Thanks to Mother Nature providing us with a much drier than usual fall, I am happy to report that nearly all the planned best management practices have been installed and are beginning to perform their duties. The fescue filter strips are growing, but some had to be re-seeded and are still not up to a stand. Most, however, are still growing and keeping the soil on the fields, not in the lakes. Overfall pipes with slotted inlets and/or freeboard risers are in place and performing the task for which they were intended. Deep Hollow cotton and soybean fields have been made ready. They have been seeded with wheat, which is filtering the runoff due to rains. The wheat will be burned down in the spring and no-till planting will be done. Herbicides will be applied by a hooded sprayer with sensors to spray only where grasses and other weeds are present. Due to the dry fall, much work has already been done at Beasley Lake watershed in preparation for conventional-till planting practices in 1996. This gives us an opportunity to take a good look at the difference in no-till on Deep Hollow and conventional tillage on Beasley.

The greatest accomplishment in my mind of MDMSEA has been the cooperation and dedication of the farm owners and operators along with the many agencies (private, state, and federal) in getting the project up and running in 1996. For example, NRCS postponed other work to make the necessary field surveys to get the BMPs installed and private contractors put the installation work first on their agenda. Delta Wildlife Foundation and U S Fish and Wildlife made available the 34 overfall pipes at no cost to the project and delivered them to the contractors where they were needed. An aerial applicator postponed end of season maintenance of his plane to get the wheat flown on the Deep Hollow no-till fields. Corps of Engineers personnel faxed papers to DEQ and EPA and we received permission to put a planned pipe on a farmed wetland in one day (this process normally takes 6 to 9 weeks). This enabled us to get the pipe installed before wet weather prevented us from completing it in 1995. The Corps of Engineers also provided wetland expertise in planning storm event studies with USGS on Beasley woodland. ARS is almost finished installing the shallow wells (5, 10, & 15 feet) to study groundwater. They have installed all the water quality sensing stations in the 3 lakes and are collecting data. Plans are to rotenone the lakes in August of 1996 and restock them. The USDA Animal Damage Control group has agreed to manage the beavers for us so that the cleansing of the lakes will be effective and lake levels will be maintained. The Soil and Water Commission provided much needed funds to fill the gap in funding left when MSU did not get the requested funds for 1995. Some 319 funds from the Model Farm Program paid for the BMPs on Deep Hollow. CFSA provided cost share funds for Beasley Lake watershed and DWF and USF&W supplied the overfall pipes. This saved the project much needed funds and enabled BMPs to be installed in 1995. USGS is well on the way (in spite of being furloughed) to completing the installation of 9 planned storm event automatic water sampling stations. Two farmers have agreed to plant BT cotton and non-BT cotton on adjacent fields so that insecticide application can be compared. The Mississippi Farm Bureau Foundation has made a tape of the MDMSEA Project and devoted its entire weekly program on January 27 & 28 to it. The Delta Council Water Resources Committee has endorsed the project and is aiding in informing the farmers through out the Delta. Meetings have been held with the farmers of each of the 3 lakes. They wholeheartedly support MSEA and have provided much information about their past farming practices. Soils maps, herbicide and insecticide applications, and well locations and well drillers? logs have been provided by consultants, YMD Water Management District, and Land and Water Division of DEQ. DEQ Water Quality Division has collected samples from all the irrigation wells on and around the 3 watersheds and checked them for contamination. Meetings of the Advisory Committee and the Technical Steering Committee have been held and their recommendations followed.

Thank all of you for your efforts. With this kind of cooperation, we can say that the Mississippi. Delta MSEA Project is going to be a model for the other MSEAs throughout the USA.

Frank Gwin Jr.
Project Coordinator

601-455-4552 (voice)
601-453-1278 (fax)
mdmsea@tecinfo.com (email)