History of Dodge County Healthy Soil Healthy Water Alliance and Farmer’s Group
In 2015 the Dodge County Land Conservation Committee formed a Citizen’s Task Force with the charge to, “Devise a workable plan to address the issue of nonpoint source pollution.” This group was made up of farmers, representatives from the three Dodge County Lake Groups, the DNR, the Dodge County Conservation Dept. and the UW Ext.
It was a dedicated group of 20 to 30 participants who met monthly. A group that recognized in order to solve the problem we had to work together…finger pointing would not help. Property owners on our lakes and waterways also needed to better manage runoff and erosion.
Early decisions made by the group:
- There is no silver bullet to solve nonpoint pollution
- Many tools in tool chest – cover crops, no till, etc for agriculture, native gardens for lake property owners and nutrient planning for both groups
- Voluntary compliance better than government regulation
- Farmers listen to and are influenced more by their peers than any other group.
- Thus the formation of a separate group of just farmers – The Dodge County Farmers for Healthy Soil/Healthy Water.
- The larger organization the Dodge County Alliance for Healthy Soil/Healthy Water would consist of everyone: farmer, lake property owner, government and business and have the mission of building a community dedicated to soil and water health.