Iowans can, should restore land for health, quality of life

By Rich Patterson

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most obscure but effective pieces of conservation legislation enacted. In 1911, President Howard Taft signed the Weeks Act into law.

A century ago, much of the eastern United States sustained massive flooding, dirty drinking water and frequent losses to commercial navigation caused by wildly fluctuating river levels. The cause was trashed watersheds.

Lumbermen had left bare hillsides in their wake, and hillside farms sluiced enormous quantities of muddy water into rivers. Floods alternated with droughts that turned rivers into trickles. Neither was good for navigation nor drinking water for the nation's rapidly growing cities.

The Weeks Act called for the purchase and reforestation of degraded slopes. Resulting was the creation of the White Mountain, Allegheny, Pisgah, and other national forests. These newly restored forests moderated river flows, cleansed water and created something never envisioned in the Act.

Eastern forests now crawl with people. Tourism brings millions of dollars to rural areas.

According to the Conservation Almanac, Iowa ranks second to last among states in the percent of its land surface publicly owned. Iowans tend to view public land as merely a place for recreation. We don't recognize the economic value that open space and healthy vegetation provides through reduced flooding and drinking water treatment cost.

When faced with massive flooding and dirty river water, we respond with levees and flood walls and expensive equipment to extract toxins from drinking water. These things treat the symptoms, not the cause.

Because we have built so much on flood plains and our water is so dirty, we have to do these things in the short term, but if we continue to ignore Iowa's degrading watersheds, it is only a matter of time until levees breech and flood damage exceeds 2008.

When I dream, I see cooperative effort modeled after the Weeks Act by city, county, state and federal governments working with private citizens and groups to acquire the 10 percent of watersheds that produce 90 percent of the runoff. Steep erosive slopes would be restored to forests and prairies. Urban areas would incorporate bioswales, permeable paving and rain gardens to enable rain to trickle vertically into the soil, rather than piping it horizontally to rivers.

We'd restore river-associated wetlands that moderate flow, cleanse water and provide the nursery baby fish need.

As side benefits, we'd enjoy world-class walleye fishing and pheasant hunting that would attract people and dollars. Restored land would be linked by bicycle trails. River water would be cleaner, encouraging swimming and boating.

The Weeks Act proved people have the capability to restore the health of river valleys. It is good for business, health, and our quality of life. We need to do it in Iowa.

Rich Patterson is director of Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids. Comments:

rpatterson@indian

creeknaturecenter.org