College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

• Buffer zone

  Geology's Bill Simpkins is part of a team that is revitalizing an area watershed.

  
  
• For the past eleven years, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture has supported a riparian buffer project at the Ron Risdal farm near Roland.
  
  The "Agroecology Issue Team" is involved in the implementation of Riparian Management Systems, including riparian buffers. The team has planted trees, shrubs and switchgrass in a 20-m-wide riparian buffer that has revitalized the farm land in the watershed.
  
  Academic departments involved in the project in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences include botany and geological and atmospheric sciences. Departments in the College of Agriculture working on the project include animal ecology, animal science, forestry, and agricultural and biosystems engineering.
  
  The land has been stabilized with little, if any, sediment erosion, while adding organic matter back to the soil. It has also provided a natural habitat for the animals and birds native to this area.
  
  While the focus would seem to be on agriculture, Bill Simpkins, associate professor of geology, has been a key member of the team since day one.
  
  "The unique thing about this project is that we may be talking about water quality and buffers, but we're (his hydrogeology research team) an integral part of it," he said. "It's truly an interdisciplinary project."
  
  It didn't necessarily start out that way. In fact, Simpkins initially had his doubts about devoting part of his research efforts to the project. A hydrogeologist who studies the interrelationship of geology with groundwater and surface water, Simpkins had just arrived on campus in 1989.
  
  "I first went to the site with Dick Schultz (faculty member in the forestry department) back in April of 1990," he recalled. "There was a raging dust storm and I thought to myself, 'why would I want to work here?'"
  
  Since that first visit nearly 11 years ago, the Agroecology Issue Team has completely changed the area around Bear Creek at the Risdal farm and in the watershed. In the process, this long-term project has received considerable national publicity.
  
  The watershed was designated as one of 12 National Restoration Demonstration Watersheds in June 1999 under the EPA's Clean Water Action Plan.
  
  "We receive national and international visits throughout the year," Simpkins said. "The project has received numerous awards and you can't see a publication on riparian buffer projects without seeing one or two photos of this site."
  
  Simpkins' research team studies the hydrogeological aspects of riparian buffers. The goals of the project include:
  
  * Characterizing the hydrogeology at the site and determining if it is representative of the watershed or Iowa;
  
  * Understanding the fate and transport of nitrate in groundwater among different hydrogeological environments and different types and ages of buffers; and,
  
  * Developing innovative methods to help site new buffers and predicting their ability to remove nitrate in groundwater. "What we're seeing is that these buffers will remove nitrate
  in some places really well and not as well in others," Simpkins said. "It would be really helpful to find ways to design the buffers to improve their efficiency in this regard."
  
  Specifically Simpkins says his findings indicate that the hydrogeological setting in the watershed will have a direct effect on whether a riparian buffer will remove nitrate. "There is a need to understand the detailed hydrogeology of a buffer to predict how well it is actually going to work," he said. "We are using geochemistry and geophysics to help us do that."
  
  Despite working on the project for nearly 11 years, Simpkins says there is still plenty work to do.
  
  In fact the questions may never stop.
  
  "I didn't think I would be working on this project for this long of a time," he said. "We have expanded the project outside the Risdal farm, throughout the entire Bear Creek watershed, and even to other states.
  
  "Every time we test a new hypothesis, more questions come up," he continued. "There are still a lot of questions, particularly on the effect that plants, specifically large trees, have on groundwater flow and the uptake of nutrients."
  
  

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February 19-25, 2001

Ames, Iowa 50011, (515) 294-4111. Published by: University Relations, online@iastate.edu. Copyright © 1995-2004, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved.

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