by Mark Ludwig, candidate

Allegan County Drain Commissioner

America had a derecho on Aug. 10.   While Allegan County caught some windy rain storms from the fringes, NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center says this derecho tracked about 770 miles in 14 hours.

Iowa caught the full force of this “terrestrial hurricane” and remains a disaster with 43% of the field crops flattened and extensive property damage. We will eventually get our turn to be the bullseye for this kind of weather.

You need a radical drain commissioner to upgrade the landscape of Allegan County. I’m asking for support for that this November.

Humanity has broken the Earth’s climate. The degree of brokenness remains questionable, but this is not the gentle post-glacial climate that nurtured humanity as we became a globe dominating species. A quick Google search will yield dozens of unprecedented weather events. Size, ferocity and duration of storms increases steadily.

We cannot use old records of 20th century weather as a proper benchmark for how to build our infrastructure.   We must open our modern tool box of mapping, computer modeling and disaster coordination to prepare for weather events like the one that tore through the Corn Belt this week.   We are long past the time for incremental progress and satisfaction with small ideas. It’s time to upgrade the Allegan County drainage system quickly and comprehensively. It is time for radical action.

Perhaps you believe these problems don’t apply to Allegan County. Many of us, myself included, live on high, sandy ground. Water problems are typically solved with gutters on the house or some landscaping. However we set a county record for USDA Prevented Planting Acres in 2019 at 25,681 acres, meaning 21% of USDA insured fields were unplanted due to flooding.

The USA had 19.4 million unplanted acres that year. The Great Lakes all hit record highs in 2020, coastal flooding driven by west winds takes the water already standing in the streets of Saugatuck up another foot during storms. While all of us hope we have hit the peak water level, it is not guaranteed. This brings us to drain commissioners.

At European settlement, Allegan County, like the rest of Southern Michigan, had a problem. Water. The retreating glaciers left behind hundreds of feet of soil, forming layers of sand and clay by a process called sorting. These sorted layers often trap ground water in shallow water tables as the heavy clay layers slow the ability of gravity to pull water into the deeper soil. Where open water pooled, wetlands formed muck soils high in carbon.

Clay and muck soils both chemically bond to water, sandy layers with clay underneath can too. In short, Allegan County soils can hold a lot of water. Drainage was critical to forming the highly modified landscape we live on today.  Ditches, drain tile, culverts and storm sewers all modify our landscape by controlling water.

The Michigan Drain Code gives considerable power to county drain commissioners to establish, improve, maintain and regulate these drains.

Most of the 825 drains in Allegan County aim to move water efficiently to a destination, often Lake Michigan via the Kalamazoo River and its tributaries. Moving water quickly is a good idea for your home gutters, but slowing it down where appropriate is important in a world with massive derechos and stationary fronts that rain on you for days. A drain right of way holds a lot more flood water if it’s dug wider into a Two-stage ditch.

Planned floodways that drown corn fields during a flooding emergency rather than small towns save millions of dollars in damages. A smart drain commissioner would find a way to compensate that farmer. We have the computer modeling capacity in Allegan County’s GIS department to use Michigan LiDAR data to begin mapping and modeling our drainages for the runoff loads of today.

This computer-based, highly accurate topographic map will revolutionize planning and modeling. I would seek to model the drainage system of the county to plan a comprehensive storm water emergency management plan. This analysis will be widely shared with the public to seek voluntary landowner cooperation to expand two-stage ditch construction in critical areas across the county.

I will also purchase the necessary drone based LiDAR technology to provide highly efficient site surveys for construction purposes and detect significant soil erosion events to help establish fair drain cleaning assessments when digging out clogged drains after soil erosion events.

Excessive soil loss is illegal in Michigan, whether on farms or construction sites. I’ll go ahead and quote from the Nutrient Utilization GAAMPS 2020  (Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices, the minimum standards for agriculture in Michigan.) Page 15, “Use soil erosion control practices to minimize nutrient runoff and soil loss. Soil erosion and runoff can result in a loss of soil and nutrients from cropland, which reduce the land’s productivity and increase the need for nutrient inputs. Sediment and sediment-borne nutrients are two types of non-point source pollution, which can be carried from cropland by runoff causing degradation of surface water. Whenever possible, soil and water conservation practices should be used, both to protect soil productivity and to control and minimize the risk of non-point source pollution to surface waters. Examples of such practices are conservation tillage, crop rotations, strip cropping, contour planting, cover crops, vegetative filter strips between cultivated cropland and adjacent surface waters, and runoff control structures. When choosing soil and water conservation practices for a particular site, consider factors, such as land slope, surface residue or vegetative conditions, crop rotations, soil texture, and drainage. Local conservation districts and the NRCS can provide technical assistance for producers to plan and implement conservation practices.”

See the current NRCS-FOTG (USDA-NRCS) for more information on conservation practice standards and specifications.” For Construction, here is the link. The simple change of assessing responsibility for easily documented soil loss will incentivize modern farming practices such as no till and cover cropping on farms and good attention to other sources of erosion as well. Soil health improvement on the farm will allow more water to soak into the crop fields across Allegan County.

Our towns can do better, too. Local governments need support to make the best decisions for public drainage. Every landowner should be considering drainage issues to protect their property from damaging storm water flooding. The drain office could help guide these voluntary efforts and provide information on individual flood risk once proper drainage modeling is in place.

A radical drain commissioner would call the flood insurance companies and work on partnerships to reduce rates. Michigan’s roads, food system and economy rely on proper drainage to function and serve us all. We need to take this very seriously.

I had the great fortune to interview for a position in the Allegan Drain Office a few years ago. During that interview I asked our incumbent drain commissioner what she was doing to get ready for climate change. She said, “Nothing.”

I invite her reply if I am mistaken about her position. Her GOP has for some decades lied and dithered about climate change. The Democrats by contrast have provided weak tea and half measures. The absurdity of this reminds me of a children’s book.

I offer to be your Lorax . The children’s book Published in 1971 by Theo Geisel AKA Dr. Seuss was followed by a 1972 TV special. The Lorax is a runty, grumpy, hairy pest who speaks for the trees, fish, water and other critters. As a long time farmer, conservation professional, nature nerd and runty, hairy pest I’m well prepared for this role. Much like the Lorax from the recent movie , I want the marshmallows and other comforts of modernity just like you do (see clip @ 2:30 ).

To keep our comfortable life and maintain our environment, we need to get ready quickly. Many of our flooding issues are already well understood and have clear solutions. Some are large and expensive, such as a floodgate at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River to limit flooding during wind storms. Some are as simple as rain gardens or better soil management. Expanded two-stage channels could become the common across the county over a very few years if an aggressive promotion and development campaign was undertaken.

I’m ready to be your radical Drain Commissioner. Your Lorax speaking for the trees, soil, water and future. Are you ready?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mark Ludwig, a farmer from the Fennville area, is the Democratic candidate for drain commissioner, opposing Republican incumbent Denise Medemar.