The Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Natural Resources, and the Partnership for the Saginaw Bay Watershed will be hosting a presentation on Michigan's Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program, on August 1, at 7 p.m. at the Bay City State Recreation Area Visitors Center.

Tom Young, verifier for the Michigan Department of Agriculture's MAEAP program, will present the overall MAEAP framework, and discuss environmental risk assessment on farms participating in the Program. This presentation will include environmental outcomes achieved through MAEAP participation, such as sediment and phosphorus reductions to Michigan waterways. Additional discussion will focus on MAEAP and agriculture's role in reducing phosphorus levels in the Saginaw Bay.

Young's presentation is the fifth in a series of discussions that will occur over the next few months on phosphorus impacts on Saginaw Bay and approaches to reduce these impacts, a priority issue identified through the Saginaw Bay Coastal Initiative.

Details of the Saginaw Bay Coastal Initiative and additional information are available online at http://www.michigan.gov/deq under "Issues to Watch."

Editor's note: DEQ news releases are available on the department's Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

"Protecting Michigan's Environment, Ensuring Michigan's Future"

Revised July 29, 2008 by Pat Watson