Woodchip Bioreactor Partnership 2020 Henry County Farm Bureau
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Woodchip Bioreactor Partnership 2020 Henry County Farm Bureau Brought to you by your local community partners: Speakers for the Virtual Field Day included: Lauren Lurkins Jason Hessman Dr. Laura Christianson Director of Environmental Policy, District Conservationist, Assistant Professor, Department of Crop Illinois Farm Bureau Henry County NRCS Sciences, U of I College of Agricultural, Katie Laleman Ryan Arch Consumer & Environmental Sciences Manager, Henry County Farm Bureau Executive Director, Illinois Land Ronnie Chacon Brian Corkill Improvement Contractors Association Visiting Research Specialist, Department of Crop Sciences, U of I College of Host Farmer and Treasurer, Dave Johnston Henry County Farm Bureau Contractor, Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences Katie Gisi Johnston Land Improvement, Inc. Agricultural Engineer, Illinois NRCS Background As part of the Woodchip Bioreactor The goal of the Partnership is to the woodchip bioreactors to collect Partnership (Partnership), the study the effectiveness of woodchip data and study the improvements Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), Illinois bioreactors designed pursuant to made to water quality. The intention Land Improvement Contractors NRCS standards on farms in the is for the research, education, Association (ILICA), Illinois Natural tile-drained areas of Illinois, as well outreach and demonstration activities Resources Conservation Service as provide education, outreach and to continue for a minimum of five (NRCS), and the University of Illinois demonstration of the practice to years following installation of each College of Agricultural, Consumer and government agency staff, contractors, woodchip bioreactor. The farm Environmental Sciences (ACES) joined farmers, landowners, and the general sites are also expected to serve as together for the first time in 2017 public. The Partnership intends settings for tours of elected officials, to install a woodchip bioreactor to to install at least five woodchip regulators and media. improve water quality and implement bioreactors during the life of the the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Partnership. Following installation, Strategy (NLRS). researchers from ACES will monitor Henry County Farm Bureau Henry CFB is a not for profit agricultural membership education, renewable fuels, land use, taxes, and government organization based in Cambridge, Illinois. Henry CFB regulation. They also provide members the opportunity represents over 1,400 farm families on local, state, and to participate in educational events, conferences, and national issues. An additional 2,400 associate members seminars. The Farm Bureau Foundation is responsible for utilize services from Henry CFB and support the organization the Agriculture in the Classroom program in Henry County, in a variety of ways. Henry CFB provides members with reaching over 12,000 students each school year. legislative representations on trade, transportation, Illinois Natural Resources Conservation Service The role of NRCS in the Partnership is to provide technical like woodchip bioreactors. Their offices are generally co- assistance and, in the case of this particular bioreactor, located with the local Soil and Water Conservation District financial assistance through federal conservation in each county. NRCS works closely with landowners to plan programming. NRCS uses research information to develop site specific practices or a suite of practices that address the conservation practice standards and guidance for design and resource concerns they have on their individual operations. implementation of conservation practices, all over the state. They also promote, plan, design, implement, and monitor NRCS has local field office staff in nearly every county in conservation practices such as denitrifying bioreactors in an the state, as well as Area and State level specialists that are effort to address issues outlined in the Illinois NLRS. experts in planning and designing conservation practices, 3 Bioreactor installation in McHenry County, August 2020 4 Illinois Land Improvement Contractors Association ILICA is a non-profit trade association is “To promote, perpetuate, and ILICA handles construction of the dedicated to the professional improve the proper use of our natural woodchip bioreactors in partnership conservation of soil, water, and resources for the benefit of all.” with IFB, NRCS, and ACES. From the natural resources. Comprised of initial site inspections to the logistics over 200 contractor members, For the fourth consecutive year of the of obtaining all the necessary labor ILICA encourages high standards Partnership, ILICA brings decades and materials to meet the designed of workmanship in resource of conservation and construction practice requirements, ILICA provides management and land improvement expertise into the field to improve in-kind support to the Partnership to practices through membership water quality. Through its active help build water quality education and education and training. ILICA’s mission contractor and associate members, practice implementation. Illinois Farm Bureau Nutrient Stewardship Since 2015, IFB has contributed to the NLRS. Through For the past several years, IFB has made it an organizational leadership and participation from our farmer members priority to lead on environmental issues, most notably, the across the state, IFB has been able to make meaningful NLRS. IFB’s NLRS efforts focus in four priority areas: 1) contributions toward water quality improvements in Illinois. education and outreach to farmers, landowners and the From 2016 to present, IFB has committed approximately general public; 2) supporting research of best management $1.5 million of its own funding to build and maintain its practices to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural fields; 3) sustainability programs. supporting farmer implementation efforts across the state; and 4) demonstrating progress toward the long-term goals of The NLRS is a science-based framework for using research, the NLRS. The IFB Board of Directors committed significant technology and industry experience to assess and reduce financial resources and support from staff to accomplish nutrient loss to Illinois waters and to the Gulf of Mexico. some ambitious goals, allowing IFB to tackle environmental The NLRS sets forth a plan to leverage existing programs challenges head-on. IFB will continue to prove that voluntary, to optimize nutrient loss reduction while promoting incentive-based conservation, based on science, will move collaboration, research, and innovation among the private the needle on water quality improvements in our state. sector, academia, non-profits, wastewater treatment agencies, the agricultural sector, and state and local Participating in the Partnership is one example of the many government. The primary goals include reducing nitrate- ways IFB is creating lasting impacts in implementing the nitrogen losses by 15% and reducing total phosphorus NLRS across Illinois. In this Partnership, IFB plays the role losses by 25% by the year 2025 from established baseline of vetting active IFB farmer members who are interested in conditions. The NLRS was released in July of 2015 after installing a woodchip bioreactor and can be depended upon multiple years of stakeholder discussions in which IFB to host on-farm research sites and outreach/education/ actively participated. Since 2015, IFB has continued its demonstration events throughout the life of the Partnership. participation in NLRS meetings and work groups in order to IFB also provides financial support for the construction of the strategically guide the effort. In addition, IFB created new woodchip bioreactor, water quality monitoring and research, programs in 2015 to support farmer implementation of best and promotional support for field days, meetings and other management practices (BMPs) to help Illinois meet the goals general Partnership information. For more information on of the NLRS. IFB’s environmental efforts, see: https://www.ilfb.org/take-action/current-priorities/ protecting-our-environment/ 5 Design Schematics - Overhead Plan View L. Younker 8/2020 L. Younker 8/17/2020 Page 3 of 18 • The denitrifying bioreactor was planned to treat a 6” tile line draining roughly 20 acres of land (purple stationed line). • The bioreactor (yellow hatched rectangle) is located along the tile line near the edge of the field. • To properly design the bioreactor, the tile had to be exposed in 2 locations upstream and downstream of the planned bioreactor location. This allowed the designer to calculate the slope of the tile going into the bioreactor and how much tile flow it would need to be able to handle. 6 L.ori Younker 8/17/2020 L. Younker 8/2020 Design Schematics - Profile View Image • The bioreactor was designed to be 11’ wide, 44’ long, and filled with 3.4’ of woodchip material, with a 2’ cap of soil on top. • Two water control structures (one upstream, one downstream) will be used to manage the inflow and outflow of the bioreactor. • The bottom of the bioreactor is gradually sloped so that water will flow through it, rather than sit and stagnate. 7 Page 5 of 18 Picture of previous woodchip bioreactor installation. Woodchip Bioreactor Research Agricultural productivity in the US Midwest is underlain by for millions of years on its own, and in a bioreactor, ideal a foundation of more than 48 million acres of tile drainage conditions are created to enhance this nitrate conversion. networks, with approximately 10 million tile-drained acres