Pollution Prevention News Digest Archive

South Dakota dust storm (audio)
03/12/2013
Officials working to reduce soil erosion worry that--without significant rains--dust storms, like the one this week east of Pierre that resembled a wildfire, will become more common.
Original Story

Conservation Agriculture (audio)
03/05/2013
NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Agent Roger Ashley discusses conservation agriculture as a way of improving soil productivity, nutrient efficiency, and crop production while protecting the environment.
Original Story

Wyoming ranchers may receive assurances in exchange for sage-grouse conservation
02/22/2013
The plan is called the Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, or CCAA. It encourages farmers and ranchers to protect the sage-grouse on their property by shifting cattle away from nesting areas and taking other conservation measures.
Original Story

Wyoming ranch wins sustainability award
02/15/2013
The Padlock Ranch in Sheridan County is being recognized for using sustainable management practices as the 2013 Leopold Conservation Award recipient.
Original Story

Superfund clean-up set to begin along Montana River (audio)
12/26/2012
Superfund clean-up along the upper reaches of the Clark Fork River is set to begin this winter. Nearly a century ago, a flood deposited heavy metals from upstream mining and smelting operations.
Original Story

Montana streams suffer from development, agriculture
09/14/2012
Human activity pollutes nearly every tributary of the lower Gallatin River, according to a recent report. The study concluded that the water in local streams contains pollutants caused by human development, namely sediment, e-coli, and fertilizer runoff.
Original Story

Record amount of waste pesticide collected & destroyed in North Dakota
08/10/2012
North Dakota residents brought in 145 tons of old, unusable and banned pesticides this year to the Project Safe Send project. Most of the collected pesticides -- agricultural and home products -- control plant and animal pests.
Original Story

South Dakota couple launches Community Supported Agriculture garden (audio)
07/09/2012
A couple near Worthing, SD started Deep Root Gardens to provide fresh, chemical-free food for their own and other local families.
Original Story

Efforts focus on restoring sage grouse habitat in Wyoming (audio)
06/22/2012
Studies have recommended that the Wyoming needs to restore areas that have been disturbed in addition to conserving intact habitat for sage grouse. A variety of agencies are working to come up with a plan for large-scale restoration.
Original Story

New edition of North Dakota Local Foods Directory now available
06/11/2012
The directory lists more than 160 farmers markets, roadside stands, pick-your-own gardens and home delivery produce operations.
Original Story

Residents call for dust control at North Dakota grain elevator
06/10/2012
Some residents in Mayville, ND are urging a local grain elevator to install a dust control system at their existing facility to ensure it will work before expanding the operation.
Original Story

BLM seeks to fill 5 positions on Utah Resource Advisory Council
05/21/2012
Utahns with ties to Bureau of Land Management areas are being sought as members of the federal agency's Utah Resource Advisory Council. Nominees must complete a nomination form and submit a letter of reference. The deadline is June 4.
Original Story

North Dakota ranch family wins NRDC award for "Going Green" (audio)
05/18/2012
A Burleigh County ranch family has won the "Going Green" award from the Natural Resources Defense Council for their sustainable ranching practices, include no-till farming, crop diversification, cover cropping, and companion cropping.
Original Story

Tribal-Specific Conservation Practices Get USDA Funding in California
01/05/2012
For the first time in California the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NCRS) is making funding available to tribal farmers and ranchers for tradition-based tribal conservation practices.
Original Story

Ranchers, Conservancy to tackle habitat projects
06/08/2011
Improving 200,000 acres of rangeland and 164 miles of perennial streams isn't an easy task, unless you have a small army of volunteers willing to help and a team of ranchers to make it happen.
Original Story

Camelina falling out of favor with Montana farmers
04/22/2011
?Camelina, the biofuel that five years ago Gov. Brian Schweitzer called his new girlfriend, now struggles for a planting date with Montana farmers.
Original Story

Local Foods Commerce Day brings together producers, buyers in Missoula
03/07/2011
A group of sustainable food proponents played matchmaker on Monday, hoping to make lasting connections between those interested in buying and those interested in selling sustainable products around Montana.
Original Story

Utah county would benefit from small-farms bill
02/27/2011
Utah state Sen. Wayne Niederhauser's bill that would give a tax break to farmers who have between two and five acres in production in Salt Lake County is a measure that promotes self-sustainability and healthy eating.
Original Story

Blackfeet Members Speed Up Livestock Feed Growth
02/15/2011
In a time of widespread financial hardship and soaring unemployment, two men on the Blackfeet Nation reservation have developed a growing business that goes against the grain.
Original Story

Montana ranch gets $25,000 sustainable practices grant
01/23/2011
Bryan Ulring, a business management major from Montana State University, who now manages the J Bar L Ranch in southwestern Montana, uses rotational grazing, and manages the ranchland to protect key areas of wildlife habitat during breeding season, and the sustainable practices caught the attention and funding of the Montana Audubon and the Livingston-based Western Sustainability Exchange, who awarded the ranch a $25,000 TogetherGreen Innovation Grant.
Original Story

MSU, partners in six states consider converting invasive plants to fuel
10/06/2010
Invasive plants make life tougher for farmers and ranchers who live in the six headwater states of the Missouri River Basin, so why not turn the plants into fuel and make some money at the same time?
Original Story

Going against the grain: Grass-fed beef a niche for Utah farmers
08/30/2010
Armed with information from agribusiness whistle-blowers such as author Michael Pollan and the documentary "Food, Inc.," a sector of the American population is changing the way they eat.
Original Story

Urban farms sprouting on government land
08/10/2010
Salt Lake County announced that it would turn 50 acres of government-owned land over to urban farmers, and the Utah county identified 29 other acres that would be made available for community gardens.
Original Story

Heralded Pact for Tribal Grass-fed Beef Ends
06/21/2010
Indians and whites have been doing business together since the time of Columbus -- almost invariably to the Indians' detriment. But the announcement last year that the Northern Arapaho tribe had been tapped to supply organic grass-fed beef to Whole Foods Markets seemed like a win for all concerned: The tribe would make money off its land, the grocery chain would score points for environmental and social responsibility, and consumers would enjoy the health and culinary benefits of eating free-range beef with a Native American pedigree.
Original Story

USDA program supports farm pollution prevention
03/24/2008
A sign-up for the Conservation Security Program (CSP) will be available from April 18 to May 16 to approximately 64,000 potentially eligible farms and ranches in 51 watersheds covering more than 23.7 million acres. CSP is a voluntary conservation program that supports ongoing stewardship of private, agricultural working lands and rewards those producers who are meeting the highest standards of conservation and environmental management on their operations.
Original Story

Alternative cropping protects water quality
08/08/2007
Although the addition of nutrients to soil helps to maximize crop production, fertilizer can leach nutrients, polluting the water supply. A recent study by researchers at the University of Minnesota shows alternative cropping practices may help to protect the environment by reducing high nitrate levels in surface water and groundwater caused by conventional fertilizer use. Over a three-year period in southwest Minnesota, researchers measured tile drainage and nitrate losses under cropping systems categorized as conventional (corn-soybean rotations with inorganic fertilizer application and pesticide usage) and alternative (organic management practices that incorporated rotation of a variety of crops including corn, soybean, oat, alfalfa, buckwheat and rye with nutrients supplied from legumes and either fresh or composted manure sources). The study found that alternative cropping systems reduced the amount of water lost in tile drainage by 41 percent compared to a conventional corn-soybean rotation. Alternative farming practices also reduced nitrate-nitrogen losses by between 59 percent and 62 percent in two out of three years.
Original Story

Internet resources to reduce farm energy use
08/08/2007
Farmers and ranchers can now use a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service website to estimate farm energy use for things such as irrigation and nitrogen. For example, farmers can use manure instead of petroleum-based fertilizers to reduce costs by $55 an acre. The site also provides a list of farm energy options, with links to resources. Also on the Internet, a National Center for Appropriate Technology database provides state-by-state information that includes resources for making farms (and homes) more energy efficient. The database includes technical information and links to stores that sell innovative energy options as well as links to state databases of initiatives and incentives for using energy efficient technology. At this site, one can also search by topic such as solar, wind or anaerobic digesters.
Original Story

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture proposes to expand agricultural conservation programs
05/23/2007
For the 2007 Farm Bill, the USDA proposes to increase funding for regional water and wildlife habitat enhancement, expand incentives for conservation practices, discourage conversion of grasslands to crop production, and maintaining the Conservation Reserve Program that reduces soil erosion.
Original Story