University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory press release
The Horn Point Laboratory invites you to join a half-day technical meeting, open to the public. The meeting will review six years of data gathered to evaluate the impact of best management practices (BMPs) implemented by farmers to improve water quality. The meeting will be held on Friday August 9, 2019, from 1-5 p.m. in Public Hearing Room #110 of the Caroline County government offices in Denton, MD (403 S. 7th Street, Denton, MD 21629). Parking is available around the building.
The meeting agenda includes: information on impediments to BMP implementation; a farmer panel reflecting their perspective on BMPs and water quality; results of water quality monitoring on farms where BMPs are installed at intermediate streams draining several farms and at the watershed outlets.
The research project is called “People Land Water” to emphasize that people living and working on the land contribute to the quality of the water leaving the land. Horn Point Laboratory professor, Tom Fisher, and his research team lead this project. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation, the United States Dept. of Agriculture, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology. The goals of the research are: (1) to obtain the cooperation of farmers to add BMPs to four small watersheds with long-term monitoring, (2) to evaluate farmers’ attitudes towards BMPs and water quality, (3) to examine the economic efficiency of BMPs, and (4) to test the biogeochemical efficiency of BMPs to retain nitrogen, phosphorus, and soil on farms and out of groundwater and streams.
Jim Lewis, University of Maryland Agriculture Extension Agent, shared this comment about the long-term study;
“It increases the confidence of farmers like me that the water quality data being collected by Tom Fisher’s research team is accurate because it is right at the site of our farms on the Choptank River. This is the kind of work on best management practice that the farm community wants to collaborate on.”
This meeting is an important element of the overall research project. The team will provide attendees with information they have gathered on the people living and working on the land, and the water quality of these four heavily monitored agricultural watersheds. Project leader, Tom Fisher Professor at UMCES – HPL, “My great hope is that we can figure out which Best Management Practices at least make sense and figure out how to properly compensate farmers to implement the ones that work best.”
Please add this event to your calendar and join the discussion of this project and its results.
For more information, contact Anne (410-221-8238 or abgust@umces.edu).
Register to this FREE program via EventBrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/water-quality-agriculture-in-the-choptank-watershed-tickets-63393297058. Space is limited to 110 people.
People Land Water Science Team: Tom Fisher, Rebecca Fox, Kalla Kvalnes, Anne Gustafson, Erika Koontz, Jim Lewis, Jon Winsten
Contact: Carin Starr, Community Relations Manager, (410) 221-8408; cstarr@umces.edu.
