"I didn't always agree with everything. . . but when all is
said and done, we're happy with what we've done so far," says
Henry Alberda, whose grandfather homesteaded the area.
By Carol Flaherty and Karen Johnson
"When I was a little kid, we used to catch fish in the creek. You could see how over the years it's been deteriorating," says Kent Flikkema, who farms along this Gallatin Valley creek.
In more recent years, the water has had a grungy film to it, says his brother Todd Flikkema. Several families, most descendants of the people who homesteaded this land, have worked with federal and state agencies to make Godfrey Creek cleaner today than it was five years ago.
"I don't know if they'll ever get it back to where it was 25 years ago, but at least it's a start," says Kent.
Godfrey Creek is a small part of the largest river system in North America. The creek feeds into the Gallatin River, which flows into the Missouri and then the Mississippi. So cleaning up Godfrey Creek is just one piece of the larger job. But, as Karen Hoffman of the Natural Resources Conservation Service says, "It's important because if the little pieces don't start improving, the big piece will never improve."
Some improvements to Godfrey Creek water will take time, perhaps as many years as it took for the damage to occur in the first place. But the initial steps have been taken. First came awareness that improvements could benefit both landowners along the stream and people downstream. Next, people started to work on those improvements.
Henry Alberda
"I didn't always agree with everything. . . but when all is
said and done, we're happy with what we've done so far," says
Henry Alberda, whose grandfather homesteaded the area.
The landowners have made improvements to the creek bed, stock pens and manure collection an dispersal systems. Cattle now get water from wells and access to the stream is managed to minimize grazing effects. In the few places where cows have watering access to Godfrey Creek, its banks have been stabilized.
Many of the improvements were cost-shared by producers and the federal government. This was possible because Godfrey Creek was designated one of 37 water projects in 1990, says Gene Surber, who was the Montana State University Extension Agent for Gallatin County as the project was organized. He is now an MSU Extension natural resource specialist.
Gene Surber
"It took years to build awareness that something should be
done, and then that it could be done," says Surber. After all,
the scene looked both traditional and pastoral to people driving
by. What could be more picturesque than cows along a creek?
Even professionals like Gordon Hill said they were sometimes surprised at what were and were not problems along the creek. Hill, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, was part of meetings with area farmers before the official project started. Some people walked out of those meetings, says Hill, only to become supporters of the project later. Another USDA partner was Virgil Denny of the Consolidated Farm Service Agency.
"These types of projects need grassroots involvement right from the very beginning," says Denny. Project designers need to be flexible so that everyone's ideas on solutions can be considered, he says.
"The biggest factor was to build some confidence with the producers that what they were going to do was going to improve the water quality and improve the value of their agricultural lands," says Surber.
Ultimately, several producers let the conservation district know that they were interested in changing management practices to improve water quality, and with that, says Surber, the project really got going.
To begin with, Godfrey Creek had a high coliform bacteria count, high nitrate level, high phosphorus readings and a heavy sediment load.
Immediate benefits to farmers and water quality came from new manure-collection and dispersal procedures. Coliform bacteria will be quickly reduced by the new manure management systems. The improved system saves quite a bit labor, too, says Keith Alberda, dairy farmer.
"We used to have to haul manure every two weeks," says Keith. "We don't have to do that anymore. . . It is kind of a challenge in the spring time, since we store everything. We have to spread it in a relatively short time. That presents its own problems, but labor I would say is the biggest advantage, and convenience."
Reshaping the stream bed, controlling cattle access and time of use, and better irrigation water management quickly reduced the creek's sediment load.
Lowering the nitrate and phosphorus levels will be a slower process, says Surber. Both nitrate and phosphorus have built up in the soils near the creek over many years, and it will take many years for them to leach out. Meanwhile, the creek's water quality will be monitored.
Clean water years from now is what the project is all about. As Godfrey Creek landowner Maynard Flikkema says, "if we all do our part and keep it clean, it's here for the next generation."
But even now the way farmers and agencies worked together on this project is being used to teach other agencies and people how to get such a process going.
The MSU Extension Service has produced a 30 minute video documenting how all these individuals and groups worked together "Improving Water Quality at Godfrey Creek." It can be borrowed by ordering it through your local MSU County Extension agent or can be purchased from MSU Extension Publications by sending $14.95 to MSU Extension Publications, 115 Culbertson Hall, MSU, Bozeman, MT 59717. Credit card orders can be placed by calling, (406) 994-3273.