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• DNR wants to turn the clock back on Lake St. Croix
• Volunteers needed for Farm Technology Days

By Brady Bautch, RiverTown Staff

Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources would like to take Lake St. Croix back to the 1940s.

"We want to turn the clock back to 1940 for water quality conditions," said Buzz Sorge, a DNR lake management planner in Eau Claire.

Lake St. Croix is a portion of the St. Croix River from the Stillwater Lift Bridge south to Prescott.

Sorge said that there are plans to declare Lake St. Croix an impaired water which means that phosphorus levels in the lake are higher than what is healthy for the lake.

"Right now, phosphorous levels are at 51 micrograms per liter. We want to get that down to 40 micrograms," Sorge said.

The higher phosphorous levels results in blue-green algae blooms, which Sorge said is unhealthy for the lakes aquatic life because the algae is too large for the invertebrates on the bottom of the food chain to eat.

He said also it causes problems for humans because it is unsightly and smells and most people don't want to swim in it.

"We want to reduce the amount of phosphorous coming into the lake at Stillwater by 20 percent, which will bring the levels in the lake down by 20 percent," Sorge said.

Sorge said the DNR hopes make the impaired water declaration later this year, but first the state has to adapt water quality standards for lakes.

A working group in Madison is developing these standards and Sorge expects that they will be in place by late 2008 or early 2009. Any standards would have to be approved by the Legislative Rules Committee.

Minnesota, which already has lake water quality standards in place, declared Lake St. Croix an impaired water in 2006, and that declaration was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008, according to a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency official.

Sorge said phosphorous enters the St. Croix River in a variety of ways.

One way is through municipal waste treatment facilities. However, Sorge said municipalities have done a good job of reducing phosphorous in their treated water.

"Most of the problems we are seeing are with agricultural runoff and in urban storm-sewer runoff," Sorge said.

He added that there are significantly more agricultural acres than urban acres in the St. Croix River watershed.

To cut agricultural phosphorous runoff will require cooperation from the farming community.

"On average, farms are at 200 percent optimum of crop need for phosphorous use," Sorge said.

Manure containment and runoff is another area where phosphorous can be controlled on the farm, according to Sorge.

"We need to convince farmers that their livelihood won't be affected if they make these changes," Sorge said. "We still need to eat, we still need to grow food."

A group of officials from the Wisconsin DNR, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and other interested parties met at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to discuss the Lake St. Croix problem.

The group also looked at ways to reduce phosphorous levels in the St. Croix River watershed.

More information about the St. Croix River Basin is available online at: http://basineducation.uwex.edu/stcroix/

Contact Brady Bautch at internet@rivertowns.net

By Jason Schulte, RiverTown Staff

It was said when Pierce County was awarded the 2010 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days (WFTD), a substantial amount of volunteers would be needed.

"You'll find you get to know people in one part of the county you never knew," WFTD General Manager Glenn Thompson said last fall during an introductory meeting. "There would be different parts of the county that interlock with each other."

Now, with each passing day leading to July 20-22, 2010, the dates for WFTD, 1,400-1,600 volunteers are needed to serve on 21 committees.

Those committees and a partial description of each are:

--Admissions. A labor force of 25 will be assembled to collect admission and check passes, along with a three-to-six month window of tasks prior to the show.

--Apparel. A workforce of six or more will handle the inventory and sale of apparel. They will make apparel recommendations to the Executive Committee and assist with promotions.

--Arts and Crafts. Plan arts and crafts tent contribution to show, procure vendors locally and from previous shows, along with provide security of tent city 24 hours a day during the show.

--Conservation: Plan conservation tent contribution to show, consider or plan outside tent attractions and provide 24-hour security for tent city.

--Education. The local contact for Dave Williams, Assistant State Program Director. Contribute direction to the planning process and participate in the planning of any non-show hour educational activities.

For more please read the April 16 print edition of the Pierce County Herald.