Although government programs offer incentives for farmers to plant grassy buffers between farm fields and waterways, many farmers don't bother with the voluntary efforts to reduce nitrogen. A new push to reduce nitrogen runoff is in the works in an effort to reduce the size of a 'Dead Zone' in the Gulf of Mexico believed to be caused by excess nitrogen runoff from Midwest farms. (Photo by Lester Graham)
A government task force is trying to find ways to reduce fertilizer pollution from Midwest farms because it’s causing environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
A government task force is trying to find ways to reduce fertilizer pollution from Midwest farms
because it’s causing environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The task force is looking at ways to stop excess nitrogen from getting into waterways. It hopes to
persuade farmers to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use or plant grassy buffer strips or
artificial wetlands to take up the nitrogen. The idea is to stop so much nitrogen getting into the
Gulf of Mexico. Once there it causes an algae bloom that then dies and depletes the water of
oxygen, causing a ‘dead zone.’
Don Scavia is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean
Service. He says offering farmers money to sign up for conservation programs is likely the best
route.
“The idea is to try to make the social benefit of reducing the nitrogen load work in favor of the
farmers.”
Right now, many row crop farmers pay the cost of applying more nitrogen than needed in hopes
of getting a better crop. Experts say it’s a gamble that rarely pays off and ultimately adds to the
problem in the Gulf.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Commercial shrimpers and fishers in the Gulf of Mexico cannot find anything alive in the 'dead zone.' Research indicates fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms causes the 'dead zone.' (Photo by Lester Graham)
Farmers and lawn care companies in the Midwest use fertilizer to grow better crops and greener lawns. But excess fertilizer is washed downstream by rain, eventually reaching the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists say once in the Gulf, it triggers a process that causes a so-called ‘Dead Zone.’ The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Farmers and lawn care companies in the Midwest use fertilizer to grow better crops and greener
lawns. But excess fertilizer is washed downstream by rain, eventually reaching the Gulf of
Mexico. Scientists say once in the Gulf, it triggers a process that causes a so-called ‘Dead Zone.’
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
To get better crop production farmers use anhydrous ammonia to increase nitrogen levels in the
soil. To get greener lawns, homeowners use fertilizers that also can increase nitrogen and other
nutrient levels. But excess nitrogen gets carried away by rainstorms. For all or parts of 31 states,
that nitrogen is washed into ditches and creeks and rivers that are all part of the Mississippi River
basin. All of that land drains into the Mississippi and the Mississippi drains into the Gulf of
Mexico.
Tracy Mehan was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Assistant Administrator for
Water. Mehan points out that’s a lot of runoff that ends up in one place…
“It affects most of the inland drainage of the United States from Minnesota, from Ohio, from
Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. So, we’re dealing
with a tremendously broad system here and with tremendous challenges to protect the Gulf of
Mexico.”
Challenges because the nitrogen and other nutrients cause a problem.
Nancy Rabalais is a professor with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. She says the
nitrogen causes a huge bloom of algae…
“Well, the nutrients stimulate the growth of plants just like fertilizers stimulate the growth of a
corn plant. But the plants in the Gulf are microscopic algae.”
Some of the algae is eaten by tiny aquatic animals and fish. But, with a huge algal bloom… some
of it just dies and sinks to the bottom. Those algae cells are consumed by bacteria that also
consume oxygen. Rabalais says that depletes the oxygen in the surrounding water…
“So what basically happens is that the production of algae is just too much for the system to
handle.”
This oxygen starvation is called hypoxia. Marine life can’t live in a hypoxic area. Fish avoid it if
they can by swimming away. Other life that can’t move that fast dies. The size of the hypoxic
zone varies from year to year. Weather across the nation affects the amount of runoff that ends
up in the Gulf, but the trend has been a dead zone that’s gotten bigger over the past twenty
years… and according to Rabalais’ research it has doubled in size since the 1950’s when nitrogen
started being used extensively in agriculture.
(sound of boat engine starting up)
In Louisiana, the commercial fishers and shrimpers are concerned about the ‘dead zone.’ Some of
the smaller operations find it difficult to travel the longer distances to find fish outside the ‘dead
zone.’
Nelwyin McInnis is with the environmental organization, the Nature Conservancy. Walking in a
marsh area in Louisiana, she talked how important it was to that region that farmers and
homeowners in the Midwest do something to try to cut back on the amount of fertilizer that ends
up in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Certainly any ways that you can reduce the fertilizer runoff would certainly be of value. And I
know each farmer can’t imagine their impact hundreds of miles away in the Gulf of Mexico, but
each one adds up and has an effect.”
But powerful agricultural interests say the ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico is not caused by
nitrogen fertilizers in the farm belt. The American Farm Bureau has kept up a steady campaign
of denial of responsibility. Reports and essays published by the Farm Bureau question researcher
Nancy Rabalais’ findings. Rabalais says the Farm Bureau can question her all it wants. Her
published work has been reviewed by other scientists in close to a dozen major scientific journals.
“We don’t believe in collecting data and putting it on a shelf. We get it to the scientific public and
we also try to translate it so that the public, including the agricultural community can understand
what it’s saying.”
Whether the agriculture community wants to hear what those data are saying is another question.
However, the government is taking it seriously and is looking at ways to reduce the amount of
nutrients being washed into the Gulf of Mexico.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Commercial shrimpers and fishers in the Gulf of Mexico cannot find anything alive in the 'dead zone.' Research indicates fertilizer runoff from Midwest farms causes the 'dead zone.' (Photo by Lester Graham)
The commercial fishers in the Gulf of Mexico are hoping the farmers in the Midwest help them solve a problem. The fishers and shrimpers say the farmers could help reduce a so-called ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
The commercial fishers in the Gulf of Mexico are hoping the farmers in the Midwest help them
solve a problem. The fishers and shrimpers say the farmers could help reduce a so-called ‘dead
zone’ in the Gulf. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
The ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico varies in size from year to year, sometimes getting larger
than the state of New Jersey. Scientists say excess nitrogen and other nutrients used to grow
crops and lawns in the Midwest are drained from the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio river basins
and into the Gulf. Nancy Rabalais is a researcher with the Louisiana Universities Marine
Consortium. She says the result is a huge algae bloom in the Gulf…
“The nutrients stimulate the growth of these algae and they’re either eaten by zooplankton or fish
and become part of the marine food web or they die and sink to the bottom. It’s the cells that sink
to the bottom that eventually lead to the consumption of oxygen by bacteria.”
Fish and shrimp can’t live in the oxygen-starved area. The researchers say the only thing that can
reduce the size of the ‘dead zone’ is to reduce the amount of nitrogen from the Midwest that drains
into the Gulf of Mexico.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
A male Red-winged Blackbird (Photo courtesy of the USFWS)
Many people in the Great Lakes region are told to watch for the robin as a sign that Spring has come. But that bird may not be the best indicator, even after this especially cold winter. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jim Blum decided to venture out beyond his backyard to find a better sign:
Transcript
Many people in the (Midwest/Great Lakes region) are told to watch for the Robin as a sign that
Spring has come. But that bird may not be the best indicator, even after this especially cold
winter. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jim Blum decided to venture out beyond his
backyard to find a better sign:
Blum: You might think of a robin or a bluebird as harbingers of spring but that may not be
correct. I’m Jim Blum with naturalist Dan Best, we’re at the edge of a marsh on a soggy
afternoon.
Best: Well Jim, it’s true that the greater numbers of bluebirds and robins arrive back in these
parts in March, but bluebirds and robins – they’re frequent enough in winter to ruin their
reputations as the heralds of spring.
Blum: Well, I’m thinking you have another bird in mind.
Best: Well, yeah, I was thinking of the blackbirds actually. The grackles and red-winged
blackbirds. They usually hit town in February.
Blum: I’ve always associated red-winged black birds with cattails. Aren’t they birds of the
wetlands?
Best: Well, yes. Marshes are their traditional habitat and remain their preferred habitat. They
weave a basket-like nest among the stems of the cattails, the rushes or other tall plants at the
waters edge. And while marshes are their favorite still, they’ve branched out.
Blum: You mean they’re starting to use other habitats?
Best: Why yes, as you know Jim, in a trend that unfortunately continues today marshes and other
shallow water wetlands – as they have been for decades – have been drained or filled for
agriculture and building.
Blum: Which would explain why so many of our rare and endangered plants and animals are
wetland species.
Best: Yes, indeed. However, as many forms of wetland wildlife have declined with the loss of
their habitat, red wing black birds, apparently more adaptable, have made a successful transition
into upland habitats, such as meadows and grassy interstate margins, hay fields, clover, alfalfa
fields.
Blum: Well there’s no wonder why there’s so many of them. I can recall those huge flocks that
we saw in the fall strung out across the sky almost like a plume of smoke.
(sound of huge flocks of birds)
Best: Yeah, and every night for several weeks they gather by the hundreds to roost in trees near
somebody’s house.
(red-wing blackbird song)
Blum: Well, red-wing blackbirds at almost any time of the year are pretty noisy birds. Their
song, if you can call it that, certainly doesn’t rival the cardinal or any other songbird for that
matter.
Best: No, you’re right about that, Jim. Can’t argue that point.
Blum: What does the bird look like? Can you describe it?
Best: Well, as the name implies they’re overall black. The males, they have a yellowish wing
bar and they also have a red shoulder patch or epaulet that they display while they are
establishing their territory or engaging in courtship.
Blum: What about the females?
Best: Well, they’re different looking. They actually look like big sparrows. That is, they’re
kind of a dark brown and very streaky.
Blum: Describe this display that the male is putting on.
Best: Well, they find a prominent perch and then from here they fan out their wings and tail
feathers and let out a real boisterous kon-kor-eeeee.
Blum: So this is to establish territory and they’ll keep doing this even before the females have
arrived?
(walking in grass)
Best: That’s right. They’re staking their claim but once the once the girls arrive well then this
display really kicks into high gear.
Blum: What’s the best way to see the antics of the red wing?
Best: Well, since these birds are pretty common, chances are you’re not going to have to go too
far from home. A little patch of cattails or reeds alongside the road. I mean, invariably they’ll be
perched on a wire or on a tree nearby will be a male red-wing displaying.
Blum: While other birds get more poetic respect, I have a sense you feel this bird is special.
Best: Well, yeah, as spring proceeds we’ll see more musical songsters come our way, but
doggone it, you know, when I hear that quirky song of the red-winged blackbird in late winter
when there is still snow on the ground, to me, that’s one of the first sure signs of spring.
Blum: That’s naturalist Dan Best. I’m Jim Blum for the Great Lakes Radio Consortium. Let’s
check out that cattail stand, do you think we’re going to get one?
The battle of the Humbug Marsh is being fought just south of Detroit.
Developers have said they want to build upscale homes near the last stretch
of undeveloped wetland on the U-S side of the Detroit River.
Environmentalists are lobbying to defeat the deal. But developers say race
is the real reason for opposition to the project. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Jerome Vaughn has more:
There are hundreds of environmentalists, scientists and government bureaucrats who spend their time working to improve or protect the environment of the Great Lakes. Why do they do it? What is their personal connection to the Great Lakes … Today two teenagers talk about why they’ve become interested in environmental issues. The first is Nicki Marsh, the second is Susan Schulte:
Although government programs offer incentives for farmers to plant grassy buffers between farm fields and waterways, many farmers don't bother with the voluntary efforts to reduce nitrogen. A new push to reduce nitrogen runoff is in the works in an effort to reduce the size of a 'Dead Zone' in the Gulf of Mexico believed to be caused by excess nitrogen runoff from Midwest farms. (Photo by Lester Graham)
