Jim,
put that 'Militant farmer and Environmentalist" in a signature line for all to see in all your posts. let 'em know where you really stand.
And keep planting them turnips and stuff.
It was interesting, to say the least, to watch some places in E WA go to no till and pulse rotation in their wheat fields. Did not necessarily agree with some of them killing the garbanzos with herbicide so they could harvest all at once (what a local there told me was the reason at least). But, from what I was told by a couple in the industry they cut back substantially on fertilizer (ammonia) use, had to perform less tractor work, and still kept production up.........and of course profit.
Of course, adding garbs, lentils, and peas to the equation requires handling machinery and storage and shipping and buyers/markets and such. Hard for some folks to deal with when they are "wheat" farmers and not militant farmers and environmentalists.
DD, with any luck that river/stream will restore itself, but not likely in any quick sense. Especially if folks continue to keep weeds away from their beaches and docks with herbicides. That system looks pretty fugged up for a bit. And killing off aquatic vegetation quickly has serious serious effects. Algae blooms and crashes kill bunches of fish and other critters. As to elevated N levels in the water and fish.......ask an aquaculturist about brown blood disease.
Geno
