Assessment of conservation easements, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids in West Fork Beaver Creek, Minnesota, 1999-2012

Christensen, Victoria G.; Kieta, Kristen

doi:10.3133/sir20145002

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Perennial vegetation can act as a major source of dissolved nutrients to surface runoff water, largely due to tissue nutrient release into the snowpack. As a result, conversion of annual cropland to perennial forage can result in no net change, or an increase in total nutrient transport, despite decreased erosion (Christensen and Kieta 2014;Liu et al 2014b). The release of nutrients from vegetation is greatest during snowmelt because nutrients released due to cell rupture on freezing are retained in the snowpack and contribute to the dissolved nutrient load in snowmelt runoff (Elliott 2013;Kieta and Owens 2019).…”

Section: Dissolved Nutrientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil and water management: opportunities to mitigate nutrient losses to surface waters in the Northern Great Plains

et al. 2019

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The Northern Great Plains is a key region to global food production. It is also a region of water stress that includes poor water quality associated with high concentrations of nutrients. Agricultural nitrogen and phosphorus loads to surface waters need to be reduced, yet the unique characteristics of this environment create challenges. The biophysical reality of the Northern Great Plains is one where snowmelt is the major period of nutrient transport, and where nutrients are exported predominantly in dissolved form. This limits the efficacy of many beneficial management practices (BMPs) commonly used in other regions and necessitates place-based solutions. We discuss soil and water management BMPs through a regional lens—first understanding key aspects of hydrology and hydrochemistry affecting BMP efficacy, then discussing the merits of different BMPs for nutrient control. We recommend continued efforts to “keep water on the land” via wetlands and reservoirs. Adoption and expansion of reduced tillage and perennial forage may have contributed to current nutrient problems, but both practices have other environmental and agronomic benefits. The expansion of tile and surface drainage in the Northern Great Plains raises urgent questions about effects on nutrient export and options to mitigate drainage effects. Riparian vegetation is unlikely to significantly aid in nutrient retention, but when viewed against an alternative of extending cultivation and fertilization to the waters’ edge, the continued support of buffer strip management and refinement of best practices (e.g., harvesting vegetation) is merited. While the hydrology of the Northern Great Plains creates many challenges for mitigating nutrient losses, it also creates unique opportunities. For example, relocating winter bale-grazing to areas with low hydrologic connectivity should reduce loadings. Managing nutrient applications must be at the center of efforts to mitigate eutrophication. In this region, ensuring nutrients are not applied during hydrologically sensitive periods such as late autumn, on snow, or when soils are frozen will yield benefits. Working to ensure nutrient inputs are balanced with crop demands is crucial in all landscapes. Ultimately, a targeted approach to BMP implementation is required, and this must consider the agronomic and economic context but also the biophysical reality.

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Section: Dissolved Nutrientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil and water management: opportunities to mitigate nutrient losses to surface waters in the Northern Great Plains

et al. 2019

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“…As restored ecological systems mature and become more complex, validation monitoring can enhance the evaluation of causal relationships between a restoration action and a response, allowing better understanding of restoration results (MacDonald et al ; USDA USDI ; Roni ). A good example is provided by postimplementation monitoring programs of agricultural land retirement (Christensen and Kieta ) and wetland restoration (Kreiling et al ) efforts in the upper Mississippi basin, which have demonstrated reductions in sediment and associated nutrient loading in adjacent waterways. Validation monitoring using isotopic and elemental tracers in suspended sediments demonstrated that cropland and stream bank soils accounted for a far greater proportion of sediments in streams lacking adjacent conservation actions (Williamson et al ).…”

Section: Designing and Implementing A Monitoring Planmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated risk and recovery monitoring of ecosystem restorations on contaminated sites

Hooper

Glomb

Harper

et al. 2016

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Ecological restorations of contaminated sites balance the human and ecological risks of residual contamination with the benefits of ecological recovery and the return of lost ecological function and ecosystem services. Risk and recovery are interrelated dynamic conditions, changing as remediation and restoration activities progress through implementation into long-term management and ecosystem maturation. Monitoring restoration progress provides data critical to minimizing residual contaminant risk and uncertainty, while measuring ecological advancement toward recovery goals. Effective monitoring plans are designed concurrently with restoration plan development and implementation and are focused on assessing the effectiveness of activities performed in support of restoration goals for the site. Physical, chemical, and biotic measures characterize progress toward desired structural and functional ecosystem components of the goals. Structural metrics, linked to ecosystem functions and services, inform restoration practitioners of work plan modifications or more substantial adaptive management actions necessary to maintain desired recovery. Monitoring frequency, duration, and scale depend on specific attributes and goals of the restoration project. Often tied to restoration milestones, critical assessment of monitoring metrics ensures attainment of risk minimization and ecosystem recovery. Finally, interpretation and communication of monitoring findings inform and engage regulators, other stakeholders, the scientific community, and the public. Because restoration activities will likely cease before full ecosystem recovery, monitoring endpoints should demonstrate risk reduction and a successional trajectory toward the condition established in the restoration goals. A detailed assessment of the completed project's achievements, as well as unrealized objectives, attained through project monitoring, will determine if contaminant risk has been minimized, if injured resources have recovered, and if ecosystem services have been returned. Such retrospective analysis will allow better planning for future restoration goals and strengthen the evidence base for quantifying injuries and damages at other sites in the future. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:284-295.

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“…In Renville County (Fig. 1), approximately 4.3% (9700 ha) of the area (Christensen and Kieta, 2014) is in retired status due to inclusion in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM). The CREP, CRP, and RIM were used to target habitat restoration and water quality in the Minnesota River basin; nearly all of the 42 CREP contracts in the WFB basin were for riparian land, concentrated directly adjacent to Minnesota River tributaries.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Total land retirement in the WFB basin increased steadily from 1987 (32 ha) until 2000 (551 ha). The start of the Minnesota River CREP resulted in a substantial increase in 2002 (1035 ha), after which total land retirement began to level off (Christensen and Kieta, 2014). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stream Sediment Sources in Midwest Agricultural Basins with Land Retirement along Channel

Williamson

Christensen²,

Richardson³

et al. 2014

J. Environ. Qual.

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Documenting the effects of agricultural land retirement on stream-sediment sources is critical to identifying management practices that improve water quality and aquatic habitat. Particularly difficult to quantify are the effects from conservation easements that commonly are discontinuous along channelized streams and ditches throughout the agricultural midwestern United States. Our hypotheses were that sediment from cropland, retired land, stream banks, and roads would be discernible using isotopic and elemental concentrations and that source contributions would vary with land retirement distribution along tributaries of West Fork Beaver Creek in Minnesota. Channel-bed and suspended sediment were sampled at nine locations and compared with local source samples by using linear discriminant analysis and a four-source mixing model that evaluated seven tracers: In, P, total C, Be, Tl, Th, and Ti. The proportion of sediment sources differed significantly between suspended and channelbed sediment. Retired land contributed to channel-bed sediment but was not discernible as a source of suspended sediment, suggesting that retired-land material was not mobilized during high-flow conditions. Stream banks were a large contributor to suspended sediment; however, the percentage of stream-bank sediment in the channel bed was lower in basins with more continuous retired land along the riparian corridor. Cropland sediments had the highest P concentrations; basins with the highest cropland-sediment contributions also had the highest P concentrations. Along stream reaches with retired land, there was a lower proportion of cropland material in suspended sediment relative to sites that had almost no land retirement, indicating less movement of nutrients and sediment from cropland to the channel as a result of land retirement.

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Assessment of conservation easements, total phosphorus, and total suspended solids in West Fork Beaver Creek, Minnesota, 1999-2012

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Soil and water management: opportunities to mitigate nutrient losses to surface waters in the Northern Great Plains

Soil and water management: opportunities to mitigate nutrient losses to surface waters in the Northern Great Plains

Integrated risk and recovery monitoring of ecosystem restorations on contaminated sites

Stream Sediment Sources in Midwest Agricultural Basins with Land Retirement along Channel

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