07/11/2024
I was fortunate enough to have a uniquely Wisconsin experience the other day. As chair of the Agriculture & UW-Extension committee I was invited by Portage County Drainage District Chairman Paul Cieslewicz to meet him at his shop Bancroft, so we could tour the Portage County Drainage District to learn more about how it functions. The PC Drainage District has been mandated by State Statute Chapter 88 since 1905. He started me off with a plan view map of the entire district, and then some cross sections of the ditches to understand how they have been historically constructed. He then showed me some photos of the first steam barges that created the early iterations of the ditches which lead Central Wisconsin to being one of the greatest vegetable producing regions in the entire State. Paul drove me all around southern Portage County to view various conditions of the ditches. Ditches are meant to move water, so his philosophy is to keep them very tidy, free of debris, and accessible, so the water keeps moving. We saw every stage of ditch maintenance that entropy had to offer. There were ditches that we just cleaned up last year, some five years ago, another 20 years back, and one that hadn't been cleared or leveled since inception. That's where you'll notice the backhoe photo. A 100ft wide swath was cleared (as is recommended by chapter 88) to provide a clear corridor and flat area for future maintenance. He explained how the sand, gravel and debris from the old berm and ditch is used to create the flattened area, and how it's eventually planted with rye to prevent soil erosion. It's an invasive process, but eventually the area finds a place of stasis. It was an enlighting country cruise. We made our way back to Bancroft throught various back roads and I got to enjoy a little of Portage County that I don't often get to see. I did find some nice trout fishing holes too.
I stopped at Cheese Pleasers for a quick snack, because, well... Wisconsin. Picked up some cajun curds and landjaeger, because that's what guy who drive trucks like me eats for first lunch when it's 10am. And then I headed home up the road.
You could imagine my surprise when I found myself driving northward on Isherwood Road, and pulling into Justin Isherwood's farm on the off chance I'd catch him on a rainy Thursday morning. Sher'nuff! I swapped my drivers seat for his passenger's seat, and Justin took me on a ride through his neighborhood. He lended me his perspective on drainage district philosophy and practice, and again I listened, compared, and contrasted it with what I had heard just thirty minutes earlier. Justin is a philosopher farmer, so we went down many a rabbit hole of ideas and assumptions about what it means to be on this land, who we are as people, neighbors, and a community, and the very nature of potatoes and how they went from boiled sustenance to fried, gourmet perfection. He drove me past an impeccable field of row cropped potatoes that are being tested with various phases of nitrogen fertilizer applications, so agronomist can now just how much to feed, or not to feed, the crop on troubled soils, or sands, in these parts. It's a constant struggle to understand these lands and how the shift with a globally weirding climate and weather patterns. You'll see that Justin's soils are deep and rich with black earth, not very common in the Central Sands, but can be found at the bottom near the ditches, because water and nutrients flow down hill and accumulate near the ditches where deep rooted grasses, milkweed, wild hazelnut and cherry, and a tree row filled with whatever whirlybird, helicopters, acorns, or whomping willow cotton seeds found their way there to stretch out and plant themselves a home. We eventually found our way back to the Isherwood Lateral, where we paused to understand the fish who inhabit these waters. Trout can only live and spawn in incredibly clean water, and they prefer water that moves fast. We watched the fish moving through the stream, where Justin had added some structure to create habitat for these creatures. This works here because his portion of the stream is at the headwaters of the Drainage District and creating more of a stream ecosystem than a ditch doesn't really impact his down stream neighbors. The need for an immaculate ditch is lessen here. It is shoulder areas like this that allow for that balance between ecology and economy. It's shoulder areas like this that are critical for the pragmatist and the philosopher to find their common ground.
What I heard in both trucks was some philosophy, some pragmatism, some science, and country music, both about a vision of our land and community. I heard a lot about the law, expectation, past practices, and new visions. I asked a lot of questions to understand what farmers need, and where the fishermen fish. I heard little about neighborliness, family, and our historical tapestry, how we gotta work together, and a lot about mutual respect and regret. It's interesting to be the passenger just along for the ride. You can learn a lot when your quiet.
