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The Iowa Department of Transportation is accepting applications for the annual Federal Recreational Trails program funding cycle. Applications are due by October 1. This year, additional funding is available for trail maintenance and paving projects that will be able to be let by October 30, 2019. Such projects would include but are not limited to overlays, paving of granular trails, and minor rehabilitation to non-historic bridges. These projects should not include significant grading, installation of new culverts, or other significant ground disturbance. Ongoing trail maintenance such as mowing, sweeping, and general repair are considered trail operating costs and are not eligible projects for this program.
All applications received will be reviewed according to the standard program criteria:
• The degree of innovative trail sharing to accommodate motorized and non-motorized use.
• The number of compatible user groups allowed on the facility.
• The facilitation of access for use by persons with disabilities, older citizens, economically disadvantaged and other special groups.
• The development of trail linkages.
• The creation of opportunities for new partnerships.
• The furtherance of goals of Iowa’s SCORP, Iowa Trails 2000, or a regional/county/municipal plan.
• The usage of grant funds to leverage other investments (in services and materials, as well as dollars).
• The level of citizen involvement in the project’s concept and implementation.
• The degree to which the project ties in to other trails, natural, cultural, or recreational areas.
• The level of public/private partnerships for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the project.
• The degree the project will result in the cleanup of an area.
Applications totaling the $1.3 million annual appropriation for the program will be selected for award based on these criteria. Up to $2.0 million in additional program funds will be available for award to trail maintenance and paving project applications submitted in this funding cycle. This additional funding will be awarded according to the following priorities:
• Likelihood of the project to meet federal requirements without excessive delay, and
• Construction contract let by October 30, 2019.
All applications must meet the eligibility requirements for the Federal Recreational Trail program, be submitted by an eligible applicant, and, if awarded, meet all other federal program requirements through the development of the project including compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Buy America requirements for iron or steel incorporated into the project, etc. The maximum federal share for any project is up to 80 percent of total eligible project costs. This is a cost reimbursement program.
For more information, please review the program guidance on the Iowa DOT website at https://iowadot.gov/systems_planning/grant-programs/federal-and-state-recreational-trails or email or call Yvonne Diller at yvonne.diller@iowadot.us or 515-239-1252.
(Radio Iowa) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s acting administrator met privately with Iowa commodity group leaders at the Iowa State Fair Monday — but Andrew Wheeler told reporters afterwards there is no decision yet on regulations that would allow a higher blend of ethanol to be sold year-round. “I can’t tell you the timeline,” Wheeler said. “We are mindful of needing to have a decision on that before the growing season next year.”
Wheeler seemed to indicate E-P-A guidelines that would approve the sale of E-15 year-round would be coupled with some sort of accommodation for the oil industry.
“We’re certainly looking to see what we can do overall as a part of a larger effort to bring more certainty around the RFS and we’re open to that and I’ve been meeting with different groups around the country — different associations that represent the ethanol people, the refiners — trying to figure out what we can do ,” Wheeler said. “The important thing is the Trump Administration wants to move forward with implementing the RFS (in) both the spirit and the letter of the law.”
The Renewable Fuels Standard was established by congress and requires the E-P-A to annually set a mandatory production level for ethanol and other biofuels. Republican Governor Kim Reynolds criticized the previous E-P-A administrator for granting waivers that let some oil refiners get around the federal ethanol mandate. Reynolds made the same point yesterday (Monday) as she stood next to the E-P-A’s new acting director at a brief news conference.
“Fifteen million gallons needs to mean 15 million gallons and I think that’s the message that was delivered today in a very constructive manner,” Reynolds said “And that is something that the Administration and EPA could weigh in on that would have an immediate impact on the price of corn and infuse some optimism and certainty into the market.” Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Hill was among the few dozen ag-industry leaders who had a private discussion with Wheeler. Hill says the meeting was “constructive,” but the Iowans didn’t get the answers they were hoping for.
“It’s been Christmas for the oil industry on every one of these deals. Where’s our deal?” he said. “…We’ve not gotten a thing.” Hill says farmers and the ethanol industry appreciate that the E-P-A has met the deadline for setting the federal production mandate for ethanol, but they’re frustrated the waivers granted to oil refineries has effectively reduced the mandated level of ethanol production. Congressman David Young, a Republican from Van Meter, thanked Wheeler for being “accessible” and listening to Iowa farm groups who’ve been worried about E-P-A foot-dragging on ethanol-related issues.
“Because of what President Trump said in promising E15, thinking it was a fabulous idea, there’s an expectation that’s going to happen,” Young says. Young says if the E-P-A doesn’t figure out how to authorize the sale of E-15 year-round, a bipartisan coalition in congress is working on legislation to make it happen.
(Radio Iowa) — The first part of a three-part farm aid package is scheduled to be rolled out by the U-S-D-A in about three weeks. Bill Northey, the agency’s Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Ag Services, says more details will be out soon on what’s being called a market facilitation program.
“That is looking to get stood up right after Labor Day,” Northey says. “Right now, the target is September 4th of Labor Day. As we get a little closer, we’ll get some more information, but in the next couple of weeks there’ll be more information coming out so that folks will be ready for sign-up.” Northey, a former Iowa Ag Secretary, says the delay on the program’s details is because they’re still working on the rule-making part of the process.
“We’ll have a rule that will come out. It will actually be noticed in the federal register before that time,” Northey says. “That’s one of the reasons we’re not able to share what the final rules are because we’re in the process of that. That should all be done so that folks will be able to go in and actively get signed up that first week in September.” Northey says they’re trying to make it so producers can certify their production numbers as simply as possible.
“Once we announce rates and the method for the producer to be able to determine whether they want to participate or not, that’s going to be as simple as we can as well,” he says. “We’re going to have more information on farmers.gov — that’s a website that we’re getting more information to.” Northey also encourages farmers and ranchers to visit that site for more details on the tariff aid package.
By; Erin Hodgson, Ethan Stoetzer
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State University Extension and Outreach entomologists have identified and confirmed the presence of a new soybean pest, the soybean gall midge, in 12 Iowa counties: Lyon, O’Brien, Clay, Plymouth, Cherokee, Buena Vista, Woodbury, Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Cass and Page. In 2016 and 2017, there were isolated reports of soybean injury as a result of soybean gall midge in northwest Iowa. The pest’s presence was reported in 2011 in Nebraska and 2015 in South Dakota.
Midges are a fly in the Cecidomyiidae family, with 6,000 species worldwide; at least 1,100 species are in North America. Midges are small (2-3 mm in length), have long antennae and have unusually hairy wings. Most midges are fragile and weak fliers. Many midge species are considered economically important plant pests; however, some are predatory on aphids and mites. Midge maggots are not mobile and must be located on or near the host plant to survive. Midge larvae feed within the host plant tissue, creating abnormal growths called galls. This particular midge larvae are clear-colored and eventually turn bright orange as they mature.
Not much is known about the soybean gall midge, and entomologists have not been able to confirm the species as of yet. Plant injury as a result of the pest has been most severe at field edges, which is a possible indicator that adults fly to new soybean fields following the growing season. Injury is usually restricted to the base of the plant. Initially, infested stems look swollen, then eventually turn brown and break off, resulting in plant death. In some instances, plants were infected with a fungal disease, but this was not a consistent occurrence.
From observations thus far, cultural control practices, including variety selection, time of planting, row spacing, tillage or manure application, do not appear to have an impact on soybean gall midge. Insecticidal seed treatment does not appear to effectively suppress the midges. Entomologists think that the soybean gall midge can complete at least two generations in Iowa, but it is not known yet how long a generation takes to develop. It is assumed that it can overwinter in Iowa, and does so as a pupa in the soil or leaf litter similar to other midges.
If you see these midges infesting a soybean field in Iowa, please contact Erin Hodgson, associate professor and extension specialist in entomology at Iowa State, via email at ewh@iastate.edu or on Twitter @erinwhodgson. More information will be shared as it becomes available about this pest, as well as effective management solutions as they become available.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is again calling on volunteers to participate in the state’s annual wild turkey survey. Each summer, the department asks for volunteers to participate in the July-August survey. The information is used to monitor trends and manage the state’s turkey population.
Participants are asked to keep an eye out for wild turkeys as they work and play in Iowa during July and August. Volunteers are asked to distinguish adult females from males and young poults. They’re then asked to count the number of adults and young turkeys and make a note of the date and the county in which they were seen. That info is then reported to the Wildlife Bureau online using a computer or smartphone.
(Radio Iowa) — Today (Saturday), is August 11th — or eight-one-one — which coincides with the three-digit telephone number Iowans need to call before they do any late summer digging in their yards. Seth Hale is spokesman for Iowa One Call. He says on this date, they’ll be doing a promotion to remind people across the state of Iowa, to call at least 48 hours before they dig. That includes any project, planting a tree, putting in a new mailbox, installing a fence, and also the big projects that professional excavators are doing.”
The goal of Iowa One Call, he says, it damage prevention. “There’s tens of thousands of miles of pipelines for gas and electric and communications and internet and water,” Hale says. “By not calling, you put yourself at risk of not knowing exactly where those utilities may be.” By calling that single phone number of eight-one-one at least 48 hours before digging, that gives all of the utilities time to mark your yard, either with spray paint or colored flags, exactly where their lines are buried.
“Striking those utilities can put you at a safety risk,” Hale says. “Beyond that, your community and neighborhood may be at risk to lose service, to lose power, to not have natural gas, to not have water going to their homes and businesses. Making that call is vitally important not only for the people doing the work but for everybody else around.”
About 500-thousand calls were made to Iowa One Call last year, resulting in about two-and-a-half million “locate requests” from utilities. On the web at www.iowaonecall.com
(Radio Iowa) — Recent ag nuisance rulings against hog operations in North Carolina have resulted in large financial awards to the plaintiffs. But the legal counsel for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Eldon McAfee, doesn’t believe those rulings will have much impact on livestock producers in the Midwest. McAfee says the North Carolina cases are focused on the manure handling practices of the farms, which differ from those used by most Midwestern farmers. “The use of lagoons and spray irrigation – which is what we call it here in Iowa – that’s regulated, as to how you can use spray irrigation. You can’t use it with undiluted manure,” McAfee says.
According to McAfee, although each case is different, several recent Midwestern nuisance rulings have been in favor of the farmers. “Nuisance cases are very fact-specific, both from the neighbors’ standpoint and from the producers’ standpoint, at least at the trial level,” McAfee says. “You can’t take a lot of precedential effect from one case to another. It depends on the facts of each case.”
McAfee works for the Brick Gentry law firm in West Des Moines.
(Radio Iowa) — Senator Chuck Grassley says the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee has assured him the 2018 Farm Bill will become law before year’s end. “And I sure hope so, because I don’t want to do what we had to in 2013 — extend the Farm Bill for one year,” Grassley says, “because farmers need that continuity you get from a five-year Farm Bill and farmers also would (get) a bit of good news if they had a five-year Farm Bill, considering the anxiety they have about the tariffs.”
Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Joni Ernst, is serving on the conference committee of House and Senate members that are trying to craft a final version of the bill that could pass both. Grassley toured the Iowa State Fairgrounds Friday morning, visiting with fairgoers.