AGRICULTURE- The True Cause of Flooding in MN, IA, and beyond....

[Guest guest]

This is so obvious, NO ONE seems to see it.... Read how we have sacrificed our

land, our

rivers and basically the underpinnings of our nation to the Corn God, to the

Soybean

God....

Altered terrain almost beckons disaster

DENNIS ANDERSON, Star Tribune

People and their motivations -- or lack thereof -- provide an endless source of

conundrums. Among them: Why do they repeat behaviors known to do them harm,

financially and otherwise?

Case in point: the Iowa floods, with damages that will total in the billions of

dollars --

were all predictable, if not preventable.

Like Minnesota, Iowa has been almost completely transformed since settlement.

According

to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 95 percent of that state's wetlands

have

been drained or filled. About 75 percent of its forests have been cleared and

more than 99

percent of its prairies have fallen to the plow.

Additionally, most natural vegetation -- typically called buffers -- along

rivers and

streams has been removed, lowlands have been tiled and streams channelized, or

straightened, to provide more tillable land.

And more floods.

For which a lot of Iowans -- and you and I -- are about to be billed. Again.

Ironically, Congress only recently has passed its latest version of a federal

farm bill. This

measure, whatever its other virtues or vices, is sure to ensure more flooding.

Not just in

Iowa, but throughout the Mississippi River watershed, including vast portions of

Minnesota.

This huge and complex bill, like its predecessors, promises to continue mistakes

of the

past. As sure as rain will fall, corn acres and soybean acres encouraged in

floodplains and

protected by the bill will facilitate inundations similar to those that have

devastated Iowa

towns and rural areas in recent days.

The reason is simple: Thanks to modern agriculture -- which happily defers its

flooding

and other " business expenses'' downstream to society at large -- the landscape's

hydrology has been altered so dramatically that water -- be it snow, snow melt

or rain --

will continue to be drained swiftly from the land by a vast system of tiles and

ditches.

Rivers on the receiving ends of these lattice works will in turn rise beyond

capacity, and

flooding will ensue.

A group called The Wetlands Initiative, with studies that were funded in recent

years by

the McKnight Foundation, believes society should change course in at least two

ways to

prevent costly floods.

First, restore the natural hydrology in the floodplain and reconnect some of the

leveed

floodplains to the parent river to take advantage of the flood storage potential

that

wetlands provide,'' a WMI report advises.

Second, where lands are frequently flooded, eliminate economic activities that

are

adversely affected by inundation. In short, the bottomlands of the Upper

Mississippi River

Basin should be returned to their natural state, which would hold floodwaters

for weeks, if

not months, at a time. Levee districts could be used for strategic flood control

by

capturing flood peaks when and where needed.

Unfortunately, such changes are unlikely, even though damage totals from the

current

floods might rival those of 1993, when the cost alone to Iowa, Illinois and

Missouri was

$12 billion.

Not incidentally, those three states also have drained the most wetlands, 87

percent on

average.

In Minnesota, the best chance for improved watershed management and fewer, less

severe

floods, probably lies with dedicated conservation funding, which will be on the

statewide

November ballot.

If approved, some $200 million a year will flow toward better wetland, upland

and

watershed management.

Still, as noted at the outset, it's unlikely people anytime soon will

successfully demand a

stop to agricultural practices that virtually guarantee flooding -- even at

great expense to

them, financially and otherwise.

A conundrum.

Dennis • danderson@...