A Family Farm Receives Upgrades with WPC Support
For many years, the Dilts’ dairy farm in Indiana, Pa. flooded regularly, and their cows had open access to the nearby stream, neither of which was beneficial to the livestock or the stream. With the help of the Conservancy’s Watershed Conservation Program, the Dilts were able to make improvements that resolved those problems and enhanced the water quality of the local watershed.
Contractors prepare to install a pond to help control excessive runoff during storm events.
Owner Bob Dilts said, “With farming conditions the way they are today, we didn’t have extra money to do any of the improvements the Conservancy did with us.” The Dilts family has farmed the property since 1917.
Because of large amounts of water runoff from a neighboring farm, the Dilts had replaced their undersized drain system four times. In October 2011, WPC worked with them to replace it with a much bigger system using funding from the Department of Environmental Protection. Also installed was a “dry pond,” designed to collect storm water runoff. When the pond is empty, the cattle graze in it and keep the grass trimmed.
Stabilized walkways and alternative watering sources were used on the Dilts’ farm to reduce sediment and nutrient impacts and improve herd management.
WPC also installed fencing to keep the cattle from roaming into the stream and eliminated an erosion problem that was causing large amounts of sediment to flow into Ross Run watershed.
“This project is a prime example of how cost can be the limiting factor for agriculture operations to install water quality best management practices,” said Alysha Trexler, WPC watershed scientist.