(Radio Iowa) – The annual roadside survey for small game animals starts this week as staff with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources drive routes across the state, looking for a variety of critters. Iowa D-N-R wildlife biologist Todd Bogenschutz says they’ll be seeking pheasants, quail, Hungarian partridge, jackrabbits and cottontails. Bogenshutz says he’s particularly optimistic about the pheasant population. “Last year, the counts were down a bit. We had a tougher winter and it was a wetter spring,” Bogenschutz says. “Coming into this year, we had a fairly mild winter which means we probably had fairly decent hen survival through the winter.”

Bogenschutz says the year ahead may be particularly promising for hunters, especially when compared to 2019. “Spring was cool but it was also one of the driest in almost ten years, that’s usually a good sign in talking about our nesting wildlife,” he says. “A lot of folks are excited about what we’re going to see in the count. Everybody’s expecting things to be up.” Bogenschutz says the work of the counters in the survey should not be impacted by COVID-19 as they’re staff members, not volunteers, and they’ll be driving their routes themselves. He anticipates a busy fall hunting season. “I know our fishing license sales are up and our spring turkey hunting license sales were up,” he says. “I think it’s just because of the COVID thing. A lot of people aren’t working so outdoor recreation is one of the ways they fill the void and maybe that’ll continue this fall.”

The results of the roadside survey will be released by early September. The count started in Iowa in the 1930s.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club is calling for a climate adaptation plan and other policies to overhaul the state’s agricultural economy. The group calls for changes to make farming more environmentally sustainable while still being profitable. Chapter director Pam Mackey-Taylor says to create a climate adaptation plan, they want farmers, state officials, consumers and environmentalists to meet and address key questions.  “How do you sustain farm incomes in the future?” Mackey-Taylor says. “What kinds of things do we need to do to adapt? and how do we make sure that agriculture remains a part of our economy for the future?” Mackey-Taylor says the state could invest economic development dollars in small meat processors and in creating new markets so farmers can expand beyond the standard two-crop rotation.

The chapter is also backing the national organization in distancing itself from founder John Muir. In recent weeks, Muir’s ties to eugenics and white supremacy have prompted the nation’s oldest environmental organization to call for a reckoning with its founders and past attitudes. Mackey-Taylor says many people and groups are reconsidering their actions and language around race. Mackey-Taylor says, “It makes sense for Sierra Club to do that close look and to mend the hurts and the harms that we’ve done and to move forward after that.” Across the country, the environmental movement is confronting its lack of diversity as some of the few activists and staffers who are not white have quit or called for organizational overhauls.
—–
The Planned Parenthood affiliate that includes Iowa issued a statement last week denouncing what it called the “problematic positions” of the organization’s founder. The group said Margaret Sanger’s advocacy of racist ideas was wrong and repugnant.

(By Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)