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Beginning in 2002, Lake Region Resource Conservation
and Development (RC&D) compiled a Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy
(WRAPS) for the Marais des Cygnes (MDC) Basin, the first basin-wide WRAPS
Project. The plan brought together community leaders to discuss the basin's
current issues, future needs and implementation strategies. Residents identified
the basin's priority water resources, determined watershed threats and defined
opportunities for restoration during the preparation of the plan.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE)
approved the WRAPS final draft in 2003, which includes the latest geographic
watershed maps, reports and reference materials, all designed to help residents
better understand water quality issues of the MDC Basin. In addition, the plan
includes information on future water management to preserve and improve quality
of life for the people choosing to live in the MDC Basin.
The Marais des Cygnes Forestry Initiative identified
the following goal: "To restore and protect water quality in the Marais des
Cygnes Basin by restoring, protecting and enhancing riparian woodland and
associated vegetation along identified high priority Total Maximum Daily Load
(TMDL) streams."
Partnerships are focused among residents, landowners,
businesses, municipalities and local, State and Federal agencies to implement
best management practices within the MDC Basin. Specific areas include:
promoting involvement of the MDC Basin's TMDL implementation process and working
with area entities on issues surrounding storm water and source water
protection. Key community members and volunteers will work with staff to
implement basin protection measures as identified by the WRAPS and directed by
the basin's TMDL report.
The MDC Riparian Forestry Initiative continues to
assist landowners in the basin to plant and manage trees along streams to
improve water quality. The Forestry Initiative focuses on forestry best
management practices for restoring and protecting water quality. Installing
forest buffers along riparian areas decreases stream bank erosion, provides
filtration of pollutants entering waterways and reduces sediment entering the
streams.
The Initiative includes two primary targets:
restoration and education. To read more about the Marais des Cygnes Forestry
Initiative and it's restoration and education projects, click on the link below
to view the 2002-2008 Progress Report.
2002-2008 Marais des Cygnes
Forestry Initiative Progress Report
Marais
des Cygnes Forestry Initiative Brochure
The Marais des Cygnes Basin
The Marais des Cygnes Basin is a vital
natural resource, providing drinking water and other domestic uses including
municipal and industrial uses, recreational opportunities, agricultural
benefits, wildlife habitats and other benefits to thousands of residents in
portions of 13 counties in east central Kansas. The basin is
characterized by increasing development expanding from the Kansas City area;
growing recreational demands and municipal needs; a robust agriculture
comprised of feed grain production, grazing lands, and confined animal
feeding operations, especially dairy and beef cattle; and critical wildlife
habitat, including the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area, a natural wetland
providing habitat for migratory waterfowl.
The 1990 total population for the Marais des Cygnes Basin in Kansas was 110,023.
The Kansas Water Office projects an increase to 177,000 by 2040. Similar growth
is taking place in Missouri. The Marais des Cygnes Basin includes four HUC-8
subwatersheds: Upper Marais des Cygnes (10290101), Lower Marais des Cygnes
(10290102), Little Osage (10290103) and Marmaton (10290104).
Watershed planning has
occurred throughout this basin. During 2002, several local Kansas entities
conducted TMDL educational efforts. The Lake Region RC&D and K-State
Research and Extension offices co-sponsored public tours and a workshop to
develop a Watershed Restoration Action Plan. During those sessions,
residents identified the basin’s water resources, determined watershed
threats and defined opportunities for restoration. A watershed protection
plan was completed for Melvern Lake’s 223,360-acre watershed. A Hillsdale
Watershed Resource Plan, for the 92,000-acre watershed, has also been
completed.
 Identified
impairments in the basin’s streams include: dissolved oxygen, nutrient
loading and fecal coliform bacteria. Low dissolved oxygen levels typically
coincide with an abundance of algae and are associated with heavy organic
matter and nutrients. Sources of fecal coliform bacteria found in the
streams are human and warm-blooded animal waste. The impairments in the
basin’s lakes include eutrophication, excessive biomass and sediment.
Forester Works Throughout
Marais des Cygnes Basin
 Ryan
Neises serves as Watershed Forester, Ecotone Forestry, for the Marais des
Cygnes Watershed. He works with the Marais des Cygnes Watershed Riparian
Forestry Initiative sponsored by Lake Region Resource Conservation &
Development (RC&D).
Neises not only provides technical assistance to
landowners with riparian tree plantings and managing existing forestland
within the basin, but provides on the ground assistance in implementing
forestry practices. He also delivers forestry workshops and educational
presentations to stakeholders. Practices are made possible through an EPA
319 Clean Water Act grant administered through the Kansas Department of
Health and Environment, sponsored by Lake Region RC&D.
Lake Region RC&D,
the Kansas Forest Service and the Hillsdale Water Quality Project partner in
this joint effort to improve water quality in the Marais des Cygnes River
Basin by implementing best management practices long streams and increasing
vegetation and forest areas along stream banks.
For more information contact Neises at 785-242-2073 or
Ryan.Neises@ks.usda.gov.
Watershed Forester
Biography
Ryan D. Neises
Watershed Forester
Ottawa, KS 66067
Phone: 785-242-2073
Fax: 785-242-5568
Ryan Neises grew up in Independence, Kan. He attended Kansas State
University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Park Resource
Management. He also received a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the
University of Missouri.
Before coming back to Kansas, he worked for Missouri
Department of Conservation, U.S. Forest Service and Table Rock State Park in
Missouri. He also worked two seasons with Kansas Department of Wildlife and
Parks.
Neises began working as the Marais des Cygnes Basin
Forester June 7, 2004. He is now an employee of Lake Region Resource Conservation
and Development in Ottawa,
Kansas serving the watershed locally.
Landowners Reap Benefits of Initiative
Since the Marais des Cygnes (MdC) Riparian Forestry Initiative
began in December 2003, landowners, with the assistance from the MdC Watershed
Forester Ryan Neises, installed more than 1,220 acres of Best Management
Practices (BMPs) along 158,607 linear feet of streams. BMPs include timber stand
improvement and tree plantings.
Through one-on-one site visits with landowners, the watershed
forester met with more than 222 landowners. Neises also provides the required
maintenance needed to ensure a better survival rate of BMPs installed.
Initiative interest continues to grow. During the fourth year of
the program alone, the same number of acres were restored, improved or planted
as the combined number of the first three years of the Intiative.
The MdC Riparian Forestry Initiative will continue to increase
its focus on high priority areas like the Hillsdale Watershed. For more
information about the Initiative, cost-share assistance or to schedule a site
visit, contact Ryan Neises at (785)242-2073.
Event and Initiative Promotion:
Hoffman Neighborhood Meeting, Oct. 27, 2009- press
release
Hoffman Neighborhood Meeting, Oct. 27, 2009- event
brochure
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