Latest ditch effort

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Latest ditch effort
The most recent stab at improving water quality and wildlife habitat comes from legislators who want to revise drainage laws.
CHRIS NISKANEN
Posted on Sun, Mar. 04, 2007 ST Paul Pioneer Press

A century ago, Minnesotans viewed draining the land as a moral, economic and public-health necessity. Wetlands were viewed as "wastelands," surface water was called "the common enemy," and swamps were the source of gases producing "malarial diseases."

So with determination and industriousness, our forefathers waged a war on swamps and unruly water until thousands of miles of ditches were built and up to 90 percent of our wetlands were drained. When they were done, Minnesota became an agricultural power, and towns and cities were built.

In the past three decades, however, we've come to realize polluted water, soil erosion and some profound losses of wildlife were the price paid for that drainage. And new laws and some financial investments have sought to slow or reverse wetlands loss and its ill effects.

So, it's significant this year that a handful of Minnesota lawmakers are revisiting our drainage laws and hoping to improve water quality and wildlife. It's also significant that agriculture has given its support to some of these efforts.

Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, and Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin, are trying to pass a bill requiring new and improved public ditches to have grass buffer strips. Such strips prevent erosion, improve water quality in streams and rivers and provide additional wildlife habitat.

It is not a new idea. In fact, a 1977 law pretty much requires the same thing, but the arcane law has been largely ignored for the past 30 years. Hansen has worked for the past two years — with the help of farmers, conservation agencies and others — to get rid of roadblocks in the law.

"We have an extensive ditch system that feeds into our creeks, streams and rivers," Hansen said. "We're talking about spending tens of millions of dollars on a Clean Water Legacy program, so at least we should look at an existing and simple solution where we can affect water quality and wildlife habitat."

After convening a task force with agricultural and conservation interests, Hansen has written a bill that attempts to update drainage records, realign how farmers are taxed for ditches and finally create a system in which the buffer strips will be installed.

He has letters from every major farm group supporting his efforts.

"These issues could be worked out in courthouses across the state or we could work them out here,'' he said. "The task force worked hard getting a consensus, and now it's time for the next step."

CLOSING LOOPHOLES

Elsewhere at the Capitol, Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, is tackling the state's Wetland Conservation Act, which contains enough exemptions to wetlands drainage to make the law sievelike.

"We are absolutely not at no-net-loss, we are losing wetlands," Chaudhary said. "As the pressures of population and development continue to grow, we definitely need to address the loopholes and exceptions that were left in place when we passed the act in 1991."

One loophole Chaudhary hopes to close allows small wetlands to be drained without replacement.

"What we know now is those small potholes are quite essential to duck breeding and water filtration,'' he said. "We need to revise our laws so you cannot drain those types of small wetlands without having to replace. We're saying you have to replace them."

Chaudhary also hopes to increase enforcement of wetlands, with additional money to agencies to look for illegally drained wetlands, and to create a system so citizens can report illegal drainage.

He also wants to make it difficult to replace a functioning wetland with a stormwater pond, "which, as a matter of intuition, we know really isn't a wetland."

COMMON GROUND

What do Hansen and Chaudhary's bills have in common?

They take well-intentioned legislation and improve it. And though such legislative functions are off the radar of most Minnesotans, the net effect of not fixing ditch or wetlands law is to suffer environmental death by a thousand paper cuts.

While there is nothing sexy about a 16½-foot strip of grass along a ditch, multiply that grassy strip by thousands of miles of ditches, and you have real progress. And while improving water quality is chief among the benefits of a buffer strip, every pheasant hunter in southern Minnesota knows ditches with grass cover often provide the only rooster habitat in some areas.

Chaudhary's bill also has the blessing of Ducks Unlimited and the Minnesota Conservation Federation.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has included money in his budget for updating ditch records and increasing wetlands enforcement.

And the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources BWSR is putting up its own bill for improving the Wetlands Conservation Act, which offers a few provisions that are stricter than Chaudhary's.

Long ago, we learned malaria doesn't come from our wetlands, but we're still learning how to balance our economic needs with the environment. Now's the time to make these much-need revisions to our ditch and wetlands laws.

Chris Niskanen can be reached at cniskanen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5524.

IN THE LEGISLATURE

Ditch buffers

Bill number: H.F. 577 and S.F. 642

Authors: Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, and Sen. Dan Sparks, DFL-Austin

What it does: Provides more authority to establish ditch buffers, updates and modernizes ditch records, defines location of buffer strips, updates state drainage manual with best management practices.

Wetland Conservation Act

Bill number: S.F. 1137

Author: Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley

What it does: closes loopholes allowing small wetlands to be drained without replacement, doesn't allow wetlands to be replaced with stormwater ponds, increases monitoring and enforcement of wetlands laws.

On the Web: www.leg.state.mn.us