Water is life! Ensuring a healthier future for our children
A Q&A with Miranda Haes, DNR
Miranda Haes is the 2020 and 2021 winner of a Circle of Excellence Award. At the time of the award, she was the Lower Skunk River Water Quality and Soil Health Initiative Project Coordinator. In that role, she worked with landowners to implement conservation practices such as bioreactors, saturated buffers, and cover crops to name a few. The project also provides education and outreach.
Miranda is now with the DNR as the NE Iowa Basin Coordinator. She provides support to 319 projects and provides resources for Water Management Authority projects in the area.
Why are you passionate about conservation and the work that you do?
Water is life! It is the single most important resource in need of protection to thrive on this planet in all aspects - from ALL sentient beings to that which grows from the earth. Without clean, healthy, readily available water, no species would survive. This is why I'm passionate about my current position as well as the previous. In a small way I can help groups and projects fulfill this goal, to clean up our waterways, whether it be for drinking, recreation, and all that water provides us. It is up to all of us, not only those of us in the water quality fields, to do what we can to ensure a healthier future for our children and our children's children. Every single human has this responsibility. When we all work together, this effort can and will be accomplished.
How do you envision Iowa's future when it comes to conservation and agriculture?
I truly believe that if we ALL work together, urban, rural, and everywhere in between, that there is a very good chance we can have the clean water this state once had. But it has to be a concerted effort that we each take personally.
What are farmers doing in your community that's making a difference?
Farmers are putting cover crops in, reducing their nutrient inputs, and talking! Peer-to-peer discussions are what gets practices in place. The project is a work in progress, and will continue to be so as long as the need is present.
What is your favorite conservation innovation?
My favorite conservation innovation is cover crops with no-till. The impact this practice makes, especially when used year after year on the same ground, will improve soil health as well as contribute to water quality endeavors.
How did your Watershed Award impact you, your community, and your work?
As a PC, receiving the award was very gratifying. Sometimes one doesn't realize how much work goes into a project area until writing up the accomplishments of the past year. By going through this process one witnesses all that has been done, especially the team work from the partners that make the projects possible. It's a wonderful thing to see. As for the community and the work, the award afforded the project to showcase its successes via media outlets far and wide, bringing in new project landowners to utilize provided funding opportunities for conservation practices.