Ben Fast keeps hustling to monitor how spring flooding is affecting countryside
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/08/2010 9:02 AM
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REDWOOD FALLS, Minn. — Ben Fast has been traveling along the Minnesota River Valley in Redwood County more than normal these past few weeks.
Fast, Redwood County Farm Service Agency director, is monitoring how the Minnesota River's flood waters are affecting the countryside. The pictures and reports he makes after each trip will be used as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and FEMA assess flood damage, assistance and disaster declarations.
The flooding has seen some damage, but mostly to roads. Flooded farmland will, with receding floodwaters and dry conditions, be ready for normal spring planting in a few weeks.
Most land in the river valley is intact, Fast said. Much of it is enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and Conservation Reserve Program.
The programs were promoted after heavy flooding in 1997 and 2001 caused erosion and farm and city flooding. Homes were moved out of the flood path and farmers assessed their yields in the floodplain and saw the benefits of CREP and CRP on their river bottom land.
Goodrich has seen changes in the river valley since those flood events. He's worked for RCRCA for five years monitoring the Redwood and Cottonwood river's clarity. A reduction in phosphorus levels and sediment has occurred. There is, however, an increase in nitrates and the river's flow.
"The water is moving at a higher velocity through the channels," he said.
RCRCA has found more sediment going down the river from banks and bluffs.
Tributaries to the Minnesota River, like the Cottonwood and Redwood rivers, are eroding up their own valleys, he said.
More tiling brings water into the rivers and, when some communities, like Mankato, straighten the river to reduce flooding it affects the water flow.
Research is looking at holding water to slow it from going into the river in spring, Goodrich said.
"To some extent, the erosion we are seeing could be a control process, but we are expediting it by putting more water through the system," he said.
Each year the melt is different, Goodrich said. This year, southwestern Minnesota had several large snow events. A rapid spring melt resulted in flooding.
The river has crested below 1997 levels, however. The flood's impact is less this year thanks to lessons learned and steps taken by rural communities, farmers and landowners.
More buffers and grass plantings in the flood plain has resulted in less erosion, Goodrich said.
In Montevideo, a Minnesota River Flood Control Project is under way. Last August levees were erected by Canton Avenue in Montevideo with a seepage berm in Smith Park and modifications to catch basin along Highway 212.
Flood waters near north Redwood Falls have caused several roads leading out of the community to close. But dikes have been put in place to protect some homes.
Other communities along the Minnesota River, like New Ulm, are also experiencing flooding.