This interaction I just had with a visual journalism student here at Penn State. Worth a broader discussion. If you haven't had a chance to see the Doug Beegle story on the nutrient imbalance in the Bay - the student's message below contains the URL to it.
Hi Jill.
Interestingly – the story that you’ve referenced is one that Doug Beegle has told well and often across the Chesapeake Bay region – and the nation. Yet – this more recent article has garnered a lot of interest and spawned more communication about the policy issues that we have – a mass imbalance of nutrients – in terms of where feed is grown – and where the concentrations of animal are located.
For the State College ‘community’ – and residents in particular – there are broad questions about water quality that must be addressed. The challenge is how to make it 1) of interest to society – given that we are so far removed from where the Bay real estate is located and 2) tie local efforts to improving both LOCAL water quality AND Bay water quality.
That said – it is important to keep in mind that for streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds (and groundwater) that contribute to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay – there are TWO levels of water quality goals. We have local water quality goals – meaning that we want to ensure that our local streams are meeting their designated uses (aquatic life, recreation, drinking water, and a number of others). These local water quality goals are important to the people who live here – and depend upon the local water resources – for drinking water, livelihoods, quality of life, and the local economy. However – with the Bay – we have an added water quality goal that is more regional in nature…. What level of aggregate pollutants that are degrading the Bay (sediments, phosphorus, and nitrogen) are discharged FROM the Spring Creek Watershed - of which the State College community makes a portion of that watershed? For streams within the State College vicinity – some are agriculturally impaired – and some are impaired more by urban runoff. Both sources of impairments are important for our community to address – in terms of protecting and improving local water quality. However- there is a possibility that we could IMPROVE local water quality – remove the impairments and STILL be a source of the pollutants that are of concern to REGIONAL water quality – that is the Bay.
The issue is important because ALL communities – State College included – have social responsibility for the quality of the water that discharges (leaves) their community – and flows downstream to the next community – which needs to know that it too can have the water quality it requires for drinking water, aquatic habitat, recreation, etc. In the case of State College – we are literally at the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. There are no other communities that are “upstream” of us – as Spring Creek’s origins are many seeps, springs, and sinks along the Tussey Mountain ridge. However – there are many, many communities “downstream” of State College – that rely on our choices and willingness to ensure that water quality here is protected and to the extent possible, even improved.
“Upstream” of State College there are farms along the headwaters of Spring Creek – and Slab Cabin – many of which have improved practices – or implemented “best management practices” to decrease the nutrient/sediment runoff from their farm. In some cases – we have model farms that have done extraordinary jobs in partnership with a number of local entities – including Penn State, the Centre Co. Conservation District, US Fish & Wildlife Foundation, ClearWater and others. In other cases – we have farms that still have much opportunity to improve. Likewise on the urban front. We have some residential areas, golf courses, commercial-, and other enterprises that are paying attention to how the stream is buffered with riparian forests – and actively and intentionally paying attention to reducing fertilizer use – and others that have huge opportunities for improvements.
The bottom line is that this is not an Ag v. Urban problem – this is a COMMUNITY challenge – and will require all individuals to undertake a robust look at their respective “sphere of influence” and determine what their role can be to reduce nutrients, chemical use, and sediment loss from all human activities on the landscape.
Hope this is helpful!
Kristen
Kristen Saacke Blunk
Senior Extension Associate and Director
Penn State Agriculture & Environment Center
206 Armsby, University Park, PA 16802
ksaackeblunk@psu.edu ofc: 814.863-8756
cell: 814.360-9766 fax: 814.865-3746
http://aec.cas.psu.edu
Join me on http://WaterNotesPa.blogspot.com/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WaterNotes
From: Jillian Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 9:47 AMTo: Kristen Saacke BlunkSubject: Chesapeake Bay Story
Kristen Saacke-Blunk,
My name is Jill and I am currently a junior at Penn State studying visual journalism. As a part of a class assignment, I have been assigned to write a news article in response to a press release issued by the university (http://live.psu.edu/story/50747) in regards to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. While researching my topic, I found that you have great involvement in this area of study. I was wondering if you could answer two short questions for me so that I may use a quote for my article. The article will not be published and is strictly for practice purposes. The responses can be very short and I would be so grateful to have a quote from you.
The questions are as follows:
1. How will the nutrient imbalance in the Chesapeake Bay affect residents on State College?
2. Why is this issue so important?
I am working with a Tuesday February 15, 2011 9:00am deadline. I greatly appreciate your time and look forward to your response.
In thanks,
Friday, February 11, 2011
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