• KJAN, Atlantic .08″ (1.65″ total for the weekend)
• Elk Horn  .1″
• Missouri Valley  .19″
• Logan  .05″
• Woodbine  .09″
• Council Bluffs  .11″
• Creston  .39″
• Oakland  1.1″
• Audubon 2.1 (weekend total)

Jim Field visits with Park Ranger Jon Fenner and Jeff Gress of Hancock about the Gress family donation of a rare white buffalo to the Botna Bend Park at Hancock.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (23.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

In one of its last acts as the West Central Cooperative governing body, the Board of Directors has announced the recipients of the West Central Excellence in Agriculture scholarships. Last winter, West Central accepted applications for its Excellence in Agriculture scholarships from children of cooperative members who are area seniors pursuing agriculture-related post-secondary education. This year, six students have each been awarded $1,500.

The Excellence in Agriculture winners are:

* Noah Borkowski, son of Dave & Lisa Borkowski of Carroll; senior at Glidden-Ralston High School.

* Zoey Dinkla, daughter of Dallas & Romonia Dinkla of Casey; senior at Adair-Casey High School.

* Brianna Goecke, daughter of Jim & Kim Goecke of Audubon; senior at Audubon Community High School.

* Andrew Irlbeck, son of Glen & Anne Irlbeck of Templeton; senior at Kuemper Catholic High School.

* Shelby Soper, daughter of Clint & Mindy Douglas of Adair; senior at Adair-Casey High School.

* John Schultes, son of George Schultes & Connie Jessen of Exira; senior at Exira-Elk Horn Kimballton High School.

Brianna Goecke

Zoey Dinkla

Shelby Soper

Andrew Irlbeck

Noah Borkwoski

Nick Schultes

West Central’s Excellence in Agriculture program had been in place since 1994. The Landus Cooperative board of directors has not yet determined their plans for the scholarship program in the future. Landus Cooperative’s chief executive officer and West Central’s former CEO, Milan Kucerak said “These soon-to-be-graduates will play a critical role in shaping agriculture in coming decades. As a farmer-owned cooperative, we are privileged to be in a position to consult with producers who are feeding the world as well as support the educational pursuits of those who will positively influence the industry for years to come.”

• KJAN, Atlantic  .57″
• Massena  .52″
• Elk Horn  .76″
• 3 miles south of Lewis 3.0″
• Avoca  .6″
• Audubon  .54″
• Missouri Valley  .66″
• Logan  .54″
• Council Bluffs  1.24″
• Irwin  .79″
• Bedford  .68″
• Greenfield  1.3″
• Coon Rapids  1.2″
• Villisca  .55″
• Oakland  .5″
• Clarinda  .52″
• Shenandoah  1.84″

w/Kate Olson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

• KJAN, Atlantic  .69″
• Massena  .82″
• Elk Horn  .57″
• Missouri Valley  .98″
• Logan  .76″
• Irwin  .74″
• New Market  1.67″
• Fontanelle  .4″
• Audubon  .15″
• Panora  .39″
• Adair  .49″
• Wiota  .7″
• Council Bluffs  .87″
• Creston  1.00″

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources recently held a public hearing on the rules covering the new apprentice hunting licenses and are moving ahead with implementation. D-N-R hunter education administrator, Megan Wisecup, says it allows people to bypass the hunter education requirement while they learn. She says the program is for people over the age of 16 to try and get them interested in hunting by giving them a chance to go out before they need to invest in any equipment. Providing supervision is a key part of the apprentice license.

“It requires that they have a mentor with them, which is another hunter who is 18 or over and properly licensed as well. And they must maintain direct supervision between that mentor and menteee,” Wisecup says. She says once someone learns more about hunting, they are more likely to continue going out. “There’s 36 states that currently an apprentice license of some sort in place and they’ve attributed over one million new hunters coming into the fold since those programs went out. So, definitely once they have the opportunity to try it, they get hooked and then they come back and meet the hunter education requirements and successfully hunt on their own,” Wisecup says.

She says they already have thousands of people signed up for the hunter safety courses and hope this program brings in more. “There’s around 10 to 12-thousand that kind of fit in that age group that we are trying to reach out to, so we are kind of hoping we might double or triple that number,” Wisecup says. A person may purchase the apprentice hunting licenses two times without having completed hunter education course.

The apprentice program was approved by the Iowa legislature and signed by Governor Terry Branstad during the 2015 legislative session.

(Radio Iowa)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The lawsuit filed by the Des Moines Water Works against several upstream agriculture drainage districts will not go to trial in August. A three-week federal court trial was initially set to begin Aug. 8 but on Monday Judge Leonard Strand issued an order continuing it due to scheduling conflicts. A new date will be set when he meets with attorneys on May 11.

The water utility for about 500,000 central Iowa customers blames farmland runoff for high levels of nitrate that has caused it to spend millions of dollars to remove the contaminant to comply with federal water quality regulations.

Water Works officials want farm drainage districts to have to get pollution discharge permits under the federal Clean Water Act to help control farm contaminants leaching into rivers and streams.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources say they will release two trumpeter swans at Lake Icaria Recreation Area, near Corning, rain or shine at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 12th. The release site is located 5 miles north of Corning on Hwy. 148, and then three miles east on 160^th Street (gravel) to the east boat ramp on the north side of Lake Icaria.

The release includes a 20-minute swan/wetland presentation, a unique opportunity to touch and view the swans up close and a historic photo opportunity with the kids. As the largest North American waterfowl, these magnificent all-white birds can weigh up to 32 pounds with an 8-foot wingspan.

Trumpeter swans were once common in Iowa, but were gone from the state by the late 1880s.  By the early 1930s, only 69 trumpeter swans remained in the lower 48 states.  The trumpeter swans being released are part of the Iowa DNR’s statewide trumpeter swan restoration effort, with hopes that they will help restore a wild free flying population to Iowa.

Wet weather slowed progress, but Iowa farmers were able to get some planting done last week. The latest crop report from the U-S-D-A shows 40 percent of the corn acres have been planted. That’s up from 13 percent reported last week. The planting is already six days ahead of last year and 11 days ahead of the five-year average.

The report says farmers in the north central, central, and southeast portions of Iowa have made the most progress — with half their corn crop now in the ground. The U-S-D-A report did not mention any soybean planting, but Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey says he’s heard some reports of farmers already starting to plant their beans.

(Radio Iowa)