Virtual field day to cover plans for watershed

     A free virtual field day featuring the efforts in the Clear Creek Watershed to improve water quality and quantity issues will be held Thursday, March 4 at 1 p.m.

     The event will include a live discussion with John Rathbun, and Johnson County landowners Pat and Burne Sippy. Iowa Learning Farms, in partnership with the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and Conservation Learning Group, is sponsoring the event.

     Located in Iowa and Johnson County, the Clear Creek Watershed Coalition is working to implement seventy conservation practices to improve water quality and reduce downstream flooding. One unique project in the watershed being highlighted during the virtual field day, is the construction of a fringe wetland along the edges of a revitalized pond owned by the Sippy family.

     The fringe wetland will create a land shelf 6-18 feet in width around about 90 percent of the pond and will be just above the normal pool of the pond. It will provide consistently saturated soil for wetland plants and wildlife and will be become inundated during rain events to store additional water and filter the water as it moves through the wetland. Combined with additional practices, the Sippy’s land will be storing water during high rain events and significantly reducing the flood potential to the Tiffin, Coralville and Iowa City communities.

     To participate, shortly before 1:00 p.m., visit https://www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/events and click “Join Live Virtual Field Day.” The meeting ID number is 914 1198 4892.

     Participants may be eligible for a Certified Crop Adviser board-approved continuing education unit (CEU). Information about how to apply to receive the credit (if approved) will be provided at the end of the live field day.

     The field day will be recorded and archived on the ILF website so that it can be watched at any time. The archive is available at the web address above.