Martye Griffin
Martye Griffin represents the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) on the board of Yahara Pride Farms. As MMSD’s director of ecosystem services, one of his responsibilities is ensuring that the district meets the environmental requirements under its discharge permit.
Martye also is president of the Yahara Watershed Improvement Network (Yahara WINS). Its mission is to achieve clean water goals for the watershed. Yahara WINS is composed of community partners led by the MMSD. The partners are collaborating on an adaptive management program in which all sources of phosphorus in the watershed work together to reduce nutrient runoff over a 20-year period. The work began in the full watershed in 2017 following a four-year pilot effort, according to Yahara WINS.
One of the goals was (and is) to meet permit limits for phosphorus and improve water quality by reducing the amount of phosphorus in the water. Preventing pollutants, such as phosphorus, from running off the land and into the water in the first place improves water quality. The State of Wisconsin allowed MMSD, through watershed adaptive management, to begin working on efforts to reduce phosphorus in the Yahara Watershed. This was a way to meet permit compliance. Their representatives met with farmers (who would later form Yahara Pride Farms) to help prevent nutrient runoff. Through cost-share funding from Yahara WINS and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, the farmers began implementing different conservation practices with the goal of reducing phosphorus runoff.
Yahara WINS’ cost-share funding for Yahara Pride Farms has increased since 2017. There are more farmers willing to participate in the program than there are resources to support their efforts and that’s a challenge, Martye says.
More open land is being developed for residential and commercial uses. That leads to more impervious surfaces and more runoff. The increasing number of extreme weather events also has created challenges.
“We need more open space (to help infiltrate water),” he says.
He adds that with ever-increasing profit margins, it’s difficult for farmers to start new conservation practices.
Martye says that the network of partners in Yahara Pride Farms has been a positive thing. It helps leverage funding in the area, which helps conservation efforts go farther. It also helps sustain the practices so they continue to be implemented.
“This is critical because a lot of the great conservation practices that do a great job of reducing runoff must be implemented year after year,” he says.
He adds that when partners such as lake property owners and farmers understand what each other does there’s less finger pointing and better results.
He applauds Yahara Pride Farms’ leaders for remaining committed to Yahara WINS’ efforts
“It takes strong leadership to make this work,” he says.