Water use in spotlight

By Jim Muchlinski

Independent Staff Writer

Rivers and wetlands might seem abundant and un-changing, yet they're often fragile parts of the environment.

Their history was the main topic Thursday at a conference called "A Region's Thirst for Water: South-west Minnesota Surface Water Conference." Thursday's conference at Southwest State University was the second of two water conferences this week in Marshall, after Wednesday's event about regional ground water resources.

Two speakers, authors Ann Vileisis and Tim Palmer, brought details of national environmental history that have connections to water ecology within southwestern Minnesota.

Vileisis has received two national awards for writing about environmental history.

She has also explored swamps and marshes by canoe, kayak, on foot and at libraries throughout the United States.

She presented information about how different kinds of human activities affected wetland areas since the late 19th century.

"Many of our actions have consequences," Vileisis said. "Even though it's natural to sometimes have floods in lowlands, we've started to move more water than ever before through man-made systems. Inventions such as levees can create their own sets of unexpected issues."

She pointed to examples such as increased flood potential in large river systems and a widespread loss of coastal marshes.

She included examples of how preservation goals have made a difference in the past. A save-the-bay association in San Francisco started by volunteers gained 9,000 members within its first five years.

Other progress has occurred with research, including knowledge since the 1970s about the relationship of wetlands to good water quality. Expanded knowledge about wildlife habitat broadened awareness of how wildlife can become extinct, showing that losses of habitat can have an even bigger impact than market hunting.

Although modern regulations for no net losses of wetlands has reduced yearly national wetland loss from about 500,000 acres in the 1980s to about 100,000, Vileisis said more preservation plans are needed.

She said it's especially important not to lose ecologically diverse, valuable wetlands to short-term goals for development.

"It's a decision of whether to keep the public value or trade it away for short-term gains that benefit a small number of people," she said. "Wetlands aren't undesirable low spots. They're places of magic and wonder."

Tim Palmer, who spoke in the afternoon, has written 12 books on rivers, land and the environment. He worked as a land use planner before beginning to write full-time in 1980. He won a National Outdoor Book Award in 1997.

He said the health of some rivers has been affected by large 20th century dam projects that changed their natural flow and natural ecosystems.

He said many others are affected by nutrients that come with modern water drainage and soil runoff.

"Unnecessary build-up of nutrients takes resources away from the natural life that should exist," Palmer said. "Sometimes years of work to improve a habitat can be wiped out by a natural event that wouldn't have caused the same kind of damage in the past. We saw it during floods in 1993."

He added that conservation work has helped to improve some of the most obvious sources of river pollution, such as outdated sewer systems. More work, however, is still needed.

"Environmental problems on river systems are still way too typical," Palmer said. "There can be damage even when the pollution is hard to see. We can change it without destroying anyone's lifestyle. It just takes well-rounded management."

Thursday's conference also included a presentation about interstate water issues by SMSU political science professor Doug Simon, a tour of the restored Black Rush Lake wetland area near Russell, and a group of presentations by SMSU environmental science students about their research into local surface water management issues, including drainage, water quality and wetland restoration.

Amanda Goebel and Amanda Smith, who presented information about ecology around Black Rush Lake, said they liked the combination of local and national topics.

"I enjoyed sharing my work and listening to the speakers," Smith said. "It was a good chance to hear about what's happened in many different places."

Goebel said working with ecological information from a real wetland area such as Black Rush Lake led to one of her best learning experiences.

"I've liked how it involves something from the real world," Goebel said. "Our information can be used in the future. It might also help to build public awareness."

Mike Muzzy, a Natural Resources Conservation Service conservationist based in Marshall, said both conference days helped to bring local attention to water conservation issues.

"It's already very familiar to me, but this kind of event helps to bring it out to the public," Muzzy said. "One of the things it points out is that work still has to be done. There are many things we still don't know."

The conference activities were supported by funds from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Center for Teaching and Learning, which were obtained by Bush Foundation grants.

Geoff Cunfer, an SMSU Rural and Regional Studies professor and one of the conference coordinators, said he was satisfied with the variety of information at the conference sessions.

He said there was also a wide audience, with educators, students, public officials, landowners and interested area residents.