(Radio Iowa) – Water quality advocates says the effort to protect Bloody Run Creek in northeast Iowa from pollution has made progress after the D-N-R was ordered to reevaluate a feedlot water permit. The ruling by an administrative law judge could render the water permit invalid for Supreme Beef’s 11-thousand head feedlot in Clayton County. The president of the Driftless Water Defenders, Chris Jones, says the order could set a precedent for change to Iowa’s environmental protections.

He says it went unchallenged because it is law.

Jones says the next step is gathering signatures for a petition in Decorah on Monday. Bloody Run is one of the few streams in the state that supports the natural reproduction of trout.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources remind hunters and anglers, that 2024 hunting and fishing licenses expire on Jan. 10, 2025. All hunters and anglers will need a 2025 license to hunt or fish beginning Jan. 11th.

And, Iowa’s pheasant, late muzzleloader and archery deer, and archery fall turkey seasons close on Jan. 10th. Squirrel, quail, partridge and grouse remain open until Jan. 31st. Furbearer seasons and rabbit season is open until Feb. 28th. Crow season is Jan. 14th to March 31st. Beaver trapping season closes on April 15th.

For waterfowl, the north zone dark and light goose season closes on Jan. 11th, the central zone dark and light goose season closes on Jan. 18th, and the south zone dark and light goose season closes on Jan. 25th. The light goose conservation order season is open Jan. 26th to May 1st statewide; additional regulations apply.

Don’t forget also, the Iowa DNR is hiring seasonal positions for summer 2025 in the Iowa state park and forest system. Work alongside conservation professionals building skills for careers in natural resources. Seasonal workers primarily work in the outdoors performing hands-on duties in natural resource management, park operations, visitor engagement, and/or law enforcement. Each park has unique needs depending on its natural areas, recreational opportunities and amenities.

Learn more about summer 2025 job opportunities and find out how to apply at: www.iowadnr.gov/employment

DES MOINES— Gov. Kim Reynolds today (Thursday) extended a disaster proclamation for O’Brien, Palo Alto, Sac, Sioux, and Worth Counties effective immediately through February 1, 2025. The USDA has confirmed positive cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in all five counties.

This proclamation allows state resources from Iowa Homeland Security, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other agencies to assist with tracking and monitoring, rapid detection, containment, disposal, and disinfection. The proclamation also waives regulatory provisions related to commercial vehicles responding to affected sites.

The recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, and it remains safe to eat poultry products. If producers suspect signs of HPAI in their flocks, they should contact their veterinarian immediately.

Atlantic, Iowa – The 2025 Crop Advantage Series meetings will give farmers and crop production professionals a solid foundation of current research-based crop production information to help make informed decisions for their farming operation. Twelve locations are set to host this series across Iowa throughout the month of January, including a January 21 session in Atlantic. The meeting is an opportunity for farmers and crop advisers to hear current research and crop production information from Iowa State University. Campus Extension specialists, field specialists and invited speakers will travel to Atlantic on Tuesday, January 21, providing updated management options and recommendations on crop production issues facing Iowa growers.

Meetings include catered lunch and continuing education credits for Certified Crop Advisers (CCA).  Private pesticide applicator continuing education will be available and will require a separate fee payable at the location. “There is no other program in our crop production education year where we are able to bring this many extension specialists together at sites across the state. We’re excited to provide the quality, in-person education farmers and ag retailers have come to expect,” said Aaron Saeugling, field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

The Atlantic Crop Advantage meeting will be held at Cass County Community Center (805 West 10th Street., Atlantic, IA) on January 21, 2025. Registration check-in opens at 8:30 AM and the program runs from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Program highlights of this location include a 2025 weather outlook, a deep dive into nitrification inhibitors, short corn research, DOT regulations for agricultural use, and managing waterhemp.

This meeting is part of a series being held at multiple locations across the state throughout the month of January. For more program details and registration information, for Atlantic or other Crop Advantage locations, including dates, times, and program details visit: https://go.iastate.edu/cropadvantage. Early registration for each location is $75; late registration completed less than seven days prior to the meeting, or on-site, is $100. Early registration for the Atlantic location closes at midnight on January 14th. Registration includes lunch, refreshments and CCA credits. Private pesticide applicator continuing education will also be available and will require a separate fee payable at the location. Online registration is now open at https://go.iastate.edu/cropadvantage.

For registration questions, please reach out to Registration Services at registrations@iastate.edu or 515-294-6222. For all other questions, email crops@iastate.edu or contact your local extension field agronomist Aaron Saeugling at clonz5@iastate.edu.

(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – Students and leaders at the University of Iowa are helping a nonprofit map public spaces across the state developed with accessibility in mind, in order to ensure people of all abilities can enjoy Iowa’s parks and other public areas. The Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities at the UI, headed by director Travis Krause, partnered with Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development to help expand its map of accessible public spaces in Iowa and launch a survey for the public to inform them of the accessibility of nature areas, cultural sites and more. Krause said with the survey having launched in December, the project is off to a good start. “Our success really hinges on the help of people across the state providing us the information through this survey tool …,” Krause said. “So we will be successful if people are using the tool and participating, and we’re going to continue to keep pushing that out.”

The goal behind the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities is to connect university staff, students and resources to organizations and community partners in order to help develop and complete projects that meet their needs, Krause said. The initiative has worked with Pathfinders, an Iowa nonprofit focused on helping revitalize communities through conservation and economic development, on many projects in the past, and Krause said its accessibility map is a perfect fit for a project.

The Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities is working with an Iowa nonprofit to expand its accessibility map. (Photo by Brooklyn Draisey/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

The nonprofit’s accessibility map mainly covers south-central Iowa, and Krause said the survey and other efforts will help expand it to the whole state. It includes museums, trails, campgrounds and other spaces that are partly or fully accessible. Students in the university’s Iowa Community Integrated Geography Organization, or ICIGO, worked with the initiative and nonprofit to use GIS and other mapping tools to display the information for the accessibility map, Krause said, and he and his graduate assistant, Jessica Monday, worked on the survey. Monday, who is seeking a master’s in public affairs, said she helped craft survey questions after going over research literature about accessibility in public spaces. So far they’ve received 16 responses, she said, and are hoping for more as the survey is distributed by Pathfinders and others.

Krause said the project has been fun so far, with everyone, including him, learning new things. Monday said she’s learned about new technologies and areas of accessibility that she previously didn’t think about, like having adult changing tables available in park restrooms.

The survey has no closing date, Krause said, so people can keep responding well into the future, with updates to the map coming afterward. A possible next phase of the project could be asking people about what areas need to see improvements in their accessibility and map those as well.

(Radio Iowa) – Going after the paddlefish on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers was once banned, but the populations came back enough to restart the paddlefish season. The D-N-R is hoping for similar success in bringing the paddlefish back at two popular lake areas. D-N-R Western Regional Fisheries Supervisor Chris Larson says West Okoboji is one area they have targeted. “They used to migrate up the little Sioux River out of the Missouri River and get into the big, great lakes up there, but now there’s barriers to keep them from doing that. And so we’re trying to experimental stocking at West Okoboji, where we reintroduced paddlefish this past fall,” Larson says. Two years ago they were stocked at Rathbun Lake as Larson says the paddlefish were native to the Cherokee River.

“I think they radio tagged about 25 of them, and they lost a few after that initial stocking. But they’re still swimming around in Rathbun and surviving,” he says. “So we assume that a majority of those fish survived and are growing. And it’ll take a number of years before it’ll create a fishable population.” He says it takes come time for the paddlefish to grow to a size that can be caught. “They get stocked at about 12 inches, and it might be six or seven years before you see a ten pound plus paddlefish in Rathbun but they’ll eventually, hopefully show up,” Larson says. The fish have a big paddle that sticks out in front of their face called a rostrum and they use it to help them navigate and find the plankton they eat. Larson says they are hoping to have the same success with paddlefish that other states have had.

“They’re very popular fisheries when you get down into the Missouri, the Ozarks, and into Oklahoma, they do paddlefish snagging in the large reservoirs there. These fish grow quite large — up to 100 pounds plus,” he says. Larson says the paddlefish like deeper areas of water that have some movement to them, and don’t like stagnant backwater.

EDDYVILLE, Iowa (KCRG) – Some Cargill workers in southeast Iowa will be out of a job by the beginning of February. KCRG-TV reports the plant in Eddyville is letting go 29 people on Feb. 5th. They are some of the first cuts to employees in Iowa after the company announced earlier this month that they would be letting go five percent of its workforce.

The Minnesota based company employs about 160,000 employees worldwide. A five percent cut in their workforce would equate to around 8,000 jobs. It’s not clear yet if additional Cargill jobs are at risk in eastern Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R has captured its second gray fox and outfitted it with a tracking collar as part of its study to figure out why the animal’s numbers have fallen. Wildlife biologist Vince Evelsizer says the loss of the woodland habitat and competition for den sites with other wildlife may be one of the causes. There have been fewer than 10 confirmed gray fox sightings in Iowa. Wildlife research technician, Dave Hoffman, says the G-P-S collars paired with trail cameras, will give them a lot of data to help them learn a lot of things about the wolves that they’ve never studied before in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Four northwest Iowa organizations are co-sponsoring a “Winter Women in Nature Day.” Amy Heibult of the Dickinson County Nature Center says the event is scheduled for Saturday, January 11th.

One of the morning sessions is about something that comes from North American maple trees.

In the afternoon, participants can choose from one of two outdoor activities.

Registration for the event closes next Wednesday, January 8th. It’s sponsored by the county conservation boards in Clay and Dickinson County, the Iowa Lakeside Lab and I-S-U Extension. According to the Outdoor Recreation Association, 55 percent of Americans over the age of four engaged in some outdoor activity last year — an all-time high.