Full Agenda: fall_2021_watershed_academy_agenda.pdf
Chris Morris, Sociology graduate student at Iowa State University, presentated on the Conservation Practitioner Poll. A recent survey to conservation practitioners, those who offer technical assistance to farmers and landowners, in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Chris's presentation can be found here: morris_watershed_cpp_presentation.pptx
Tanner Puls (Polk Soil and Water Conservation District), John Swanson (Polk County Public Works), Shane Wulf (Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship) and Caleb Rasmussen (JEO Consulting) led a team presentation on the innovative outreach strategies for the Polk County Saturated Buffer Blitz project. Their team presentation can be found here: saturated_buffer_prezzo_academy_final.pptx
All attendees then traveled to a landowner's farm where several saturated buffers had been installed to learn about suveying and familiarizing themselves with equipment like the Maverick Tile Finder.
Becca Clay with Practical Farmers of Iowa led attendees through working with producers to reach their cover crop goals and aligning their goals with your recommendations. Becca's presentation can be found here: watershed_academy_talking_producers_through_cover_crop_decisions_rmc.pdf
Suzanne Fey with the Iowa Soybean Association presented on the Cover Crop Economic Simulator, an online tool that itemizes the return on investment and cost mitigation opportunities of cover crops. Suzanne's presentation can be found here: sfey_cces_iowawatershedacademy.pptx
The last session at the Watershed Academy was a Watershed Coordinator Success Stories panel with Emery Davis (Linn County), Shannon Moeller (Iowa Seed Corn) and Ethan Thies (Iowa Department of Natural Resources). Emery's presentation: emery_watershed_academy_presentation.ppt. Shannon's presentation: 2021_watershed_academy_presentation_shannon_moeller.pptx. Ethan's presentation: watershed_academy-_bhl.pptx