COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports the River Valley OHV Park in Council Bluffs, will remain closed for 2019 due to necessary cleanup following floods and a major fire this past summer. The 360-acre park is located just east of the Missouri River and adjacent to a levy that often causes excessive amounts of standing water for extended periods of time following flooding events. After a period of closure, the park was open from 2017 until May 2018 when an illegal campfire destroyed the park and created unsafe conditions for users. Following the fire, several flooding events have occurred which delayed addressing the hazards.

Cleanup work can only take place between November and March due to the Indiana Bat being present in the area. The Indiana Bat is a native of North America and is commonly found in the Midwest and is on the endangered species list. This, coupled with the weather conditions, has created a challenge for the DNR to find a time for potential contractors to evaluate the area on-site in safe conditions and form a plan of removal of the debris.

The park will remained closed until further notice. The park has signage posted and all use of the park is restricted, including motorized and non-motorized recreation. Any violators will be charged with trespassing.

(Radio Iowa) –More than two dozen Iowa state parks are hosting so-called First Day Hikes next Tuesday — on New Year’s Day, free hikes guided by park staff. Todd Coffelt, chief of the Iowa D-N-R’s State Parks Bureau, says hikers get the chance to experience the quiet beauty of nature in winter as well as spectacular views and a host of cultural treasures offered by Iowa’s state parks.  “The ability for people to get out and exercise in a controlled environment,” Coffelt says. “You have other people there, you have the support. A lot of the locations have a warming house so there’s going to be a fire going, some coffee and hot cocoa. This is the best way to get started on some of those resolutions.”

Many parks have hosted the First Day Hikes for five years now with 27 parks participating this time. Coffelt says the hikes are a great way to get outside, exercise, enjoy nature and welcome the New Year with friends and family, in addition to learning about the parks. “You’re going to see wildlife, you’re going to see birds, you’re going to see the habitat as it exists in these beautiful areas that we have, and all the while, you’re going to be going through the hike, listening and following and watching,” Coffelt says. “Before you know it, it’ll be over and you’ll have your steps in for the day, you’ll get started on the resolution and hopefully, you’ll make a new friend.”

The hikes will all start off relatively short — but they can also be much longer depending on the location. “Staff are pretty cognizant that we have a lot of different user groups and that some of them are going to be a mile long, some are going to be a mile and a half and some will be as long as you want,” Coffelt says. “You can get a hike in all the way around the lake, you can get a hike in all the way around the park and a lot of those parks have different opportunities.”

In past years, more than 12-hundred people began the year in an Iowa state park, hiking more than 11-hundred total miles. The 2019 First Day Hikes will be held in the following area parks: Prairie Rose State Park; Springbrook State Park; Green Valley State Park; Lake Anita State Park, and Waubonsie State Park.
Learn more at: www.iowadnr.gov/firstdayhikes

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The Sioux Honey Association Co-op in Sioux City wants Americans to know who their honey comes from and they have launched a national campaign. Co-op chairman Rob Buhmann, says the campaign features the faces and stories of local beekeepers across the country. “it’s our product, we are putting a domestic product on the shelf. We are not doing anything to it to damage it,” Buhmann says.

He says they work hard to make sure they keep up the standards. “We are checking ourselves constantly with testing protocols to make sure that the honey produce, any honey we purchase is what it says it is,” according toe Buhmann. The Sioux Honey Association was established in Sioux City in 1921 to operate based on “what’s best for its beekeepers, its honey and its customers.”

(Radio Iowa) — A new climate assessment for Iowa and the rest of the Northern Plains predicts the region will see overall warmer temperatures and more “rain extremes” in the months and years ahead. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub, based in Ames, says ag producers will need to make more and more adjustments, starting with soil health. “At worst, maintain. Don’t lose any more of your soil, but do things that help regenerate that soil with reducing tillage when you’re harvesting a crop,” Todey says. “Don’t remove some of that stover as much as possible to help renew the soil and help keep regenerating the soil.”

While concerns have been raised for years over nutrient application on fields and the subsequent run-off, Todey says fertilizer use will have to be even more carefully monitored. “Being more judicious with our nutrient application so we don’t get any kind of water quality issues,” Todey says. In some areas of the region, he says agricultural producers may have to consider changing the crops they plant to align better with the changing climate. “Corn and soybeans are things that people know how to grow,” Todey says. “They’re insured. There’s a number of issues supporting that, but, especially when we have the pricing issues right now, are there other things you can grow, that you know how to grow, that are more able to be managed under the conditions we’re dealing with?”

The national climate assessment report endeavors to forecast approaching changes over the next 10-to-30 years.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa farmland values have dropped four of the last five years in the Iowa State University survey — but some farmland owners are still optimistic that will change in the new year. Iowa State University economist Wendong Zhang conducts the annual survey. He says one third of those in the survey expect a modest decline, while 15 percent see no change. “So roughly half are in the camp of a modest decline or no change — half (expect) an increase.”

The optimism about the land values extends beyond this year. “Five years from now a vast majority of people are thinking the land value will be higher than the current level,” he says. Zhang takes a more guarded approach in predicting what might happen. “I think I’m probably a little more pessimistic than the average respondents. In general I see a stabilizing land market. I probably wouldn’t expect a significant increase in the land market — at least in the immediate future,” Zhang says. The limited amount of land available was the top factor cited on the price of land by those in the survey.

Zhang doesn’t expect the number of sales to increase. “In general yes we’ll see more transition, but I don’t think that you will see a large influx at the same time. What you see this year, there is a 22 percent increase in the number of auctions across the state,” Zhang says, “remember that 2017 is really, really low in terms of sales.” The majority of farmland sales — 72 percent — were to existing farmers and that included 69 percent of the sales to local farmers and only three percent were to existing relocating farmers. He doesn’t expect things to change much in 2019.

He says the farm land market will continue to be a tight market. Zhang says much of the land is passed through families — and about the only thing that would change that process is a change in tax law. “If you delay your sales until death, then you avoid paying capital gains taxes. That is maintained in the tax reform and that is one of the major things,” Zhang says. “If that changes then I think that will cause a lot of rethinking in terms of when and how you sell land.” The majority of farmland sales, 52 percent, were from estate sales, followed by retired farmers at 23 percent. Active farmers account for 15 percent of sales, while investors accounted for eight percent.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Food pantries in eastern Iowa and western Illinois are being flooded with milk donations under a federal program to buy and distribute nearly $50 million in dairy products to compensate farmers hurt by trade tariffs. River Bend Foodbank CEO Mike Miller tells the Quad-City Times that about 80,000 half-gallons of milk will be distributed to food pantries across the Quad-City region through March. The spike in donations comes from a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to help dairy farmers caught in the middle of President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with Mexico, China and Canada.

Tariffs have cost American dairy farmers more than $1 billion since May. Miller says the USDA program is helpful but challenging because milk has a limited shelf life and the program lacks distribution volunteers.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater, Sunday night, reported the arrest on Dec. 18th, of 46-year old Daniel Ray Brownlee, of Macksburg. Brownlee was arrested for Failure to Dispose of a dead animal and Livestock Neglect. He was subsequently cited for the offenses and then released.

Authorities say on Dec. 10th, the Adair County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint about possible livestock neglect and improper disposal of a deceased cow, in the 3000 block of 300th Street, in Adair County. The caller said the deceased animal had been there so long other animals were feeding on it. A deputy saw the deceased animal from the roadway, and said noted there appeared to be no hay or other food sources in any of the hay rings or around the lot. Some of the cattle were also malnourished.

After he climbed the gate for further inspection, the Deputy found no water in any of the tanks, and the pond was frozen over. As he was documenting the scene, he found a red cow that was on its side and presumably deceased, but to his surprise, the animal was still alive and had been in the process of giving birth, but with complications. The calf was mostly outside the cow and frozen to death. The cow was alive but in severe distress. The deputy then left the area to obtain a search warrant and the assistance of a veterinarian. The vet arrived later that same evening and said the cow needed to be put down.

The owner of the cow (Daniel Brownlee) was notified of the situation and instructed to dispose of the cow in accordance with Iowa Code. When the deputy returned on Dec. 13th, he was shocked to find the animal still alive and still in serious distress, and in the exact same position she was in 69 hours earlier. When Brownlee was again contacted, he said the thought the cow had died. The deputy obtained his permission to euthanize the animal, and contacted the same veterinarian as before.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A farmer who owned an Iowa grain brokerage has pleaded guilty to falsely marketing $140 million dollars’ worth of corn, soybeans and wheat as “certified organic.”
Sixty-one-year-old Randy Constant of Chillicothe, Missouri, pleaded guilty to wire fraud Thursday under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Cedar Rapids.

Constant faces a potential prison sentence of 12 years or more, but that could be reduced at sentencing due to his ongoing cooperation. The deal calls for Constant to forfeit $128 million, but his lawyer says he’s broke.

Attorney Mark Weinhardt says Constant’s profit was a tiny fraction of the $140 million in total sales and mostly supported a sustainable fish production company that has failed. Weinhardt says Constant “accepts full responsibility” for falsely representing that grain he sold was organic.

w/Beth Kujala.

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