Officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources investigated three hunting incidents over the past week. Iowa DNR Conservation Officers are investigating a shooting involving a New Market man who was searching for an injured deer when he was shot by another hunter who had mistaken him for a deer. The shooting happened at around 9:15-a.m. Sunday, north of New Market on private property. 28-year old Justin Scroggie, of New Market, was hunting with 42-year old Brooks Lambert, of Clarinda, while both were attempting to locate an injured deer in a tall, dense CRP field. Lambert mistakenly identified Scroggie as a deer in the dense vegetation and shot him from approximately 40 to 45 yards away, striking him in the left forearm. Scroggie was airlifted to University of Nebraska Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. He was wearing a camouflaged hat. This incident remains under investigation by the DNR. The DNR reminds hunters to not shoot at any movement without always properly identifying the target.

Officials said also, that on December 5th, 65-year old John Fish, of Villisca, was hunting five miles southeast of Nodaway when he was struck in the foot by a slug from another hunter in his hunting party. Fish and a 15-year-old boy were approximately 95 yards on opposite sides of the road (110th Street, east of Denver Ave.) when a doe ran between them. The 15 year old fired a shot, missing the doe and striking Fish in the left foot. Fish was sitting in a fence row of dense vegetation and brush. Fish was transported to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines and has undergone surgery. His injuries were non-life-threatening. The incident remains under investigation by the DNR.

An 11-year-old boy was injured in a hunting incident Sunday. It happened on private property near the intersection of 320th Street Northeast and Prairie Du Chen Road Northeast in Johnson County. Both minors (11 and 13) were brothers from Iowa City and were deer hunting with their grandfather. The brothers were standing along a fencerow between a stretch of timber and a field approximately 160 yards apart. Meanwhile, their grandfather was walking through the timber, pushing any deer out in the field towards the brothers. A doe came in from the opposite direction of the timber and both brothers took a shot at the deer standing in the field.  The deer then ran between the boys when the older brother continued to shoot striking his younger brother in the hip.  The victim was transported to University of Iowa Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The incident remains under investigation by the DNR. The DNR reminds hunters to always be cognizant of the whereabouts of other hunters, at all times.  Avoid target fixation and always ensure there is a safe backstop before taking a shot.

The annual report on greenhouse gases in Iowa shows the emissions of those gases has fallen for the second year in a row. D-N-R senior environmental specialist, Marnie (Mar-nee) Stein, says statewide emissions decreased by two percent from 2015 levels. She says emission levels have decreased as Iowa’s power source has changed. “Power plant emissions have decreased 40 percent from their peak in 2010, and the amount of wind generation of electricity in Iowa has increased from four percent in 2005 to up to 37 percent in 2016,” Stein explains, “while the amount of electricity generated in Iowa from coal has decreased from 78 percent to 47 percent.” The power plant emissions decreased by 14 percent in the last year.  “It’s a combination of some units switching from coal to natural gas and then some units not being run because there is enough wind in the state to provide electricity on some days,” Stein says.

The emissions from power plants were the only greenhouse gas source in the state to see a decline in this year’s report, and they offset the increases in other areas, which were about five percent. “The largest source of greenhouse emissions in Iowa are actually in agriculture –they are about 31 percent — and then power plants emit about 20 percent. And then fossil fuels used by homes, businesses and industries is about 25 percent, and then transportation is about 15 percent,” according to Stein. There are a couple of sources of emissions from agriculture. “The majority of emissions from agriculture are from crop production, from fertilizer which goes through the nitrification process which emits N-two-oh (N20)– which is a greenhouse gas,” Stein says. “And the other half of emissions are from animals — from things like cows — and then manure.”

Stein says the agriculture emissions are estimated using formulas based on the amount of acres farmed and the number of animals. Overall the report says the state let loose 128 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2016. “That’s the same amount of greenhouse gases that would come if you sent six million tons of garbage to the landfill instead of recycling it,” Stein says. “And another way to view it is it would take 151 million acres of trees to store the amount of carbon that was emitted last year.”

This is the 11th greenhouse gas inventory report that is mandated by the Iowa Legislature to document emissions trends and track progress in reducing emissions.

(Radio Iowa)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Several days of strong winds in late October arrived at the wrong time for many farmers who saw their crops shrink as ears of corn fell to the ground in Nebraska and western Iowa.

The damage varied, but in the hardest hit parts of central Nebraska some farmers reported yields dropping from an estimated 250 bushels an acre before the wind to 190 bushels afterward.

Overall, the Nebraska corn crop is still estimated to be a good one with 1.66 billion bushels, but the Agriculture Department’s prediction is down from September’s 1.72 billion bushel forecast. But the wind damage will make it harder for many Nebraska farmers to break even because commodity prices were already low.

Jim field visits with Iowa Soybean Association President Bill Shipley of Nodaway as he attends the United Soybean Board and American Soybean Association meetings in St. Louis.

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The biodiesel tax incentive was left out of the latest Congressional tax reform bills, but senators are working separate legislation to extend the credit. Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Thune of South Dakota are leading the effort. Grant Kimberley, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, says he hopes they’ll offer the bill before 2018 arrives.

“Senators were given assurances there would be tax extenders added to some of the end-of-the-year budget bills that have to go through by the end of the year or the early part of next year,” Kimberley says. “That’s what we’re working on and hopefully that will happen.”

He says it’s disappointing Congress keeps waiting until the end of the year to make decisions on much-needed tax incentives like the biodiesel credit. “We’ve had a lot of growth and we’ve had success but it’s been difficult because there have been years where the credit is on again, off again,” Kimberley says. “It’s been six out of the last nine years we’ve had it expire and then be reinstated. It’s hard to make business investments when you have this on again, off again incentive.”

Kimberley says the measure the senators are putting together would make the biodiesel incentive a credit for producers rather than blenders. “The reason being is that we’ve seen significant volumes of imported biodiesel coming into the country,” he says. “It just makes good policy sense to make sure these kinds of credits really go toward domestic production.”

Kimberley says the senators believe trying to move the biodiesel tax incentive in a separate measure is better than holding it up in amendments that could have been stripped from the overall tax reform legislation.

(Radio Iowa)

w/Max Dirks.

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WILLEY, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources received a report from manure applicator Neese Inc. late Tuesday of a manure tanker tipped over near a ditch near Willey, Iowa in Carroll County.

DNR staff investigated the incident late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Upon investigation, it was observed that manure spilled on the road. Some manure reached the Willey Branch. ​Berms were quickly ​constructed to stop the flow in the ditch and equipment was used to clean up the remaining manure on the road. The amount of manure spilled is unknown. Water samples were collected and submitted for analysis.

The manure was being hauled from the Matt Gehling confinement and land applied by Neese, Inc.

The investigation is ongoing and further enforcement may be considered. ​​

The Cass County Extension office is again hosting continuing instructional courses (CICs) for local commercial pesticide applicators, but wants to remind anyone who has yet to attend the training that all CIC training must be completed by the end of December. To avoid conflicts with year-end scheduling, Cass County Extension is requiring that all training dates be scheduled by Friday, December 15th.

“We know year end is a busy time for all, and we don’t want anyone to miss the opportunity to attend their annual required training, as time to meet those annual requirements is getting short,” shared Kate Olson, Extension Program Coordinator in Cass County. “We do offer trainings on a first-come, first-served basis, and our hours will be slightly different during the holidays, so we’d like to remind folks to call and get their classes scheduled before our year-end calendar fills up!”

According to Olson, reshow dates can occur after December 15th, but they must be on the calendar before then to be honored. To ensure a spot on the training schedule, applicators needing to complete CIC for the year are asked to call prior to December 15th. Applicators calling after this date will NOT be placed on the training schedule. Training dates can be scheduled locally by calling the Cass County Extension office at 712-243-1132 or by emailing Office Assistant Lori Anderson at lander@iastate.edu. For more information on the Commercial Pesticide Applicator program or the CIC classes, please visit www.extension.iastate.edu/psep/ComAp.html.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is continueing to collect deer tissue samples from willing hunters as part of its effort to monitor for and track the presence of chronic wasting disease. The agency reports their wildlife staff has a goal of collecting 5,465 samples. The bulk of Iowa’s deer harvest occurs during the two shotgun seasons which provide an opportunity to collect a significant number of tissue samples. Most samples are obtained by wildlife staff, checking with hunters in the field or at home processing points. Terry Haindfield, wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR leading the CWD collection effort. says “We’ve had really good cooperation from our hunters so our focus now is collecting samples from some pretty specific areas within our target counties in order to reach our quotas.”

He said the DNR is looking for samples from deer harvested from each county along the Missouri River. “Hunters willing to provide a sample should call their local wildlife biologist to see if the county or area where the deer was taken has filled its quota or is still in need of a sample,” he said. The DNR lists the cell phone numbers for its wildlife biologists on p. 45 of the hunting regulations. Hunters from the targeted areas needing additional help making contact to provide a sample can call Haindfield at 563-380-3422.

Additional testing is been conducted in Pottawattamie County, following positive tests from captive facilities.  The disease has been found in every state around Iowa. Since testing began in 2002, more than 62,500 tissue samples have been collected and tested looking for the presence of CWD in Iowa’s wild deer herd.

CWD is a neurological disease belonging to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) or prion diseases.  It attacks the brain of infected deer and elk causing the animals to lose weight, display abnormal behavior, lose body functions and die. It is always fatal to the infected animal. The disease first appeared in Iowa’s wild deer herd in 2013 and each year since, the DNR has placed extra emphasis to find the extent to which disease is in the area, and to help slow the spread by removing additional adult deer from the local population.

The Iowa DNR has more information about CWD and other infectious disease online at www.iowadnr.gov/cwd.

BARNUM, Iowa (AP) — A malfunctioning switching mechanism apparently caused six tankers filled with ethanol to derail in northern Iowa. The Fort Dodge Messenger reports the tankers were hauling the fuel from Valero Renewables-Fort Dodge on Tuesday night when they derailed. Lt. Tom Ubben, of the Fort Dodge Fire Department, says the cars were backing up when the switching mechanism caused them to leave the tracks. The tracks, located in the small community of Barnum, are owned by the Canadian National Railway.

Railway spokesman Patrick Waldron says no one was injured and no ethanol spilled. Ubben says crews from Waterloo and Omaha, Nebraska, were called to the derailment Tuesday night and were using heavy machinery to move the cars off the rail line and transfer the ethanol to other containers.