decorahnews.com special report: Some final thoughts on watersheds and water quality

(by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott)

Late last week I was with a group of Decorah residents who visited Waverly and Cedar Falls.  Something surprised us on our way back to Decorah.  We passed farm field after farm field where trees had been cut down and pushed into a pile so that more land could be turned into farmland.

Those sights came shortly after we saw a place in Cedar Falls that raised the floodwalls along its property by another four feet, to protect the facilities on the property it owned along the Cedar River.

In each case, the people making these changes were doing what they thought they had to do.  Farmers aren't getting as much money for their crops as they should--so they take away buffer land that would absorb water during floods.  Businesses are building higher and higher walls to protect their investments.

Individually, these actions are justifiable.  But from the standpoint of a society, one person's logical action can help lead to another person's misery.

Along the Turkey Valley Watershed and the Upper Iowa River Watershed, many farmers and other property owners are taking the steps they should take--putting in buffer strips, retention basins and other water conservation projects.  But other people are cutting down trees and building higher walls.

Over the weekend I heard someone describe how much better it would be if we treated our land "like a family member."  The point they were making is that we need to take the longer view and do the things that will pay off not just in the next 90 days, but during a lifetime.

The watershed projects we have been describing in our special report are a very good starting place.  I hope they're enough to counteract the other projects going on in Northeast Iowa.