The sleepy Zumbro River runs right through the heart of PastureLand, and it is a perfect example of a river suffering from decades of agricultural chemical and sediment runoff.
By the way, the pics accompanying this story are from the day we spent at Slow Food Minnesota’s wonderful Wild About You on Ralph Lentz’ farm. Ralph is known for his research on streambank management, and has helped the MN DNR evolve its recommendations for landowners. Sounds like he’s got more work to do in the Zumbro watershed…
This article from the July 30, 2009 Star Tribune, captures the issues close to the heart of the issue, and describes how minor changes in land management – leaving 50 foot buffers between agriculture production and streams and lakes – can produce major positive changes in farmland waterways.
