UF/IFAS Roles in the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program Highlighting Demonstration of Water Quality Best Management Practices for Beef Cattle Ranching in the Lake Okeechobee Basin.

Wendy Graham and Mitch Flinchum

University of Florida/IFAS

Gainesville and Belle Glade, Florida, respectively

Sanjay Shukla

University of Florida/IFAS/Southwest Florida Research and Education Center

Immokalee, Florida

Since the 1970s, the health of Lake Okeechobee has been threatened by increasing phosphorus loads, harmful high and low water levels, and the spread of exotic species. To address these issues, the Florida Legislature established the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program in 2000. It identifies major remediation activities to be jointly addressed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). Due to the location of Lake Okeechobee within the South Florida Ecosystem, projects conducted under the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program will influence future activities of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration.

Working with state agencies identified in the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program legislation are teams from United States Army Corps of Engineers (COE), Florida Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and University of Florida/IFAS.

In mid-July 2000, UF/IFAS was invited to participate in the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program. By September of 2000, Vice President Mike Martin formed a UF/IFAS Task Force and in October 2000, Drs. Wendy Graham and Mitch Flinchum were named as the UF/IFAS co-project directors for research and extension, respectively. In December 2000 an interagency workshop was held in Gainesville to coordinate and define UF’s involvement and to broaden UF/IFAS faculty participation. The outcome of that workshop identified gaps in current research knowledge and extension programs potentially important to the success of the Lake Okeechobee Protection Program.

The Lake Okeechobee Protection Program can logically be divided into 5 major categories with four of the categories being under the leadership of SFWMD. These are: (1) Lake Okeechobee Construction Program; (2) Exotic Species Program; (3) Internal Phosphorus Control Program; and (4) Research and Water Quality Program. The 5th major component is the Watershed Phosphorus Control Program is jointly lead by FDACS, FDEP and SFWMD with NRCS and UF/IFAS assisting. This major component addresses Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Non-Point Source Phosphorus Control through Best Management Practices (BMP) Development, Technical Assistance/Cost Sharing for BMP Implementation, and finally BMP Monitoring and Evaluation. Also included under this major component is a Wastewater Treatment and Residuals Program lead by FDEP.

The University of Florida/IFAS roles include the following:

1. Development of a Reflectance Spectroscopic P-Sensor for Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems in the Lake Okeechobee Drainage Basin, funded by FDACS ($399,300)

2. Nutrient Management Planning Education for Florida, funded by FDACS ($586,005)

3. Implementation and Growers Evaluation of a WEB-based Nutrient Management Plan Support System (NUMAPS) for Florida Crops, funded by FDEP and FDACS ($456,297)

4. Phosphorus Retention and Storage by Isolated and Constructed Wetlands in the Lake Okeechobee Basin, funded by FDEP, FDACS, and SFWMD ($1.9 million)

5. Demonstration of Water Quality Best Management Practices for Beef Cattle Ranching in the Lake Okeechobee Basin, funded by FDEP, FDACS, SFWMD ($1.2 million)

6. Crop Phytoremediation of Phosphorus-Enriched Soils in the Lake Okeechobee Region, funded by FDACS ($320,880)

7. Okeechobee County Extension Office is working with team from SFWMD and FDEP on Educational Programs for Non-Ag BMPs with Existing Resources.

This presentation emphasizes the “Demonstration of Water Quality Best Management Practices for Beef Cattle Ranching in the Lake Okeechobee Basin.”

The length of this project is three years allowing for sufficient pre- and post BMP hydrologic monitoring. The objectives are: (1) to implement on-ranch BMP demonstrations that appear most promising for ranches in the Lake Okeechobee basin, and to evaluate the change in phosphorus load to surface and ground water from implementing these practices, (2) to communicate these BMPs/results to beef cattle ranchers through extension publications and other appropriate mechanisms, and (3) to evaluate the ability of the Beef Cattle Management Decision Support System (BRADDS) and/or the Watershed Assessment Model (EAAMOD-WAM) to simulate the water quality effects of the demonstrated BMPs.

Cow-Calf Best Management Practices to be demonstrated/evaluated include:

1. Improved nutrient management according to an approved nutrient management plan including soil forage analysis, fertilizing based on IFAS recommendations, not fertilizing in or near (within 20 feet) of water bodies, ditches, and canals.

2. Improved pasture management including rotational grazing, stocking densities based on water quality and forage availability, relocating feeding/watering area away from drainage ditches, fencing cattle out of waterways and maintaining vegetative cover on grazed pastures.

3. Improved water management including raising water level (risers) to hold water and slowly release it after rains.

4. Use of soil amendments to increase phosphorus retention and reduce edge of field losses of P “hot-spots” in cow-calf pastures.

Sites where SFWMD had two or more years of water concentration monitoring data with higher than desired concentrations were selected. Appropriate flumes/weirs will be installed at sub-watersheds to measure surface out-flow of phosphorus loads from each BMP site. Groundwater monitoring systems will be installed to assess potential changes in groundwater quality. Each site will be measured for a one-year baseline period before BMPs are implemented.

The soil amendment BMP demonstration involves chemically characterizing, laboratory testing and screening a variety of potential amendments, including Ca-, Fe-, and Al-based water treatment residuals, silicate slag materials, lime and gypsum for effects on P leaching and movement. Two amendments exhibiting the most positive environmental and economic benefits will be demonstrated.

Costs/benefits will be evaluated for BMPs implemented on this project. Each BMP will be assessed as to its effectiveness for phosphorus removal, measured against background levels represented by pre-BMP conditions. Economic analyses and results including local scale analyses of costs and benefits will be conducted, and an estimate of the total/unit cost of phosphorus removal for the various BMPs both independently (where possible) and jointly, over time, will be reported.

Mitch Flinchum, UF/IFAS, 3200 E. Palm Beach Road, Belle Glade, FL 33430, Phone: 561-993-1523, FAX: 561-992-1303,

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