Manure Management Moves Online in Illinois
Developing a comprehensive manure management plan just got easier for livestock producers in Illinois. The Illinois Manure Management Plan is now available online at http://www.immp.uiuc.edu.

The online manure management resource was developed by the University of Illinois Extension with financial support from various Illinois livestock groups including the Illinois Pork Producers Association & the Pork Checkoff, Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Milk Producers Association, IL Livestock Development Group, Illinois Farm Bureau, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Extension specialists at the University of Illinois who developed the original workbook are certain the web version of the IMMP will allow producers of large and small facilities to spend more time managing their animals, and less time worrying about manure.

Commercial Manure Hauler Education
Staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign collaborate with Wisconsin and Michigan in commercial hauler education. The project has multiple levels of training, with members of individual firms participating according to their responsibilities and expertise. At this time, materials for the three levels of training are almost finalized. In Illinois, many commercial hauler owners/managers have participated in various parts of the Level 2 training and several have started their Level 3 Environmental Management System Plans. Level 1 training for some employees has been completed, with most receiving their training during summer of 2005.

Another aspect of the collaborative project is the coordination of events across the three states. One such event was a Field Day, hosted by the University of Illinois in late summer 2004. The event attracted over 60 haulers, agency staff, industry representatives, and Extension staff. One-half day of classroom training and one-half day of field demonstration and training were included.

Regional Committee Participation
Extension staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign acts as liaison for the regional water quality project and participates in CSREES Regional Committee S-1000, “ Animal Manure and Waste Utilization, Treatment and Nuisance Avoidance for a Sustainable Agriculture”. The project has nation-wide membership interested in collaborative work. The project’s website is at http://www.ag.auburn.edu/aaes/s1000/.

Manure Management Education
The Illinois Certified Livestock Managers Program (CLMP) is an Illinois Department of Agriculture funded program to improve animal waste management in Illinois. The Animal Waste Management theme with the regional project is coordinating efforts within Illinois with the CLMP to increase exposure and efficiencies of both. Extension staff work on the AWM theme, the Commercial Haulers project and CLMP, leveraging those projects.

An effort is being undertaken to develop workbook and workshops for manure management plan development that will meet the requirements for three different programs -- NRCS (for EQIP), Illinois Dept. of Agriculture, and Illinois EPA (for NPDES permit). This will allow a livestock facility manager to do a single comprehensive plan, rather than 3 separate plans.

Discussions have begun between Animal Waste Management Theme Team and Nutrient and Pest Management Theme Team to assist educators, top farmers, crop consultants, other consultants and field NRCS staff to better understand the regulations and how to write nutrient management plans.

Drainage Ditch Management for Environmental Quality
An interdisciplinary team has been assembled to initiate a research and education program in drainage ditch maintenance with emphasis on the balance between ecosystem protection and restoration and necessary water conveyance. Faculty from Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Geography are working together with drainage district commissioners, land improvement contractors, and landowners to develop demonstration opportunities.

Agricultural Drainage Management Strategies to Reduce Nitrate Loading to Surface Water
Faculty from the University of Illinois participated in the regional drainage and water management project, coordinated by Purdue University. Additionally, the concept of “Conservation Drainage” has been developed and presented to producers, drainage contractors, and drainage district commissioners. Essentially, the concept is to manage drainage water to minimize nitrate losses while maximizing crop yield. Several workshops, seminars and presentations have been held across Illinois discussing the concept, in collaboration with NRCS.

Faculty and staff have initiated education programming based upon research of in-field and edge-of-field drainage tile water treatment for nitrate reduction. Field demonstrations of the techniques and workshops have been held across the state. Technical specifications are under development.

For many years, the Illinois Drainage Guide was the standard reference for land owners, land improvement contractors and anyone else interested in drainage for agricultural production. The most recent printed edition of the guide was published in 1984 and has been out-of-print for several years. In collaboration with the regional drainage and water management project, a new guide has been developed, and is available online. Educational programming, in the form of workshops, was provided in January 2005. The Revised Illinois Drainage Guide is available at http://www.wq.uiuc.edu/dg.

Regional Committee Participation
The Illinois Extension Water Quality Program Coordinator participated in the renewal ofCSREES Regional Project W-82, “Pesticides and Other Toxic Organics in Soil and Their Potential for Ground and Surface Water Contamination”. He is the Official Representive for the University of Illinois Agriculture Experiment Station on W-82 and will act as liaison between W-82 and the Great Lakes RWQ project. W-82 topics of interest to the WQ project will be forwarded to the appropriate Theme Team coordinator within the Great Lakes so that collaboration can be facilitated where appropriate.

EZregs Website
EZregs, a new website hosted by University of Illinois Extension, can help farm producers, green industry professionals, land use planners and others make sense of environmental regulations in Illinois.

The EZregs website has a database of 13 sets of regulations, including IEPA Livestock Regulations (Parts 501, 506, 560, 570, & 580), the Livestock Management Facility Act (Section 900), the Illinois Construction Site Stormwater Permit, the Illinois Pesticide Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Historic Resources Preservation Act. Currently, users of the website can access sections on four different operation types--Livestock Production, Food Crop Production, Ornamental Horticulture Production and Landscape Maintenance.

This program is a n excellent example of the impact of regional programming for state-specific programs. While the direct funding for EZRegs comes from the Illinois Pork Producers Association (through the Pork Checkoff program) and US EPA Region 5 , the Great Lakes Regional Water Quality Coordination project has helped provide much broader exposure for the project. The website address is http://www.ezregs.uiuc.edu

Water Management in the Urban-Rural Fringe
Water management in rapidly urbanizing areas has become a flashpoint for drainage water management education. In January 2005, faculty and staff of the University of Illinois provided drainage management workshops in locations near areas of rapid urbanization, with topics discussed including Conservation Drainage, the Revised Illinois Drainage Guide, drainage law, soils and several other topics. Participants included drainage contractors, drainage district commissioners, city engineering staff, consulting engineers, producers and developers.

Illinois River Conference
In October 2007, the 11th Biennial Governor’s Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System was held. More than 60 agencies and organizations, including University of Illinois Extension (UIE), sponsored the conference, which drew 400 participants. Prior to the event, Bob Frazee, Extension Educator – Natural Resources Management, UIE and member of the Regional Project Advisory Committee, was interviewed about the River Conference on the RFD Illinois radio network, which includes 83 stations. The Conference Evaluation indicates a 100% good/excellence overall rating for the conference.

TMDL Education
Total Maximum Daily Load determinations have the potential for both improving water quality and disrupting landowners. Faculty and staff of the University of Illinois assist the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) with assessment of TMDL development efforts of contractors through participation in the Scientific Advisory Committee. Draft versions of TMDLs are reviewed for appropriate data and computer model use, as well as appropriateness of development procedures. Advice is provided to both IEPA and contractors.

Similarly, decisions on base contaminant concentrations affect the TMDL process greatly. University of Illinois personnel advise IEPA on Nutrient Criteria determination in Illinois through participation in the Nutrient Criteria Task Force. It is hoped that criteria are firmly grounded in scientific research with a strong dose of “reasonableness”.

Similar to participation in CSREES Regional Research project W-82, members of the Great Lakes Regional WQ team participate in CSREES Regional Research project S-1004, “Development and Evaluation of TMDL Planning and Assessment Tools and Processes,”. Dr. Hirschi has been a participant in the committee for over 15 years, while another Illinois faculty member is the Official Representative. Project website: http://www3.bae.ncsu.edu/s1004/.

Illinois Watershed Management Clearinghouse
In keeping with the idea that educated landowners make much better decisions, a web resource was created using funding from the Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR). The Illinois Watershed Management Clearinghouse.