1 • Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 - The Scoop Today/Shopper’s Guide
Serving the communities in Jo Daviess County
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VOL. 84 • NO. 36
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WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 5, 2018
Work on IL 84 near Hanover to begin
The Illinois Department of Transportation announces today that weather permitting, construction work on IL 84 from US 20 to Duke Creek north of Hanover will be starting on Tuesday, Sept. 4. Civil Constructors will be making improvements to the 3.8 mile section of IL 84. The $1.2 million project includes resurfacing the roadway and guardrail improvements. There will be lane closures during working hours while improvements are being completed. Drivers should be prepared to stop as flaggers direct traffic past construction operations. The improvements are scheduled to be completed by mid-October. Please slow down and use extreme caution while driving through all work zones. For IDOT District 2 updates on Twitter, follow us at http://twitter. com/IDOTDistrict2.
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Summer Camp
Stockton Boy Scout Troop 31 and Warren Boy Scout Troop 26 experience a week of scouting Summer camp adventure at Canyon Camp.
Jo Daviess County Soil and Water schedules cover crop demonstration By John Day Clean water is something that everyone wants. Safe, unpolluted water is important to everyone. The guarantee of a healthy water system begins with watersheds. If the system of watersheds goes unprotected the end result is poor quality water. A watershed is an area of land where surface water systems converge with one another allowing each system to grow in size. Small streams and wetlands drain into larger bodies of water and become creeks or small rivers. Eventually, this network of waterways flows into larger rivers. These water systems are the source of water for every purpose. The quality of that water begins in the watershed. Beth Baranski is a volunteer with the League of Women Voters. As a project coordinator Baranski helped the League obtain a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop an educational outreach
program to help inform the public of issues regarding safe, healthy sources of water. The focus of research was the Lower Galena River watershed. Baranski said, “The more I learned about hydrology I concluded that we should be talking about healthy soil as well. The issue of soil erosion and soil contamination is directly linked to water quality. “In the Lower Galena River Watershed soil erosion is complicated by rolling hills, steep rocky surfaces and overall topography.” Traditional farming practices have, over the years, exposed crop lands to high rates of soil erosion. The surface soil can contain high levels of nitrates, agricultural chemicals and other pollutants. A group of Galena area farmers, calling themselves the Soil and Water Health Coalition have endorsed a system of farming that embraces the use of cover crops to control both soil erosion and water contamination. One of the group’s members, Roger
Redington, has been farming in this area for more than forty years. Redington said, “The use of cover crops is a practice that must be adopted by everyone. In addition to protecting ground and surface water it protects the surface of crop land and assures healthy soil. Once too much of the surface soil is gone that field will likely be totally unproductive. As farmers we must make whatever changes are necessary to protect this land so that future generations will be able to continue farming.” What are cover crops and how do they protect soil and water? Greg Thoren, a Stockton area farmer has been using cover crop methods on his fields for a number of years and is a champion of
the idea. Thoren said, “The use of cover crops is the way farming has to go in the future. No Till farming has done a lot to protect soil on farm land. However, once the primary crop has been harvested these fields are bare and exposed to the elements for months. During that time, wind and rain begin stripping back the surface soil. Runoff water carries the soil away depleting soil quality. “A cover crop can be any of the cool weather grasses that are left standing through the winter and early spring. The following season we plant directly through the grassy field. In many ways this creates a cost saving. Fewer money is spent on herbicides, fertilizers and fuel.
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Of greatest importance, however, we know that with use of this practice loss of surface soil is minimized each year.” This minimal loss of surface soil means that considerably less soil containing pollutants will find its way into the watershed. Greg Thoren, will be hosting a demonstration on Sept. 14, from noon to three-thirty on Route 78 just south of Stockton. Watch for signs. Speakers will include Dr. Hatfield, USDA and Dr. Dennis Busch speaking about agricultural issues. If you would like to attend, please make a reservation by contacting the Jo Daviess SWCD at 815-858-3418 ext 3 no later than Sept. 10.
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