The Field/Grassland Fire Danger rating in Shelby County was reduced today (Thursday), from the “Extreme,” to “High” category. The rating is in effect until the next update on Monday. Emergency management officials warn conditions will still support large fire growth, and resistance to firefighting efforts. Be sure to call 712-755-2124 if you plan to conduct an outdoor burn, and contact your local Fire Chief prior to igniting.

This past February was the second warmest in Iowa on record. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the warm start to the year is prompting vegetation to come out of dormancy sooner than usual and could intensify the dry conditions across south central and southeast Iowa due to early evapotranspiration. The report is prepared by the technical staff from the Iowa DNR, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering and the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department.

Officials say Hydrologic conditions and drought have remained the same throughout the winter months in Iowa. The pattern of wetness in northern Iowa and the dryness in the southern half has changed very little throughout the winter.

Precipitation for Iowa varied across the state. The wettest area of the state is far northern Iowa, receiving double the normal amounts for January and February, while the southeast one-third of the state remains dry. Stream flow conditions are above normal across the majority of the state, except in parts of southern Iowa, which have decreased to normal levels.

For a thorough review of Iowa’s water resource trends, go to www.iowadnr.gov/watersummaryupdate.

Officials with Shelby County Extension is hosting a Farmer’s Coffee, bringing farmers and other ag professional together for informal discussion on current ag topics. You’re invited to join them on Thursday, March 23rd for “Securing Your Farm Property: Reducing Your Risk of Theft & Vandalism,” from 9:30-until 11:30-a.m., at the Extension Office in Harlan.

The free event features a panel discussion with brief comments by guest experts and opportunity for questions from those attending. The panel includes Shawn Shouse, ISU extension & Outreach Ag Engineering Specialist; Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross; and Jason Erickson, security systems expert from ThinkSpaceIT. Sponsorship for the event is provided by United Bank of Iowa.

No reservations are needed. For more information, please contact the Shelby County Extension Office at (712) 755-3104 or email oloff@iastate.edu.

Iowa poultry producers are on-guard as more than 73-thousand chickens were destroyed since the weekend outbreak of highly-pathogenic avian influenza at a Tennessee farm. Thirty other farms nearby are quarantined. Kevin Stiles, executive director of the Iowa Poultry and Egg Association, says the Tennessee outbreak is a worry here, as Iowa dealt with a major outbreak in 2015.

“We’re always concerned anytime we hear the words ‘high-path avian influenza’ mentioned,” Stiles says. “We do feel and hope our producers have taken the necessary safeguards to do as good a job as we can from a biosecurity standpoint, but none the less, certainly they would have concern.”

Another bird flu outbreak is reported in a Wisconsin turkey farm but it is -not- the highly-pathogenic variety. Stiles says Iowa’s producers tightened biosecurity following the epidemic here two years ago and are just now recovering lost ground. “We still are working hard to recapture some of those export markets that were lost during 2015,” Stiles says. “We’re starting to see some of those come back and, of course, we’ve most recently seen some export gain from the fact South Korea is experiencing an avian influenza outbreak.”

Stiles says the U-S-D-A and Tennessee agriculture department officials have responded well to the outbreak. “They have quickly gotten their arms around the initial site and are testing a number of birds in flocks around,” Stiles says. “At least until now, those subsequent tests have all come up negative, so that makes me feel good that USDA and the folks in Tennessee are doing a great job in getting on this as soon as possible.”

Tennessee officials have declined to name the breeder and would only say the farm is in the state’s Lincoln County, west of Chattanooga. During the 2015 bird flu outbreak, cases were confirmed at 77 Iowa poultry operations in 18 counties. It resulted in the destruction of more than 31-million birds and an economic loss to the state of $1.2 billion dollars.

(Radio Iowa)

w/Kate Olson.

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This summer, six Iowa state parks will host University of Iowa Wildlife Camps for families living near the parks. The popular conservation education day camp program will be offered at Maquoketa Caves, Mines of Spain, George Wyth, Springbrook, Viking Lake and Ledges state parks.

“Wildlife Camps have been a popular educational and recreational experience in the Iowa City area for more than 25 years and we are excited to share this program with kids across the state,” said Jay Gorsh, program coordinator. “Campers can expect to spend a week exploring, learning, playing – in the wild!”

The expansion of the University of Iowa program comes after Wildlife Camps received a REAP (Resource Enhancement and Protection) CEP (Conservation Education Program) grant from the Department of Natural Resources to pilot the program in Iowa state parks.

The camps are for students entering 3rd-6th grade.  Activities will focus on the wildlife, natural habitats and unique features of each state park. Dates of each day camp are as follows:

·         Viking Lake State Park (Stanton): June 12-16

·         George Wyth State Park (Cedar Falls): June 19-23

·         Springbrook State Park (Guthrie Center): June 26-30

·         Ledges State Park (Madrid): July 10-14

·         Maquoketa Caves State Park (Maquoketa): July 17-21

·         Mines of Spain State Recreation Area (Dubuque): July 24-28

Registration is open and enrollment will be limited to 40 students per camp. To register and learn more about the camps visit recserv.uiowa.edu/wildlife-camps-state-parks.

• KJAN, Atlantic  .18″
• Massena  .25″
• Clarinda  .4″
• Schleswig  .31″
• Logan  .32″
• Bedford  .18″
• New Market  .45″
• Red Oak  .4″
• Carroll  .65″
• Shenandoah  .23″

The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation is offering five grants of up to a thousand dollars ($1,000) to help more people understand the role of agriculture in everyday life. The foundation’s executive director, Will Fett, says any organization that has agriculture education as part of its mission can apply.

“That might be local FFA chapters, local 4H clubs, county farm bureaus, soil and water conservation districts, anybody who really values agriculture and learning about agriculture,” Fett says. Less than two-percent of the U.S. population is connected with production agriculture, yet it accounts for as much as 15-percent of the nation’s workforce.

“The agriculture literacy challenge grants are intended to help people connect the science behind agriculture, to understand the food production system, and how it has value in their daily lives,” Fett says. The grants can be used to fund innovative lessons, activities, speakers, and other projects. The deadline for the grant applications is April 9th.

(Radio Iowa)

An Iowa State University report shows applying nitrogen fertilizer at certain levels to corn and soybeans helps maintain carbon in the soil, bringing a range of environmental and production benefits. I-S-U agronomy professor Michael Castellano co-authored the study and says there’s long been disagreement among scientists and farmers over fertilizer’s impact on the soil. “A lot of folks are under the impression that nitrogen fertilizer, particularly anhydrous ammonia, may be bad for soil health, it may degrade the carbon and the organic matter in our soil,” Castellano says. “We found just the opposite in our studies across the state, all the way from northwest Iowa to southeast Iowa.”

Researchers collected soil samples from the four I-S-U research farms at Sutherland, Ames, Chariton and Crawfordsville in 1999 and 2000 and then again 15 years later after each site received regimented applications of nitrogen fertilizer. “We observed that nitrogen fertilizer was in fact very important for maintaining and improving soil health,” Castellano says. “The reason why it maintained or improved soil health is because it’s critical to increase the production of crop residues in the soil.”

The test compared soil health for various levels of fertilizer applications — be it too low, too high or at optimum levels. “We think by looking at the range in nitrogen fertilizers, we really cleared up this uncertainty about whether nitrogen fertilizer is good or bad for soil health,” Castellano says. “We found that it’s good right up until that optimum level but beyond that, there’s just no improvement to be seen from adding more.”

Funding for the study came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture.

(Radio Iowa)

Hunters in Iowa killed just under 101,397 deer this past season. Iowa DNR wildlife researcher Tyler Harms says that’s about 3,000 fewer than in the 2015-16 season, but nearly identical to the harvest from two years ago. “We’ve been holding right around that 100,000 mark for the last few years, which to us is a good sign – indicative of a stable deer population in Iowa,” Harms says.

A big factor in the lower numbers this past year was unseasonably warm weather early in the season, according to Harms. He admits some hunters are a frustrated they aren’t seeing as many deer as they’d like. “What we’re hearing, overall statewide, is hunters are pretty pleased with the numbers,” Harms says. “Obviously, that’s going to change depending on specific areas in the state.”

The deer population in southeast Iowa, for example, has decreased. That’s due in large part to a disease outbreak known as E-H-D. “That are was hit pretty hard with epizootic hemorrhagic disease a couple years ago, which can have some pretty drastic impacts on local population,” Harms says.

The Iowa DNR has a goal to manage for a deer population that can provide a harvest of between 100,000 and 120,000 deer each year, based on the recommendations agreed upon by a state deer task force. Around 170,000 hunters took part in the latest deer season. Harms says deer hunting license sales have been “stable” over the last 5 to 6 years.

(Radio Iowa)