ISAP’s Advanced Conservation Drainage Training program highlights practices like saturated buffers, constructed wetlands, controlled drainage, and bioreactors, which are designed to capture and treat high levels of nitrate-nitrogen from tile flow. Workshops provide participants with knowledge and tools to make conservation drainage practices a standard part of tile installation and farm management, through intensive classroom and hands-on training. A secondary goal of this training is to create a network of drainage designers, contractors, farmers, farm advisers, retailers, and conservation professionals that better understand the implementation and functioning of edge-of-field practices, and to support that network through ongoing communication, resources, and discussion forums. In 2019, three training sessions focusing on saturated buffers, constructed wetlands, and drainage water management were held throughout central Illinois.
The 2020 conservation drainage training was comprised of a three-part webinar series, “On the Leading Edge.” The first session provided an overview of hydrology, water quality, and conservation drainage; the second and third sessions examined conservation drainage at the practice and watershed scales. Information and session recordings are available on the ISAP website.
Multiple members of ISAP play a role in these trainings. Special recognition is given to TNC, The Wet-lands Initiative, and ILICA for their leadership in planning and delivering conservation drainage training.
For more information, see ilsustainableag.org/programs/advanced-conservation-drainage-training.
