One dozen of the 57 Republicans in the Iowa House have signed onto a bill that would incrementally raise the state sales tax by fractions, to raise money for water quality initiatives. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, is the proposal’s lead sponsor.

The bill would raise the sales tax by one-eighth of a percent in each of the next three years. By that third year, it would raise 180-million dollars annually. Kaufmann says that 180 million could REPLACE other state tax money being spent on water quality projects — and he’s suggesting INCOME taxes for low-income Iowans could be reduced as a result.

Representative Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Cedar Rapids, says voters told her last year water quality is a quality of life issue. Representative Andy McKean, a Republican from Anamosa who is another co-sponsor of the bill, says it’s crafted in the tradition of former Republican President Teddy Roosevelt who founded the National Park system. “I think it’s high time that Republicans start taking the lead on some of these environmental and conservation issues,” McKean says.

There’s another water quality improvement package already moving through the legislature. Governor Branstad has expressed support for its contents — and Branstad has said he’s not interested in raising the sales tax to expand the state’s water quality efforts.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Senate has passed a bill supporters hope will reduce what they consider “nuisance” lawsuits about the location of livestock operations. Senator Dan Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, says the bill establishes new legal protections for livestock producers who are “prudent” and “reasonable.”

“It only is going to protect good actors,” Zumbach says. “It’s going to do nothing for bad actors and you can still sue. You can still file for damages. It just creates equitable damages.” The bill, for example, would put new limits on the damages a court could order for health care costs connected to living near a confinement. Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, says some big livestock operations “don’t give a hoot about their neighbor.”

“I support agriculture in this state,” Dotzler says. “It’s a good thing for us, but you’ve also got to respect other people’s properties.” Senate Democratic Leader Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, says the bill is “fundamentally unfair.”

“This is about people’s dreams and their lives,” Hogg says. “And what they don’t want is to have somebody come in unfettered and have a nuisance put in next to them and be told when they try to do something about it: ‘You know what? Your rights don’t matter. The fact that you were there first doesn’t matter.'” Senator David Johnson of Ocheyedan, an independent, says things have changed, for the worse, in many rural areas. “We’ve got to get rid of this notion that you can just put a confinement anywhere, at any time,” Johnson said.

Zumbach says the bill is necessary because banks are reluctant to loan money to livestock producers because of the threat of “nuisance” lawsuits. “This bill’s about a young gentleman or lady coming out of Iowa State University educated well, ready to go into the livestock industry,” Zumbach says, “and having the ability to go to a bank that will loan that person money and feel comfortable with that loan to start them in the livestock industry.”

And Zumbach says the bill’s designed to protect smaller producers who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. He accused critics of the legislation of trying to “slaughter” the state’s livestock industry.The bill passed with the support of 31 of the 50 state senators. It must clear the House Ag Committee by March 30th or it will no longer be eligible for consideration by lawmakers this year.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Extension Program Coordinator Kate Olson

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Cass County: Corn $3.06, Beans $9.18
Adair County: Corn $3.03, Beans $9.21
Adams County: Corn $3.03, Beans $9.17
Audubon County: Corn $3.05, Beans $9.20
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $3.09, Beans $9.18
Guthrie County: Corn $3.08, Beans $9.22
Montgomery County: Corn $3.08, Beans $9.20
Shelby County: Corn $3.09, Beans $9.18

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has closed the book on its 2016 chronic wasting disease monitoring effort that collected 4,879 tissue samples from wild deer with 12 samples testing positive for the disease. Test results are pending on deer from a handful of counties and on 86 deer tissue samples from the Clayton County special deer collection effort that ended on March 5.

The disease first appearing in the 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.

Chronic wasting disease is caused by a misshapen protein, takes 18-36 months to show clinical signs and is always fatal. Epizoic hemorrhagic disease is spread by a biting midge, is often worse during drought years and can occur throughout Iowa.

The Iowa DNR has a goal to collect around 5,000 deer samples from across the state each year, with an emphasis in and near areas where disease has been confirmed. For the 14 counties near areas where CWD has been confirmed, quotas range from 50 samples to 500. The remaining counties have a quota of 15 samples each.

The CWD focus areas include the northeast quarter of Pottawattamie County. The disease has been found in southeastern Nebraska near the Missouri River which will begin a new focus area with a quota of 750 samples along Iowa’s western border from Fremont to Woodbury County.

There are some things hunters can do to help with the surveillance. First, remove any mineral blocks and feeders that unnaturally concentrates deer and increases the chance of spreading any disease. They can also provide tissue samples to the DNR for testing and report any sick or emaciated deer to the DNR.

Western Iowans who are looking forward to boating season should be able to get out onto the Missouri River in a few weeks. The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is preparing the basin’s reservoirs for run-off season. Joel Knofczynski, a hydraulic engineer in the Corps’ Omaha office, says almost all of the flood pool is available behind the six, mainstem dams. “On December 18th, the reservoir system storage reached 56.1-million acre feet, which is at the base of the annual flood control zone,” he says. “This means that all the stored 2016 flood waters have been evacuated from the system.”

Knofczynski says they will soon start releasing water from Gavins Point Dam for the downstream navigation season. “Releases from Gavins Point are currently 17,000 cubic feet per second,” he says. “Releases will be stepped up beginning at or around March 19th to provide flow support for the 2017 navigation season. The navigation season will open on April 1st at the mouth near St. Louis.”

Knofczynski says the Corps is anticipating a full, eight-month navigation season on the Missouri. “Flows for this level of service are designed to provide a nine-foot-deep navigation channel with Gavins Point releases expected to range from the upper 20,000 to the lower 30,000 cubic feet per second this summer, depending on downstream conditions” he says. “Those releases will be reduced in response to downstream flooding, if necessary.”

Corps officials have said -no- spring flooding is anticipated. Also, there will -not- be a spring “pulse” for endangered species habitat this year and run-off is expected to be about 115-percent of normal.

(Radio Iowa)

While the thoughts of most Iowans are on the good things that spring brings, poultry producers are on the lookout for potential problems with bird flu. Cases of the two types of avian influenza have been found in Tennessee and Wisconsin, and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey says it’s another reminder to be alert. Iowa took a massive hit from the bird flu two years ago when millions of chickens and turkeys had to be destroyed.

“Our producers have invested large amounts of effort and dollars into biosecurity trying to keep the disease away from their farms. From truck washes to limited access onto the farms, to lots of ways to try and keep the disease out,” Northey says. “So that was done from sometimes before the last outbreak, to immediately after the last outbreak.”

He says the news of the case that is highly contagious in Tennessee probably led to some uneasiness in Iowans. “I’m sure everybody is checking their biosecurity plans again. There is no guarantee to prevent a disease from being able to be exposed. And it’s obviously in the Mississippi flyway now in some wild birds — whether it’s a few or a lot, nobody knows. Everybody’s concerned while they continue the plans they have had in place,” Northey says.

Northey says there’s no reason for consumers to be concerned. “It’s important to remind everybody that food safety is not a concern. Go ahead and eat your eggs and eat your turkey meat and chicken meat, that’s not a concern. Producers are concerned about the health of their birds and they are doing everything that they can to keep their birds healthy,” according to Northey.

Thousands of chickens were destroyed at the Tennessee farm after the “highly pathogenic” variety of the disease was found there. Another bird flu outbreak was reported at a Wisconsin turkey farm but it was not the highly-pathogenic variety.

(Radio Iowa)

The group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement is holding a series of meetings across the state over the next several weeks to gain input on what changes should be made to the so-called master matrix. I-C-C-I spokeswoman Erica Blair says they’ve already heard from many Iowans who universally want one type of change in the scoring system used to evaluate the siting of feeding operations.

“Larger separation distances between a factory farm and a stream or a factory farm and somebody’s house,” Blair says. “People would like to have more site specificity. The master matrix doesn’t really take into consideration the landscape that it’s in, whether it’s in coarse terrain or if it’s near a stream.”

By making some key changes in the matrix, Blair says they’re hoping to see better protections from agricultural runoff. Blair says, “The goal of strengthening the master matrix would be to reduce runoff, reduce manure pollution and make sure we have better water in Iowa.” Blair says legislative action may need to be taken in order to get stronger rules. “The legislature certainly could make these changes or call for the DNR to open the master matrix rules back up,” Blair says. “We’re seeing people across the state calling on their legislators to do something about it.”

Leaders in Pocahontas and Webster counties have sent letters to lawmakers and to the D-N-R, she says, asking for a moratorium on new construction until the issue is addressed. The I-C-C-I meetings are scheduled for: Wednesday (March 15th) in Greenfield, March 21st in Lohrville, March 30th in Ames, April 4th in Solon and April 8th in Le Mars.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Sec. of Agriculture Bill Northey have announced 12 urban conservation water quality initiative demonstration projects have been selected to receive $820,840 in funding. The 12 projects will provide nearly $1.18 million in matching funds to support water quality improvement efforts as well as other in-kind contributions.

Among the area communities participating in newly announced projects is Denison. The City of Denison received a grant award amount to $73, 560 for the installation of four bioretention cells and one permeable paver system in the downtown area as part of this project. The total project cost is $147,120. The retrofit demonstration project will offer multiple water quality benefits, along with strong local support and community involvement, in a highly visible area with the goal of using the project as an example for future community infrastructure projects.

The various projects will focus on conservation measures that capture and allow stormwater to be absorbed into the ground and reduce a property’s contribution to water quality degradation, stream flows and flooding. They also include strong partnerships and outreach/education components to disseminate information to promote increased awareness and adoption of available practices and technologies for achieving reductions in nutrient loads to surface waters.

More information about the urban water quality practices can be found at www.cleanwateriowa.org/residential-practices.aspx. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received 34 pre-applications for this funding after it was announced last fall and 14 projects were invited to submit full proposals. Twelve projects were selected to receive funding through the Water Quality Initiative. This is the third time that urban conservation projects have been funded through the Water Quality Initiative and there are currently 22 active or completed urban demonstration projects across the state . The state awarded these initial 22 projects over $1.63 million in funding and partners and landowners participating in the projects are providing over $5 million to support these urban conservation efforts.

Bob Bebensee and DNR Conservation Officer Grant Gelle talk about all things outdoors.

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