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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1983-04-20, Page 41Page 2 Valleys and People udi s DATA COLLECTION In an attempt to collect in- formation on where and what the major resource management problems are in the Maitland watershed. detailed studies of specific areas have been corn pleted It has been stated that in south western Ontario, agricultural activities create the greatest overall impact on water quality lfowever. exact documentation on the severity and impact of soil loss due to sheet erosion, ditch - bank erosion, and cattle [(cess is limited A study was undertaken in the Maitland watershed in 1982 to obtain this needed documenta- tion The study was a cooperative effort between the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. the Ministry of Environment and the local farm community. FARMING COMMUNITY' STUDIED Land use patterns and prac- tices in two small watersheds were surveyed, using a variety of techniques including aerial photogra''iy Water samples were collected at 40 different locations along the Upper Blyth Brook arid Murray Lamb drain- age systems These two z -ural areas were chosen because both areas display a variety of agri- cultural uses; are virtually un- affected by urban influences; and have permanent stream flows. At the same time, the two areas display significant differences. The Murray Lamb drainage system is more intensively farmed for cash crops, than the Blyth Brook drainage area, where mixed farming dominates. COMPONENTS OF THE STUDY Water samples were taken up- stream and downstream of cattle access points throughout the two small watersheds. The source areas of these two streams were also surveyed. All land owners in the two basins were interviewed to obtain information on current management practices being incorporated into their farming operation. Soil loss estimates were calculated for a variety of field crops. Some land owners assisted Authority staff by measuring and recording the time and amount of rainfall during the study period of June to October. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS There are several findings with regard to the . impact of farm practices on water quality. Firstly, there appears to be definite negative impact on water quality from cattle accessing the creek. The analysis of the water samples was taken upstream and downstream of these access points. The analysis also indi- cated that where cattle had direct access to the stream, the impact on water quality was greater than where cattle were fenced &itli nd SUMMER 1982—Land use activities in the Blyth Brook and Murray Lamb drainage areas were photography. off. At isolated locations, salmon- ella bacteria was present. During the study period, addi- tional water samples were col- lected for analysis before, during and following rain storm events. The findings of these analysis show a 3 to 4 fold increase in con- centrations of phosporus, organic nitrogen and suspended solids during these summer storms. Drain clean-out practices were also identified as having a nega- tive impact on water quality. A portion of the study area, along the Murray Lamb Drain was undergoing a clean-out during the study period. Analysis conducted on water samples taken before, during and after construction, showed a significant increase in suspended solids (sediments), reaching excessive levels during the drain construction. The impact of tile outlets on water quality was also studied. The findings in this case were not as expected. Variations in the quality of the water was found to be related to the soil texture not crop type as previously thought. Generally, however, all water discharged was high in nitrate concentrations. The potential amount of soil movement or loss from a field was found to be affected by crop type and farm management practices. Other factors con- sidered in estimating the potential for soil movement or loss included soil type, the slope of the land, and a rainfall and snow -melt factor. The average estimated soil loss in the two sub - basins was found to be 3 to 6 tons per acre per year. This rate is considered a 'tolerable' loss, based on the Ministry of Agri- culture and Food's research. In the study area, however, some fields had potential erosion rates in excess of 10 tons per acre per year. Further investigations re- vealed that between 1 and 2 per- cent of this total soil loss entered the streams. While this seems to be a small percentage, the volume of soil delivered to the streams annually, is in the range of 600 tons on the Blyth Brook and 1000 tons on the Murray Lamb Drain. The overall condition of the two sub -basins appears to be good. However, portions of each basin are showing signs of poorer health and rem..ial measures should be considered in such areas. NEXT STEP The results of this study will be dentified with the aid of aerial summarized and presented to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the residents of the two sub - basins. The Authority, hopefully in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of the Environment and local farm organizations, will work with the land owners on individual conservation pro- grams in the identified problem areas of the watersheds. Our intent is to make the landowner aware of his problem, what it means to him financially, and provide him with cost effective remedial alternatives. "VALLEYS AND PEOPLE" is a publication of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, a non-profit, corporate body, established under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario to manage the natural resources of the watershed and related conservation projects in partnership with its member munici- palities and the Province. Editor: A. Beecroft WA I'ER QUALITY CHECKED—Water samples were dollected at 40 different locations throughout the two sub -basins for analysis. h G Recently the Roman Catholic Church to Prince Edward Island declared a "Land Sunday" and encour aged other Christians to join farmers in their fight to control the land The issue sparking the support of the Catholic Church was the increasing loss of privately farmed potato land to Cavendish Farris Ltd . a frozen vegetable processing firm owned by the Irving organization of New Brunswick At almost the same time the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, an organization of private farmers with Christian but no specific denominational identification, were petitioning Lorne Henderson, Ontario's minister of agriculture and food at that time, to become an "outspoken defender" of the province's foodland guidelines and to provide a stronger commit- ment to foodland planning The Christian farmers, in a resolution at their annual convention, urged their members to practise soil conservation on their own farms and to get involved in municipal planning to preserve foodland from other development The land, particularly farmland, who owns it and how it is used. are becoming questions that in- creasingly concern Canadians. The pressures of ur- banization and industrial development on prime farm land, the economics of continued ownership by private, resident farmers as opposed to increasing ownership and control by corporate, absentee and even foreign concerns; and the issue of maintaining soil richness and fertility in view of practices of intensive farming and heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides are moving rapidly into the consciousness of concerned observers. It is easy to think of a country as vast and as expan- sive as Canada going on forever. In reality, productive farmland in Canada is limited, either by climate or by soils. According to the Canada Land Inventory done within the last decade by the federal government, only seven per cent of Canada's land is suitable for the production of field crops and an additional six per cent is suitable for pasture. Improved farmland in Canada occupies about 108 million acres, 70 per cent situated in the prairie provinces and 16 per cent in Ontario and Quebec: And although total farmland area in Canada increased by 35 per cent between 1921 and 1971, it de- creased by 2.6 per cent during the last five years of that period. The increases were solely in the prairie provinces and in British Columbia. During the 1921-71 period farmlands in the Maritime provinces decreased by 61 per cent and in Ontario and Quebec they de - 'creased by 28 per cent. On closer examination, the figures appear even more alarming. Land in Canada is categorized in seven classes, the three topuclasses being our cultivated land. Only .05 per cent of Canada's land falls into Class 1, the top class. Half of this land is in the southern Ontario peninsula where urban, industrial and transportation pressures on farmland are greater than almost any- where else in the country. According to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, in the five-year period between 1966 and 1971, more than 212,000 acres in the province were converted from rural to urban use. Of this, half was formerly productive crop land. Prior to a land freeze instituted by the British Columbia govern- ment in 1973, farmland in the Fraser and Okanagan Valleys was being lost to urban sprawl at the average of 41 acres per day. The number of acres of Canadian land used for transportation (highways, .s.rwerline corridors, rail right-of-ways, pipelines) is very close to the annual crop acreage for all of Manitoba, 10 million acres. A crisis is being perceived not only in the high profile areas of the country — the Niagara fruit belt in On- tario, the Eastern Townships south of Montreal, the valleys of the lower mainland in British Columbia — but also in Prince Edward Island where farmers worry about farmland going to cottagers, in Manitoba where farmland north of Winnipeg is being purchas s for the construction of an aluminum smelter, in Saskatchewan where farmers have recently quarrelled with the pro- vincial government over expropriation of land for roads and highways, and in Alberta where oil refin- eries are being built on some of the province's best farmland in the Red Deer vicinity. The pressures on land have come subtly but quickly. Economics andsrowth are the most important players in the game and are the two forces that seem to dictate rules. Twenty years ago Perth County in south-western Ontario was a pleasant region of mixed farms, hun- dred -acre lots on some of the best land in the country. The land was rotated between pasture and mixed cereal crops. Every farm possessed a woodlot, some- times called a sugarbush. In the past two decades, the economics of farming have changed and with them the Twenty years ago Perth Coun a pleasant region of mixed f of the best land in the coun