The Atlantic High School archery team took home a state championship in the bullseye portion of the NASP state archery tournament in Des Moines this weekend.

The Trojans had a team total of 3,381 to win the championship. They were led by a second place High School boys finish from Connor Johnson who had a 292 score and an eighth place High School boys finish from Cooper Jipsen with a 290. Mariah Hadley was 5th overall in the high school girls with the score of 290.

The Trojans beat out Valley High School by three points to win the title and Cedar Rapids Prairie was third just five points back.

Atlantic also placed fourth in the team standings of the 3D tournament for the weekend. Cooper Jipsen led the way with a 5th place finish in the high school boys with a score of 287.

Atlantic Head Coach Clint Roland was honored as Archery Coach of the Year.

Chris Parks and Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly talk about all things outdoors. This week they discuss the transition in seasons, shed antler hunting, and a learn to hunt wild turkey opportunity.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (8.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County 4-H Endowment committee is hosting the annual 4-H Endowment Pancake Supper on Tuesday, March 15 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic. The Pancake Man will be dishing up fresh pancakes while 4-H members serve juice, coffee and more. Supporters can enjoy all you can eat pancakes for $7. Proceeds from the 4-H Pancake Supper directly benefit Cass County. The money raised goes to the Cass County 4-H Endowment, a fund to defray the 4-H Program Development Fee, support scholarships, and start up dollars for youth programs including Clover Kids and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).

The 4-H Program Development Fee is $30 per youth each year to enroll. Instead of having individual 4-H’ers and families take on that expense, the Cass County Extension Council, and the 4-H Endowment Committee pick up this expense. The Cass County 4-H Endowment also offers opportunities for youth to get involved in the 4-H program by attending camps and conferences and offering scholarships to graduating seniors. “These opportunities are very important to the success of the 4-H program in Cass County,” stated Shelby Van Horn, Cass County Youth Coordinator. “It certainly would not be possible without a great deal of support from the community.”

There is also a silent auction during the supper. The 11 4-H clubs in Cass County, as well as additional friends of 4-H and local business supporters, donate items. “This is a great part of the pancake supper,” says Van Horn, “it will be exciting to see what items are up for auction this year!” If a community business is interested in supporting the Pancake Supper with a Silent Auction donation, please contact the Extension Office.

For more information on the Pancake Supper, Endowment or 4-H contact Shelby Van Horn, Cass County Youth Coordinator, at 243-1132 or xcass@iastate.edu.

Des Moines, Iowa, March 4, 2022— Iowa farmers who signed up for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) in 2018 have until April 15 to apply to renew their contract for another five years. All 2018 CSP contracts expire on Dec. 31, 2022. Contract holders can visit their local USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office to complete the required renewal process. According to Rubyana Neely, CSP coordinator for NRCS in Iowa, 505 CSP contracts will expire at the end of the year which help treat natural resource concerns on about 250,800 Iowa acres.

Last year, 171 Iowa farmers and landowners renewed contracts. Those contract holders are receiving an average of about $12,000 annually in CSP payments through NRCS to adopt additional activities to achieve higher levels of conservation on their lands. Through CSP, agricultural producers and forest landowners earn payments for actively managing, maintaining, and expanding conservation activities like cover crops, buffer strips, pollinator and beneficial insect habitat, and soil health building activities – all while maintaining active agricultural production on their land.

The largest conservation program in the United States, CSP is for working lands. “Thousands of people have voluntarily enrolled in the program because it helps them enhance natural resources and improve their business operation,” said Neely. Producers interested in contract renewals or applying for CSP for the first time should contact their local NRCS office (http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=ia) or visit www.ia.nrcs.usda.gov for more information.

Council Bluffs (March 2, 2022) — Local officials have been notified of a confirmed positive case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that had infected a non-commercial backyard poultry flock in rural Pottawattamie County. The site is not part of the commercial food supply chain and according to the Centers for Disease Control, poses a low risk of transmission to humans.

Officials from Emergency Management, Pottawattamie County Public Health, and the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office were briefed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) earlier today. IDALS has worked directly with the site to mitigate potential spread of the virus and will continue monitoring the site and area.

Pott. County EMA

The Iowa Department of Public Health and Pottawattamie County Public Health will monitor those individuals who were in contact with the flock to rule out any potential of bird to human transmission regarding this case. The CDC reports that there have been no detected human cases from HPAI in the United States.

“Local, state, and federal plans developed to respond to these kinds of incidents are being implemented and there is no immediate public health or food-related safety concern at this time,” commented Doug Reed, director of emergency management.” IDALS is the lead agency for HPAI and other foreign animal disease responses. Local officials will provide
support to the state-led event, as needed, or requested.

Poultry producers, residents with backyard poultry or bird flocks, and the public can find more information, updates, and resources at https://pcema-ia.org/hpai

Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today (Wednesday), confirmed a positive case of highly pathogenic bird flu in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa Department of Ag reports the virus was found in a non-commercial, backyard poultry flock.

The recent bird flu detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a news release, Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig said “We recognize the threat HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) and other foreign animal diseases pose to Iowa agriculture. We have been working with USDA, livestock producers and other stakeholders to develop, test and strengthen our foreign animal disease preparedness and response plans since the 2015 HPAI outbreak. While a case like this is not unexpected, we are working with USDA and other partners to implement our plans and protect the health of poultry flocks in Iowa.”

The Ag department said biosecurity resources and best practices are available at iowaagriculture.gov/biosecurity.

(Radio Iowa) – The union that represents park rangers is calling on the governor and the legislature to overrule the eviction notices sent to state employees who live in state-owned homes inside 23 state parks. Iowa Department of Natural Resources officials say it’s too expensive to do repairs and maintenance on the housing where park rangers and some other park staff have been living, so the employees have been told they must move out by November 30th. The Iowa State Police Officers Council is the union that represents park rangers and, according to the union, the D-N-R has ended negotiations over the evictions. The union’s president says it’s ironic that the D-N-R decided there’s a “business need” to maintain state-owned housing for staff who work at the state fisheries, but is on the verge of doing just the opposite for park rangers.

According to a timeline released by the union, on March3rd of last year the affected staff were told they had to start paying rent or find a document showing the D-N-R required them to live in the home. The union says that’s a violation of the workers’ contracts, because that housing subsidy was part of their pay. A spokesperson for the agency has said the decision to evict the park rangers is about the future of the state park system and two-thirds of the state parks, forests and preserves do not have staff living on the property.

[Here’s the list of area parks where on-site housing is to be vacated by DNR staffers by November 30th: Green Valley (Creston); Lake Manawa (Council Bluffs); Lake of Three Fires (Bedford); and Viking Lake (Stanton).]

w/Kate Olson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department are getting ready for the summer already. Parks Director Bryant Rasmussen says “For anyone interested we have signups for our Summer Swim Team and Youth Summer Tennis.”

Persons interested may sign-up online, or fill-out a paper form in-person, at the Parks & Rec Dept. (1200 Sunnyside Lane).