Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports the Burn Ban which was issued September 3rd, is officially rescinded as of 10-a.m. today (Friday, Oct. 23rd). The ban was lifted because field and grassland conditions have improved and the risk of controlled burns becoming out of control and spreading, is significantly reduced.

(Radio Iowa) – State climatologist Justin Glisan says August 2020 was the driest in Iowa in 148 years. In a question-and-answer session with the Iowa Farmers Union, Glisan said other increasing extremes, such as cold spells and heavy rain events, are also affecting farmers and he advises them to adapt. “They see these impacts. And we’re trying to build a toolbox of tools that they can use to lock-in that soil in runoff events,” says.

Glisan says higher humidity has brought up the average overnight low temperature, which could begin to favor other crops such as hemp. “We are seeing an expanding growing window, expanding conditions that can allow us to diversify the types of crops we grow across the state,” he says. The same trends are also leading to a northward shift overall for the corn belt.

(By Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)

DENISON— Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources, today (Thursday) said late Wednesday afternoon, county officials notified the DNR of cloudy water in Willow Creek about four miles southwest of Denison. When DNR field staff investigated, they found that dairy farmer Harold Chapman had dumped about 400 gallons of milk on the ground after a cooler failed. The milk flowed about one-fourth mile before entering Willow Creek near the intersection of 220^th St. and Q Avenue.

When organic products like milk enter a stream, bacteria breaks them down — using up oxygen that fish and other aquatic animals depend upon. That can be deadly, especially in smaller streams. DNR staff checked the creek and collected water samples. Stream flows were high and they did not find any dead fish. DNR will consider appropriate enforcement action.

People with questions about waste disposal can contact a DNR field office for disposal suggestions and requirements.

(By FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen)- The Atlantic FFA chapter competed in the Southwest Iowa district Soils Judging Contest in Audubon on Monday October 19th. The team which consisted of Dylan Comes, Cooper Jipsen, Daniel Freund and Malena Woodward, got 5th place overall and earned a gold rating. There were 76 FFA members from 24 schools at the Contest. Cooper Jipsen placed 8th overall, Daniel Freund 13th, Dylan Comes 26th and Malena Woodward 28th. Team member Jipsen said “The pits were very hard to judge, because of the weather conditions, but we overcame the difficulties and rose to the occasion.”

Malena Woodward, Cooper Jipsen, Daniel Freund, Dylan Comes. (Photo & story submitted)

The Soils Judging Career Development Event is designed towards motivating students to gain knowledge on surface features, the soil profile, land capability and productivity, evaluation of land use and management practices, and suitability of soils for non-agricultural uses. Students also develop the ability to observe selected soil properties, and use these observations to interpret and evaluate these properties for recommendations for land use. “Soils judging has helped me learn more about what I should look for when Farming.” said Comes.

The day of the contest a sheet of snow started to cover the ground, and the temperature had dropped to the 30s. Team member Woodward said “there was 4 inches of snow covering the pits, the mud made it very slick, and the wind made the climate frigid. I was bundled up in layers to keep body heat.” Even with these non ideal weather conditions, the team trudged on.

After the contest took place, Mr. Miller, the Atlantic FFA advisor, felt good about the day’s competition. “I was impressed with the way our students performed. They made a lot of improvement in a very short amount of time.” Team members did not feel the same at first but changed their minds after they saw the results, Freund said “When we left we thought we did terrible, but when we heard the news we were excited. I am looking forward to judging soil from a different part of the state with my team.”

The Atlantic FFA chapter wanted to say thank you to Joe and Brittany Elmquist of Audubon County for hosting the event. Scott Hansen of Hansen Earthmoving who dug the soil pits, and Adam Hansen of Eagle Acres who provided tables.

(Radio Iowa) – Despite the damp weather we’ve experienced over the past couple of days, open burning bans remain in effect for 18 Iowa counties. State Fire Marshal Dan Wood says that’s not common for this time of year. “Usually it’s less than that, but usually we’ve had more moisture where this year has just been very much a drought statewide,” he says. Burn bans are not issued by the State Fire Marshal’s office. Local fire chiefs and emergency managers in each county determine there’s an elevated fire risk and issue the ban on open burning in a county. The State Fire Marshal’s website lists the burn bans that are in effect.

Most of the 19 counties are in the western half of Iowa. “Having a very dry summer and now a very dry fall we’ve had a lot of counties go with these burn bans,” Wood says, “kind of sounding the alarm for the dangers of their being field fires.” A recent western Iowa field fire was one-and-a-half miles wide at one point. Fire officials advise farmers to have a disc nearby as combines roll through a field. If a fire is sparked, the disc can be used to turn over crop residue and create strips of soil to stop a fire from spreading. On a couple of days this fall, northwest Iowa farmers have been advised to halt the harvest due to high winds that could quickly spread a fire sparked by a combine.

In this area, counties with burn bans still in effect until further notice, include: Audubon, Cass, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, and Pottawattamie.

• KJAN, Atlantic  .03″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .11″
• Massena  .18″
• Anita  .03″
• Audubon  .17″
• Oakland  .05″
• Corning  .14″
• Neola  .1″
• Manning  .06″
• Red Oak  .09″

A Burn Ban which had been in effect for Guthrie and Adair Counties, is being rescinded at Noon today (Wednesday). That’s according to Adair-Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf. The ban had been in effect since last week, and is being cancelled because conditions are such that having a controlled/open burn is no longer dangerous to life or property. The decision comes after Kempf consulted with the fire chiefs in each respective county.

(Radio Iowa) – An ethanol plant in northwest Iowa designed to make the fuel from corn cobs and stalks rather than kernels has closed. The Des Moines Register was first to report the “Project Liberty” plant in Emmetsburg had closed. Iowa State University agronomist Emily Heaton says corn stover can easily be converted into cellulosic ethanol, the hard part is competing with the price of petroleum. “It’s the same story of the plant in Nevada that DuPont closed and now unfortunately POET’s Project Liberty is closing and that is a real loss for Iowa,” she says. “Those were two, ground-breaking, first-in-the-nation cellulosic ethanol plants that simply couldn’t compete with the low price of oil that we’ve had for the last few years.”

DuPont closed its cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada in 2017. POET shut down production at the Emmetsburg plant about a year ago and took steps to lay off its remaining employees this summer. The ethanol plants still operating in Iowa use corn kernels to make the fuel. Heaton’s research at Iowa State focuses on using perennial crops. “The idea was that we would get started to using corn stover to make cellulosic ethanol,” she says, “but then switch to using these high-yielding perennial crops, like switchgrass, to make ethanol.”

Heaton says switchgrass and other perennials that can used to produce ethanol have the side benefit of holding valuable Iowa soil in place and improving water quality. “Really the opportunities that cellulosic ethanol presents for Iowa are huge,” Heaton says, “which is why the loss of these first generation corn stover plants is so real for the state.”

More than two-thousand people — including the King of the Netherlands — attended the grand opening of the ethanol plant in Emmetsburg in 2014. The plant was a joint venture of a Dutch company and POET, an ethanol company based in South Dakota. The State of Iowa provided 20 million dollars for job training and construction costs. The U.S. Department of Energy provided 100 million dollars worth of grants to build the plant.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – Most of the Wilson Island State Recreation Area along the Missouri River has reopened to the public after being closed for 19 months due to flooding — but the campgrounds won’t reopen until mid-April. Michelle Reinig, a supervisor in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the number of campsites will be reduced — to eliminate the most flood-prone camping areas.  “We hope we can live with the river and still provide access to the resource and the public recreation, being good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Reinig says.

Most of the 544 acre recreation area is now open for hunting, hiking and bird watching as well as fishing in the Missouri River. Reinig says the river levels fluctuated during the NINE MONTHS that floodwaters remained in the area. “Everytime the flood waters come up and then they recede, it cuts back into the bank and it deposits new sand and silt elsewhere, so it creates new fishing holes along the riverfront there,” Reinig says. “…Let’s face it, it’s along the Missouri River and people are drawn there because of the river attraction, but then we don’t control the river and Mother Nature, so the river’s going to continue to be the ‘Mighty Mo’ and it’s going to flood again.”

There’s no fee to use the ramp in the recreation area that gives boats access to the river. Wilson Island, which is near the town of Missouri Valley, was originally a sand bar that developed around 1900. It’s named after George Wilson, a former Iowa governor and U.S. Senator. Some accounts indicate the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped in the area in 1804.