Research Across the Field to Stream Continuum
A combination of plot, field, and stream-scale research is used to: isolate and understand the governing processes that control hydrological, water quality, and ecological responses; assess existing and novel management and conservation practices for their ability to reduce nutrient loss, enhance stream habitat and increase aquatic biodiversity; and synthesize the findings into practical land management approaches and tools.
Hydrologic technician Chelbeigh Routte analyzes soil samples in the lab to determine particle size distribution
Using in-field methods and lab techniques, Research Soil Scientist Will Osterholz is working to understand the connections between soil processes and water quality and how agricultural management impacts soil properties.
Biologist Katie Rumora downloads data from edge-of-field water quality monitoring equipment.
Working with producers, Research Leader and Agricultural Engineer Kevin King assesses and quantifies the impacts of conservation implementation on surface and subsurface water quality from their fields using automated monitoring and collection equipment.
Unit technicians collect fish from channelized agricultural headwater streams using backpack electrofishing equipment
Research Ecologist Rocky Smiley is evaluating fish-habitat relationships in channelized agricultural streams to identify the environmental factors that most strongly affect fish diversity and abundance.
A miniDot sensor captures stream metabolism data within a two-stage ditch at an EOF network site.
Research Hydrologist Nathan Reaver is using high frequency flow and water chemistry measurements to understand the coupled biogeochemical and ecohydrological dynamics driving nutrient cycling and transport across the field-to-stream continuum.
Mission
Management of excess water on agricultural lands, to reduce or prevent detrimental on-site and off-site impacts, is the most serious production problem facing agriculture in the cool, humid region of the U.S. Our mission is to develop integrated water, land, and crop management systems and conservation practices that support profitable agriculture and environmental protection within this region.