By Steve Weisman

It’s been 34 years since I began my freelance writing career. Initially, my goal was to write about fishing and hunting, you know tips and hints to help improve readers’ (and my) success in these activities. Little did I realize that over the years, some of my topics would change and move more toward conservation efforts and taking stands on topics such as Iowans and their right to have public lands and the importance of clean water for all Iowans, especially for our future generations.

Over the years, I’ve become a loyal member of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Most certainly, I am a hunter, so it seems like these memberships would be a given. More so, I have come to believe in the conservation efforts of both organizations. I have written stories promoting the successes that they have achieved over the years.

I also spent 15 years as a member of the Emmet County Conservation Board and Foundation. This actually became my first personal effort in supporting conservation efforts for folks in my home county (at the time).

Being an accidental environmentalist

I had a kind of revelation at last year’s Okoboji Blue Water Festival when keynote speaker, Jon Bowermaster, a world-renowned writer, filmmaker and adventurer, and a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. As he gave his speech, Bowermaster shared that his “beat” as a writer has become the four corners of the world. He noted that everything really comes down to the fact that “everything in the world is water related.” He also noted, “Most people who become involved in a clean water issue become accidental environmentalists. They never planned to get involved until the issue came near to them.”

Whoa! Say what? Bowermaster was right. As issues have popped up over the past 10 years or so, I have been drawn to the topics and I, along with so many others, have become accidental environmentalists. Some have been easily solved and pretty much ended up a unanimous success. Others have caused folks, friends and neighbors, to take stands on different sides of the fence. No one ever said things would be easy.

Battling what Mother Nature dishes out

For the past three years, we have fought dry conditions, and our water levels crept lower and lower. Just like in 1992 and 2017, we worried that our water levels and lake levels would never come back. I think we know how that turned out, and the flooding that occurred.

The same holds true for us right now. Inches and inches of rain over a short period of time have caused farmland flooding, our lakes to rise to the point that we now have a No-Wake ordinance across the lakes in Dickinson County and damage to personal property, boats, docks, hoists and shorelines. So, we’re right where we were back in July of 2018 with a No-Wake ordinance. Unfortunately, extended forecasts continue to show good chances of rains, some potentially heavy. Right now, we’re grasping at straws. Our infrastructure is what it is. We must play things out the best that we can and HOPE the rains will diminish. Most importantly, we can be proactive and plan for the next one. It might be next year, and it might be years, but we don’t know.

Accidental Environmentalists

We have that opportunity right now! We are all being affected, and we can all do something, no matter how large or small, to help ease this type of situation if and when it comes around again.

First off, this is not just about these lakes. It’s about the entire watershed in the Iowa Great Lakes: all the water that comes from the north, the rivers, the streams, the tiles, all the cement and roads in our towns that eventually get to our lakes. When it arrives too quickly, well, that’s where we’re at right now.

This is where we can all do our part, both rural and urban dwellers. We need to find additional ways to slow our water down, to filter it so that our lakes don’t get overwhelmed. I know that landowners spend a lot of money on tiling to get the water off the land more quickly. However, that in itself can become an issue if it just goes directly into a ditch, to a stream and to a lake. A farming practice gaining momentum is the edge of field practices such as a vegetated buffer, grassed waterway, prairie strip, restored/constructed wetland, saturated buffer, etc.

How about in town? Well, first off, we can all make sure that our sump pumps are not emptied into the storm sewer system. Talk about putting pressure on the sanitary systems! Word from Steve Anderson, Superintendent of the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary System, is that there continues to be homeowners dumping their sump water into the sewer systems.

As we continue to develop our communities, more roads, more driveways…all causing more “unnatural” runoff! The more concrete and pavement, the more “unnatural” runoff will occur. We need to consider making environmental concessions here…like building retention ponds and wetlands that slow down water movement during wet times like this. Several of them strategically placed can make a huge difference. They can be both aesthetically pleasing and extremely valuable.

Property owners can slow down rainfall by adding rain barrels and building rain gardens capitalizing on a depressed area in a landscape that can collect rain water from a roof, driveway and maybe even a street. Rain gardens can be attractive with flowering perennials and native grasses. Their deep roots are key to holding the soil and slowing down runoff.

Join a protective association

These organizations work to protect and improve the water safety and quality along with

the environment of the lakes and their watersheds. The more the merrier truly fits in here! Help them do their work by becoming a member. Their annual membership probably costs less than a new dock post or plank. I’ve worked with several protective associations in the Iowa Great Lakes, and they have all had a positive impact on the lakes area. Yes, it’s voluntary, and it’s work, but it’s also meaningful and rewarding at the same time!

It’s your chance to make an organized difference, and you just might find yourself becoming an Accidental Environmentalist.

Water rushes over the Big Spirit Lake spillway, under the road and into the north end of East Okoboji.

Water rolls out of Lower Gar but is level with the river.