Crawford Stewardship Project
Having appreciation for the beauty and topography of the Driftless region is the easy part. Declaring you are a steward of the land and consistently living up to that claim is another matter. For the past thirteen years, the Crawford Stewardship Project (CSP) has been a collective of individuals engaged in protecting and stewarding the land, the water, human beings and all living there.
CSP was formed by a coalition of individuals who came together as volunteers to halt the expansion of a pig CAFO in their county. For those who may not know, the term CAFO stands for Concentrated Animal Feed Operation, and refers to large-scale industrial agriculture.
Ironically, now a decade later, CSP is attempting to halt a new pig CAFO, three times the size of the original. If granted permission, this CAFO will be a short distance from the original and being constructed by the same owners. It is the proposed Roth Feeder Pig II. If allowed to go forward it will essentially create the single largest pig CAFO in Wisconsin and will be located in one of the most geologically sensitive places in the state. Why is this a concern? With CAFOs comes tens of millions of gallons of manure. Run off and ruptures in manure containment have become big concerns for clean drinking water, destruction of waterways and fish kills that accompany the manure spills in our area.
I have known of the efforts of CSP for many years. We have partnered in educational and legislative events, so I am happy having an opportunity to introduce their work.
One of the earliest founders, Edie Ehlert remains President of the Board, and today CSP pays staff to help the organization steer their efforts. Forest Jahnke is their Program Coordinator; Eli Mandel is the Community Engagement Coordinator, and Omarú Heras Ornelas heads up the Water Quality Monitoring Program.
A telephone conversation with Forest, reminded me again of the depth of study that one must undertake in order to “steward” the land. The steady transition from small farms to CAFO’s, the “get big or get out” mentality, the governmental partisanship, the legal power of corporate agriculture, and the very real topography of the Driftless, which we need to protect, are always at play.
Based out of Crawford County, CSP is not limited by borders and has worked with the surrounding counties of Vernon and Richland as well as grassroots and legislative organizations throughout the state and region. A recent CSP water-testing program was initiated to test the water quality in all three counties. The first round of nearly four hundred well tests have been completed, with a second round of four hundred tests due to begin in the spring. The counties, without state help, funded these tests. In addition, farmer-led organizations like Tainter Creek Watershed Council (https://watershed.fishersandfarmers.org/tainter-creek/) helped educate people on the reasons to test water.
These efforts take time and indicate the very real need we all have to support grassroots education and research. We must do this to ensure our fundamental resources are protected. Bringing diverse people together for common causes is key to grassroots efforts.
Pollution and extraction, CAFOs, high-capacity wells, cell phone towers and high-capacity power lines may not affect everyone, but those that are can find help through the Crawford Stewardship Project, to build organizational structures and bring about change.
One example of their grassroots organizing, was the creation of a moratorium on the building of new or expanding CAFOs in Crawford County. It began with “backyard” meetings and then Marietta Township passed a moratorium. The groundswell of support for the moratorium led to the enactment of a countywide moratorium - which is set to expire very soon.
Two local famer’s union chapters (Sterling - Crawford Local; Vernon / Crawford County Chapter), voted unanimously to continue the moratorium on building new or expanding CAFOs in Crawford County. They also voted unanimously for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to complete an EIS (environmental impact statement) on the proposed Roth Feeder Pig II. It will be this type of ongoing networking and the creation of coalitions, which will allow community “stewardship” to replace corporate “rights”.
In our conversation, Forest stressed that CSP is not necessarily against any of the above issues; it is a question of regulation. Fifty years ago, there was no need. A “gentleman’s” agreement and a handshake was enough. But the scale of operations and their environmental impacts are forcing us to consider these questions: who will benefit from the project, and what are the protections in place for the health, safety, and overall welfare of the people it may/will harm?
We must recon with the fact that many of the regulations from the ‘60’s are no longer valid and represent outdated and irrelevant studies. Now, we are often forced to mitigate the worst harms once they have occurred rather than preemptively stopping them. Getting ahead of the curve takes a tremendous effort. It requires education, endless amounts of patience, and an inability to accept the words “it cannot be done”. This is called stewardship and this is the work of the CSP.
Would we all wake to the recognition that stewardship belongs to all of us, we could make CSP irrelevant, but for now we need these hardworking cheerleaders, educators, scientists and farmers to keep on keeping on.
To learn more, you can view their website http://www.crawfordstewardship.org or their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CrawfordStewardshipProject
You can also contact Forest at (608) 632-2183, or fjahnke@crawfordstewardship.org
