This American Land

Farmland Runoff, Maintaining National Parks, Rafti

Fertilizer nutrients from farmlands in the Midwest are carried downstream in the Mississippi Basin, causing the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico where virtually no marine life can survive. We profile a farmer in southwestern Iowa who has made it his mission to develop his farm as an example to others, using no-till seeding, multi-crop and pasture rotation, minimal fertilizing, and runoff filtering to keep the nutrients in his soil and prevent runoff. The backlog of deferred maintenance in national parks is a growing problem that needs Congress to act: we see the need for urgent maintenance and repairs at the Grand Canyon, the National Mall, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site in Atlanta. Rafting down the river through the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument.