From CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE FOOD TECHNOLOGY
CIFT Agribusiness Forum will address the “Value and Benefits of Dredge Sediment on Farm and Agriculture Lands in Northwest Ohio,” Thursday, March 18 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Click to register for the webinar.
Ohio’s Lake Erie harbors need to be dredged to keep the shipping channels open so commodities can move in and out of the ports. Historically, most of the dredged material was disposed of in Lake Erie’s open waters, adding large amounts of sediment and nutrients and impacting water quality. Ohio prohibited the practice of open lake disposal, effective July 1, 2020. Ohio is working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local stakeholders to develop projects to beneficially use dredged sediment as a resource.
This webinar will dive into work from both the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) and Bowling Green State University. Ohio EPA will share data collected on the agronomic and geotechnical properties of the dredged sediment to evaluate its suitability for upland and aquatic beneficial uses.
Bowling Green State University will share their findings from a recent study that investigated the potential to use dredged sediment as a benefit for farm soil amendment, marketable soil, and ecosystem restoration projects.
The speakers will be:
- Dr. Angélica Vázquez-Ortega, Assistant Professor at the School of Earth, Environment and Society in Bowling Green State University. Dr. Angélica Vázquez-Ortega obtained her B.S. in Environmental Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico in 2002 and her M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in 2008 and 2013, respectively. Her expertise is in geochemistry, soil health, and water quality. Her current research interests are: (1) determining the nutrient (P, N) and carbon distribution in agricultural soils subjected to different agricultural best management practices, (2) determining the benefits associated with amending agricultural soils with dredged material from Western Lake Erie, (3) and determining the role of dissolved organic matter in P sorption onto Fe-oxide filters.
- Dr. Vanessa Steigerwald Dick Lead Environmental Scientist at Ohio EPA’s Dredge Material Program. Dr. Vanessa Steigerwald Dick has been employed by Ohio EPA for over 27 years, providing advanced technical expertise on hundreds of projects ranging from Superfund site cleanups, brownfields redevelopment, dredge material beneficial use, and the development of guidance, rules and standards. She obtained her B.S. in Environmental Science from The Ohio State University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 1994.
