After the assessment is complete, a panel of ex-
perts from EPA and the academic and agricultural
communities will discuss the options for redesign-
ing land use and farming practices to prevent or
reduce their environmental impacts. The panel
will present their recommendations to land own-
ers who may then choose to adjust their landscape
management and farming practices. Research
teams will subsequently monitor the ecological re-
sponses in the watershed to determine the
effectiveness of the new practices.
For example, if sediment is diagnosed as the
primary cause of damage to an aquatic habitat
within the watershed, conservation tillage in areas
susceptible to severe erosion would be encour-
aged. Trees or other vegetation might be planted
along stream banks to further reduce stream siltation
and movement of chemicals into aquatic ecosystems.
Where chemicals are the primary cause of en-
vironmental damage, the panel might recommend
that wetlands be strategically placed or restored in
areas where chemicals are most likely to concen-
trate, providing ecological "treatment plants."
Recommendations for pollution prevention
methods, such as decreasing pesticide applica-
tion rates using new application technology or
changing the timing of fertilizer applications,
would also be considered.
Establishment of terrestrial habitats or
connecting corridors in sensitive areas using
natural vegetation or woodland crops is yet
another option.
Interagency Coordination
MASTER is a major component of EPA's
Nonpoint Sources Research Issue and is fully coor-
dinated with USDA's Management Systems
Evaluation Areas (MSEA) research project. To-
gether they constitute a comprehensive
multi-agency effort to develop and evaluate the ef-
fects of alternative farming practices on surface
and ground water in the Midwest in response to
the President's Water Quality Initiative. Partici-
pants in MAcrrER and MSEA include the US.
Environmental Protection Agency, US. Depart-
ment of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS), State agricultural and pollution
control agencies, and various academic and con-
sulting institutions. The MSEA program
emphasizes research on the transport and fate of
agricultural chemicals and the effects of farm man-
agement systems on resulting surface and
groundwater quality in midwestern agricultural
systems. MASTER expands the scope of study to
include the terrestrial, aquatic, and subsurface eco-
logical effects of current and proposed
management systems. The current MSEA pro-
gram is a prototype that, if successful, will later be
applied to other types of agricultural systems
across the country. A joint interest of both MSEA
and MASTER is the development and application
of methods to scale-up the watershed research re-
sults to the Western Corn Belt Plains Ecoregion
and ultimately to the entire Midwest.
Another closely related research project is the
joint EPA-USDA Integrated Farm Management
System (BFMS) initiative. The goal of IFMS is to
evaluate a range of farm unit management and
technology options to maintain or increase farm
productivity while protecting and enhancing hu-
man and environmental health. IFMS will take a
holistic, systems-level approach to studying the
agroecosystem. While IFMS is an independent ini-
tiative, it is aimed at extending agroecosystem
research performed under MASTER and MSEA.
For More Information
For additional information on the MASTER pro-
gram, contact
Dr. Robert Swank, MASTER Matrix Manager
US. Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Research Laboratory
College Station Road
Athens, GA 30613-0801
(706)546-3128
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA/600/F-92/029
September 1992
Office of Research and Development
4>EPA MASTER
Midwest
Agrichemical
Surface/
Subsurface
Transport and
Effects
Research
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The MASTER Program
The goal of the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) Midwest Agrichemical Surface/
Subsurface Transport and Effects Research (MAS-
TER) Program is to provide the scientific and
ecological basis for the development of agricul-
tural management practices that both promote
economically sustainable agroecosystems and pre-
vent the degradation of the nation's water quality
and ecological resources. MASTER will empha-
size the interaction among agricultural systems
and surrounding terrestrial and aquatic ecosys-
tems, including surface and groundwater
interactions. MASTER will provide the tools and
the methods for evaluating and predicting the ef-
fectiveness of alternative farming practices on
ecosystems protection, starting at the watershed
scale, then moving to the landscape and regional
scale and for quantifying ecological risks from ag-
ricultural pollution.
MASTER combines the talents and missions of
EPA Office of Research and Development labora-
tories in Athens, GA; Ada, OK; Duluth, MN;
Corvallis, OR; and Las Vegas, NV.
EPA is cooperating with the US. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) in developing decision-support
systems to help land owners select agricultural prac-
tices that best protect the ecosystems on their land
white maintaining agricultural productivity.
The Problem
Agricultural activity in the Midwest during the
past century has dramatically altered the land-
scape. Populations of fish and wildlife have been
drastically fragmented and reduced; this increases
their vulnerability to extinction. Many agricultural
practices leave soil exposed to erosion by rainwa-
ter. Elimination of wooded zones along streams
has resulted in increased stream temperatures and
increased deposition of eroded soil in ponds,
lakes, and streams, causing losses of bottom habi-
tat and fish spawning grounds.
Unnecessarily heavy applications of insecti-
cides, herbicides, and nutrients are sometimes
applied to agricultural lands. Some of the pesti-
cides that have moved into our streams and
underground aquifers are believed to be associ-
ated with cancer, birth defects, and other
reproductive problems. Levels of nitrates in
drinking water wells are above levels of concern in
some areas. Excess pesticides elevate toxic stresses
to both terrestrial and aquatic plants and animals.
Frequently, nutrients from agricultural sources
cause proliferation of algae in ponds, lakes, and es-
tuaries. The resulting reduction in dissolved
oxygen kills aquatic plant and animal life. Ammo-
nia toxicity in ponds and streams may also occur.
The draining and filling of wetlands and pot-
holes to increase acreage for crop production
continues to reduce the ecosystems's capacity to
transform and assimilate chemical contaminants.
This also has eliminated vital habitats for many
plant and animal species.
Research Approach
The Walnut Creek watershed of the Iowa Man-
agement Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) is the
major study focus for MASTER, although
projects will be conducted at other research sites
as well. Researchers will complete an assessment
of the Walnut Creek ecosystem in 1993, including
hydrology and aquatic and terrestrial compo-
nents' quality. This assessment will add to EPA's
understanding of the rates and pathways of
chemical movement through the landscape and
surface water and groundwater system, the expo-
sure of various biological systems to
agrichemicals and the effects of these exposures
as functions of proposed management and pro-
duction systems.
EPA Laboratories Conducting Research at Walnut Creek
AQUATIC ASSESSMENTS
TERRESTRIAL ASSESSMENTS
Environmental
Research Laboratory
Corvallis, Oregon
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
SYSTEM
Environmental
Monitoring Systems
Laboratory
Las Vegas, Nevada
Environmental
Research Laboratory
Duluth, Minnesota
WATERSHED ASSESSMENT
PREDICTIVE MODELING
Environmental
Research Laboratory
Athens, Georgia
GROUNDWATER ASSESSMENTS
SUBSURFACE ECOLOGY
R.S. Kerr
Environmental
Research Laboratory
Ada, Oklahoma
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