Most Important Conservation Issues Facing Dodge County in the next 10 Years

Loss of Farmland

New Development	Development
Building so many houses in farmland	Too much development on farmlands
Land being lost to solar farms	We need to preserve family farm land
Building of new houses on prime farmland	Losing farm land to development
Land development or (building) that causes excess runoff of rain water	Housing and commercial development taking away land from production
Need to maintain agriculture land and limit residential expansion	Land development and the shift from dairy farms to other forms of farming, such as crops
Balancing existing homes and businesses that also allow for expansion of both	Large developments to the land, such as industrial and high density subdivisions
Loss of our farmland, effectively using developed space for improved housing and resources	Development of farmland for housing. Anything other than growing food for animals and humans

Soil Nutrient Runoff

Agricultural Runoff	Water Quality and Erosion
Manufacturing and Residential Runoff	Nutrient Runoff
Groundwater Quality due to runoff and poor agricultural practices	Water Quality and Runoff
Clean Safe Drinking Water along with the large loss of farm soil washing away	Water Quality and ag runoff, concerning chemicals and sediment issues
Developments, manure, Pesticide used within laws and rinsate responsibly handled	Keeping surface water from gettingto the rock river; retaining water on the property it falls on
Ground runoff from farms and chemicals from fertilizer contaminatingn our rivers	Protection of the soil and water. Reducing non point runoff
Water quality in lakes ag fertilizer contaminating lakes	Soil erosion, pesticide runoff, manure runoff, fertilizer leaching
Stopping the flow of pesticides and other things into the lake. Get the lake cleaned up and stop erosion	Rural and Urban Non-Point source nutrient and sediment runoff. Groundwater contamination by nitrates
Our lakes are covered in green algae during the summer. The runoff that causes this is not acceptable. Our wells are filled with Nitrates from farm runoff. We need to find a way to minimize the runoff that goes into our lakes and water sources

Ground Water Quality

Groundwater	Drinking Water
Groundwater quality	Groundwater quality
I believe having clean groundwater is the top concern	Protecting ground water, keeping an eye on agricultural practices
Keeping drinkong water clean and removing pollution and carbon from the air we breathe	Keeping ground water from being contaminated and cleaning up our gross lakes
Groundwater quality for potable well use. Survace water quality for public health and recreation. Producer awareness of nutrient and sediment retention practices for ecomonic and environmental improvement	Having clean, safe drinking water. Ensuring agricultural practices are in place to protect ground and surface waters as well as minimizing soil erosion
Groundwater Quality, maintaining suitable wildlife habitats

Large Farms

Agricultural Practicies	Preserve Soil
Soil Health	Sustainable agriculture practices
Soil health and water quality. Keeping the land covered year round. Drinking water safety and quality	Management of land to promote healthy soils
I believe soil health will be paramount for us to conserve and improve our natural resources in the future. We need to collectively embrace practices that are proven to improve soil health. No-till, cover crops, diversity to name a few.	I think that decisions have to be made with an eye to the future, not for the short term. We need to protect our water and land which can support healthy life when managed properly.

Water Quality of Lakes

Protectingn our Lakes from accumulated phosphates	Protecting Lakes from phosphates
The lakes and rivers of Dodge County are gettingn worse with all the farm waste runoff. Placess like United Waste along Hwy 26 are allowed to put that waste on numerous fields and then that runoff with the rain ends up in our water tables. Most times people cannot stand the smell when driving by, much less have that in the water.	Improving surface water quality of our lakes and rivers recycling/solid waste

Rock River

There needs to be a concered effort to restore the Rock River, it's tributaries, and the Horicon Marsh to a natural system devoid of man made impediments. This would include removal of the federal dike system, removal of dams, and restoration to natural channelization of the Rock River and tributaries (no more navigable streams i linear drainage ditch systems.) Also, all agriculture practices should meet the same TMDL standars (Phosphorus & TSS) that municipalities must achieve.	Flooding of the Rock River. The flooding has caused dead areas with invasive plants/weeds growing when the river does subside back into it's banks. The flooding has caused a temendous amount of tree kills leaving desolate areas. The Rock River will be in a flood status in the southeastern part of the county whtn the area is in drought or below average rainfall. This can only be due to manmade practices of holding back water downstream and/or releasing too much water from upstream structures.
Water management, coordination of dam activities between agencies, protection of well quality.

There needs to be a concered effort to restore the Rock River, it's tributaries, and the Horicon Marsh to a natural system devoid of man made impediments. This would include removal of the federal dike system, removal of dams, and restoration to natural channelization of the Rock River and tributaries (no more navigable streams i linear drainage ditch systems.) Also, all agriculture practices should meet the same TMDL standars (Phosphorus & TSS) that municipalities must achieve.

Flooding of the Rock River. The flooding has caused dead areas with invasive plants/weeds growing when the river does subside back into it's banks. The flooding has caused a temendous amount of tree kills leaving desolate areas. The Rock River will be in a flood status in the southeastern part of the county whtn the area is in drought or below average rainfall. This can only be due to manmade practices of holding back water downstream and/or releasing too much water from upstream structures.

Water management, coordination of dam activities between agencies, protection of well quality.

Miscellaneous

Invasion of wild parsnip	Don't Know
The quality of clean water for residents	Landfills
Educate the public of how we as farmers do our best to be good stewards of land and water	Water quality and communicating to the public about the quality and trends

Dodge County, WI

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Most Important Conservation Issues Facing Dodge County in the next 10 Years