Experts discuss how all can help with Lake Erie issues

TOLEDO - With so much of the focus for Lake Erie's harmful algal blooms being on agriculture, many people outside of that industry distance themselves from the problem. But several experts are working to show that everyone in the area can be part of the solution.

Patrick Lawrence, chair of the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toledo, discussed the importance of the human element within watersheds, especially our own, at a Great Lakes Symposium this week at the Toledo Zoo.

“A lot of people don’t really understand what a watershed is,” Lawrence said. “Probably most significantly, they don’t understand the scale and scope of the watershed we live in.”

A watershed is a land area in which water drains off under the force of gravity, much of it surface water such as ponds, streams, creeks, rivers and ditches draining into a larger system.

“That runoff component is going to exist to some degree and you’re going to have a watershed in an area where you have water,” he said. “It’s as simple as that. But there are a lot of dynamics to it.”

Of course, both natural and human elements exist, but people have a responsibility of their own.

“In any watershed, you’re going to have a lot of challenges in terms of human activity — historical, current, perhaps emerging industries in the future,” he said. “Now, while watersheds are complex natural systems, I focus on the human systems and activities, and that is also extremely complex.”

Lawrence emphasized that all of us are living in a watershed, and in an effort to address these issues facing the lakes, people need to start thinking about what it truly means to be a resident, a citizen of a watershed in terms of our impacts and our responsibilities.

With such a large portion of land within the watershed being used for agriculture, around 75 percent of the entire Western Lake Erie Basin, Lawrence and his colleagues have been studying changes among agricultural practices over the last 10 years or so “at a watershed scale.”

Being able to map and measure how these practices impact the watershed helps find both causes and solutions to the problems.

“There has been a lot of changes to farming practices over the last couple decades, very positive changes,” Lawrence said. “Things are improving. There are still more challenges, but we had to make some progress. What it tells me is, we realized the problems and there are solutions.”

One of the most notable was the increase in conservation tillage, a soil cultivation technique that reduces soil erosion, which has resulted in a measurable decline in sediment runoff.

“The bottom line is, it’s your watershed,” Lawrence said. “You live here, you’re part of a community. We have a moral and ethical responsibility to all think about the practices you do every day. On our farm fields, at our home, at our work.”

Making a difference

Ryan Walsh, coordinator of Wild Toledo at The Toledo Zoo, discussed how those residents can reduce water pollution on a small scale.

“The non-point sources of pollution are some of the most troublesome,” he said. “Every single one of you cause non-point source pollution. It’s all around us.”

Walsh said he’s found that with conservation and environmental science it’s often very easy for people to detach themselves from the issue. For example, those living in urban and suburban areas may only hear that agriculture is the reason for the lake's problems.

“I don’t ever plan on doing any farming, I’m not going to have an impact on the farm lobby,” he said they may be saying. “What can I honestly do to prevent something like that? How can I possibly have an impact?”

Walsh hopes people realize that they aren’t detached from the Great Lakes and clean water issues. Being at the Toledo Zoo, he pointed to the 2014 water crisis, when the City of Toledo issued a "do not drink" order for three days due to toxins in the water, to show how close to home the problems are capable of hitting.

He said individuals merely need to change what they can, however small, even in their own homes or apartments, to make a difference and have a positive influence.

“You don’t need to change the world, you just need to change a very small portion of it,” Walsh said.

The major issue with urban environments is that the natural filters for water runoff are eliminated, such as native plant habitats. Soil is often compacted and much of it covered with impervious surfaces like concrete.

One of the ways Walsh and the zoo have been combating that through their Wild Toledo initiative is with “managed native ecosystems,” which are areas of land varying in size that are dedicated to naturally-occurring plant life native to the given area.

The managed native ecosystems then act as natural water filters for sediment, nitrogen and other pollutants.

While their initiative has restored a current total of 26.5 acres of Toledo’s native prairie habitat, Walsh said homeowners can do this on a small scale, too.

A small portion of lawns can be converted into a managed native ecosystems, which has an added advantage of needing far less care than typical turf grass lawns because the plants can thrive naturally.

There are other “cheap, easy alternatives” that can still make a difference, even something as simple as a rain barrel to collect water for use in drier months. It also prevents that water from running off into the storm water system.

“What’s going to happen is, your neighbors are going to ask what you’re doing and why,” Walsh said. “Maybe if you’re really lucky, they’ll ask, ‘Hey, how can I do this myself?’”

“You yourself are not going to be able to save Lake Erie, but you can have a small impact,” he said.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

419-680-4897

Twitter: @JonDBN