Conservation approach creates excitement

Greg Galbraith For Agri-View
Mar 30, 2022
Mar 30, 2022

1 of 5

Paul Daigle has a new proposal to help reduce sediment and phosphorous runoff in the Fenwood Creek watershed. Funding for his proposal has been introduced in Senate Bill 968. With bi-partisan support and acceptance by a broad range of agricultural interests, his hope is that his proposal might become a model for other watersheds in Wisconsin. Daigle is the county conservationist for the Marathon County Conservation, Planning & Zoning Department in Wisconsin.

Greg Galbraith/For Agri-View

Under Paul Daigle’s proposal performance-based incentives will be paid to qualified farms. The best incentives are associated with adding managed grazing, tree planting and perennial forages to farming systems.

Greg Galbraith/For Agri-View

The Fenwood Creek Watershed drains almost 25,000 acres of land into the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. Through the years the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir has experienced fish kills due to non-point-source pollution from agricultural fields.

Gregory Galbraith/For Agri-View

As an owner and manager of an independent agricultural retailer, Matthew Oehmichen of Colby, Wisconsin, speaks at a Feb. 24 legislative listening session in support of Senate Bill-968. Oehmichen says approval of the bill will have a positive impact beyond farm fields; it will help rural communities prosper along with farms both large and small.

Greg Galbraith/For Agri-View

Greg Galbraith

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Greg Galbraith For Agri-View

MARATHON COUNTY, Wis. – Paul Daigle is enthused about an opportunity for a new approach to sediment and phosphorous management. It’s happening in a segment of Marathon County’s Big Eau Pleine watershed known as the Fenwood Creek watershed.

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Greg Galbraith, a former dairy farmer who owns woodlot property in eastern Marathon County, Wisconsin, writes about the rapidly changing nature of the agricultural landscape. He has built a lifetime connection to the land and those who farm it.