites with commercial fertilizer application, and urban runoff, stakeholders in the watershed are paying careful attention to emerging water quality issues. Agriculture has the potential to contribute to the problems of excessive nutrients and bacteria in surface water, especially if recommended management practices are not used.
The Upper Leon River watershed is a designated Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) Benchmark Watershed. CEAP Benchmark Watersheds will provide in-depth data on the environmental effects of conservation practices at the fi eld-to-watershed scale. In the Leon watershed, environmental concerns are generally associated with the management of animal byproducts and municipal wastewater, as water quality impairments results from runoff and point source discharge contaminated with pathogens and/or nutrients. The CEAP effort in this watershed will focus on agricultural nutrient management.
Objectives
- Implement organic fertilizer management practices on cultivated and pasture fields to demonstrate the importance of using proper management relating to application method, timing, and rate
- Conduct demonstration and educational activities on the importance of proper organic fertilizer management for producers considering using animal manures in their fertilizer programs
- Demonstrate water quality difference in impacted versus non-impacted streams
Components
- Demonstration sites: The team will collect data on land management and nutrient practice information for cultivated agriculture and pasture/rangeland demonstration sites
- Comparison study: The team will compare water quality between Resley Creek, an impacted water body, to Mustang Creek, a non-impacted creek.
- Education: The team is developing educational material relating to the environmental impacts of proper organic fertilizer management practices.
Collaborators
- U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service
- Texas Water Resources Institute
- Texas Cooperative Extension
- Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board
- Local Soil and Water Conservation Districts
- Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research
Funding Agencies
- Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency