WASHINGTON, June 14, 2023 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced earlier this week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is accepting more than 1 million acres in this year’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) General signup. This is one of several signups that USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is holding for the program. The results for CRP General signup reflect the continued importance of CRP as a tool to help producers invest in the long-term health, sustainability, and profitability of their land and resources. The signup’s results include nearly 18,000 acres in Iowa.

“This year’s General CRP signup demonstrates the value and continued strength of this voluntary conservation program, which plays an important role in helping mitigate climate change and conserve our natural resources,” said Matt Russell, State Executive Director in Iowa. “This week’s announcement is one of many enrollment and partnership opportunities within CRP, including opportunities through our working lands Grassland CRP, Continuous CRP, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). USDA will continue working to ensure producers and landowners have the information they need to take advantage of the options that work best for their operations.”

Offers for new land in this General CRP signup totaled about 295,000 acres nationwide. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for 891,000 expiring acres, reflecting the successes of participating in CRP longer term. The total number of CRP acres will continue to climb in the coming weeks once FSA accepts acres from the Grassland CRP signup, which closed May 26. Additionally, so far this year, FSA has received 761,000 offered acres for the Continuous CRP signup, for which FSA accepts applications year-round.

The number of accepted acres that are enrolled in General CRP will be confirmed later this year. Participating producers and landowners should also remember that submitting and accepting a CRP offer is the first step, and producers still need to develop a conservation plan before contracts become effective on October 1, 2023. Each year, during the window between offer acceptance and land enrollment, some producers ultimately decide not to enroll some accepted acres, without penalty.

The General CRP Signup 60 ran from February 27 through April 7, 2023. To learn more about FSA programs, producers can contact their local USDA Service Center. Producers can also prepare maps for acreage reporting as well as manage farm loans and view other farm records data and customer information by logging into their farmers.gov account. If you don’t have an account, sign up today.

(Onawa, Iowa) – Blue Lake, located within Lewis and Clark State Park, continues to experience abnormally low water levels that may impact recreation opportunities. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says launching boats is not recommended with the current low water levels. Their report last week said water levels in oxbow lakes adjacent to the Missouri River, including Blue Lake, are lower than normal due to dry conditions in western Iowa and historic low flows in the Missouri River.

The current drought period in Western Iowa began in 2020.  Climate conditions over the last three years are some of the driest three-year periods in the 128-year record for the region.  In the past two years, annual runoff was at least 25 percent below normal levels. Local average annual precipitation is also below normal for the area, contributing to the low water conditions at Blue Lake.

Blue Lake, like many other oxbow lakes, is characterized by a small watershed drainage area relative to the size of the lake and a localized water recharge area. Oxbow lakes form when a curve (or meander) in a river finds a shorter path, effectively isolating the old curve to form an oxbow lake in a low-lying plain near the side of the river. Water levels in these lakes are highly influenced by nearby river and groundwater levels.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) owns and maintains an auxiliary groundwater supply well, located approximately 1.25 miles northwest of Blue Lake. This well has been used in the past to maintain the water levels and maximize the recreational opportunities for the lake’s visitors during normal water years.

During drought conditions, the well is unable to provide sufficient water to maintain or increase water levels in the lake with the surrounding low water table and Missouri River water levels. Any water pumped into the lake would immediately be lost to the low groundwater table

DNR continues to monitor drought conditions and water levels at Blue Lake.

(Afton, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a public meeting from 5:30-7 p.m., Thursday, June 15, at Three-Mile Lake Lodge, 1577 Creamery Road, to discuss in-lake improvements planned for Three-Mile Lake starting this fall.

Three-Mile Lake, an 880-acre multi-purpose reservoir located in rural southern Iowa, offers many recreational opportunities including sailing, powerboating, water skiing, and no-wake areas for fishing. The lake is a public water supply source.

A restoration project began in 2016 to improve the lake’s water quality and fishery. Restoration activities planned as part of this phase of the project include increasing the storage capacity of the sediment/nutrient basin, installing in-lake forebays for sediment/nutrient retention, deepening and armoring the shoreline and adding fish habitat structures to improve fishing.

Any person with special requirements such as those related to mobility or hearing impairments who wishes to participate in the public meeting should promptly contact the DNR or ADA Coordinator at 515-725-8200, Relay Iowa TTY Service 800-735-7942, or Webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov to advise of specific needs.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Changes are coming soon to the way Iowans can hunt and trap raccoons, and how farmers can deal with raccoon depredation issues. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, raccoons were the focus of a bill approved during the 2023 Iowa legislative session, allowing landowners or tenants to dispatch raccoons causing damage to their agricultural property, outside of the city limits. Landowners may shoot or trap raccoons using cage or dog-proof traps. A license is not required and landowners do not need to notify the DNR before shooting or trapping. That bill was signed into law by Governor Reynolds and becomes effective on July 1st.

The other related change relaxes the rules for hunting and trapping raccoons for everyone. The new rules, developed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and approved by the Natural Resource Commission of the Iowa DNR, allows for year-round hunting and trapping of raccoons on private land.

While the raccoon season will be continuously open, during the time of year outside of the furharvester season, only firearms, cage traps or dog-proof traps are legal methods of take. During the furharvester season, trappers may use other lawful traps normally allowed during the trapping season. Hunters or trappers pursuing raccoons on private land they do not own are required to have a valid furharvester license.

The new raccoon rules are currently in effect.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – This week’s Iowa Crop and Weather report from the U-S-D-A rates 60 percent of Iowa topsoil either short or very short of moisture. State Climatologist Justin Glisan says abnormally dry conditions have expanded in the past two weeks. “In those more pervasive and dry areas, we’ve seen precipitation deficits really stack up,” Glisan says. “This is reflected in lower stream flows, but also diminishment in soil moisture.”

By last Thursday, 99 percent of the state reached some stage of drought or has been abnormally dry for 30 to 60 days according to the U-S-D-A’s Iowa Drought Monitor. Glisan says it appears surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean are rising — and that means a change in the weather pattern for thunderstorms that form over the ocean and later sweep into Iowa.

“I think there is good news on the horizon,” Glisan says. Weather models indicate the swing into the wetter pattern could arrive in Iowa by July, according to Glisan, just when corn and soybeans hit a major stage in development.  “We need timely rainfalls throughout the teeth of the growing season,” Glisan says, “so seeing this potential shift into El Nino, which we are in now, and the potential for the weather patterns that set up, I am pretty confident that we are not going to see any yield loss because of early planting.”

Glisan made his comments during a recent appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. According to the U-S-D-A, the development of Iowa’s soybean crop is nine days ahead of normal and the corn crop is a week ahead of last year.

(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board (CCCB) held a youth fishing derby at Cold Springs Park on Saturday, June 10, 2023. Officials say prizes were awarded for the most overall weight:

• 1st place, Traven Thomas
• 2nd place, Dayton Thomas
• 3rd place, Brooklyn Thomas.
  

  (Left) Traven Thomas; (Middle) Dayton Thomas; Brooklyn Thomas (2nd from left); Gavin Dougherty (2nd from the right), & Chloe Pendergast (right). Photo submitted by the CCCB

Awards also given for heaviest single fish and longest single fish: Gavin Dougherty, and shortest single fish: Chloe Pendergast. The CCCB thanks all those that donated items for the event: Weirich Welding for the trophies, Cappel’s Ace Hardware, and Scheels for prizes.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – Officials in Guthrie County report 2023 marks the third year that Guthrie County ISU Extension & Outreach has offered the “Wild Places in Guthrie County” tourism event. Krista Downing, Program Coordinator says “Each year we select different locations in Guthrie County to explore. Our flyer provides you coordinates or a QR code option to each location and a list of a few activities that you can do once you get to each location. We try to find different areas around that county that hit on recreation, history, and places that you might not even know about and then we create an educational video for each location with the help of local experts.”

With this event, you can go at your own pace, once you have the flyer with the information on it. First pick one of the mystery locations to visit then follow the coordinates to get there. Once you have arrived at the location find the flyer with QR codes on them. Scan the large QR code to watch a video to learn more about the site you are visiting. Make sure to take some time to explore each site, there are suggestions listed with each location on the flyer. Pick a new site and repeat this adventure until you hit all five locations! Make sure to scan the QR code to check in at each site so they can track how many people participate.

Guthrie County Extension is also offering a mystery prize to two lucky people. To be entered in a drawing for a prize take a picture at each location. Post your pictures on Facebook, tag Guthrie County Extension, and #GuthrieCountyWildThings. If you post entries at all three locations, you’ll receive three extra entries. All entries will be due by July 20th, 2023.

According to Krista Downing, “We had a few different goals with this event when we started it in 2021. We hope to help stimulate the local economy by promoting tourist locations, provide a family friendly all ages event to the citizens of Guthrie County and surrounding areas, and get people outdoors exploring the different amenities that Guthrie County has to offer. We had a great response the past two years and are excited to be able to bring it back for a third year.”.

For more information or to download the flyer for this year, go to https://www.extension.iastate.edu/guthrie/. If you have any questions about the tourism event, please feel free to reach out to the Guthrie County ISU Extension office at 641-747-2276. (Click to enlarge the image >>> )

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is expanding its wilderness education program to reach 45-hundred elementary school children this year, and it should bring the outdoor learning experience to more than six-thousand next year. Jay Gorsh, director of U-I School of the Wild, says the program is typically a five-day field trip that takes fourth, fifth and sixth graders out of the classroom and into the woods. Gorsh says it helps kids to develop a sense of awareness and appreciation for nature. “Most often we use the three habitats in Iowa: prairie, wetlands and woodlands,” Gorsh says. “Then regularly we have a day of outdoor skills. Sometimes there’s an Archaeology Day in there. Sometimes you might have an entire day dedicated to wildlife or a specific type of wildlife. Here in Iowa City, we have an entire day dedicated to birds, so we have an Ornithology Day.”

Part of the thrill, he says, is getting kids to try things they’ve never had the opportunity to do before, like kayaking, or having what he calls a wildlife experience. “We can use some long-handled nets along the shore of a lake or in a creek and catch some frogs or tadpoles, and they can hold those frogs and tadpoles in their hand and be able to study them,” Gorsh says. “From there we can get into some biology by having them try to determine what specific type of frog is that that they’re holding. Is it male? Is it female? How do we know?” Kids today are being increasingly pushed indoors, he says, and too many of them know too little about the natural, wonderful world around us.

“What we would like to do is kind of disconnect, unplug the kids, get them out into nature, get them away from their electronics a little bit,” Gorsh says. “Also, there’s just a lot to be said about spending a day in the woods as far as how it makes you feel. For most people, that’s a pretty relaxing experience.” The U-I’s Wildlife Camps program started in 1991 and over time, morphed into becoming the School of the Wild. For many years, it was limited to the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area, but just before the pandemic, they experimented with taking the program on the road so students elsewhere in Iowa could learn about nature in their own areas.

“It went really well. The feedback was very positive from families, from kids, from teachers, so we decided to go ahead and launch this thing across the state and see if it took off,” Gorsh says. “So now, there are programs that are running in county, state, even federal parks all across the state at different times in the year.” The School of the Wild is working with 83 schools in 50 Iowa districts in 36 counties this year, and Gorsh says it’s been expanding by about 15-hundred students every year.

https://wild.education.uiowa.edu/school-wild

Chris Parks speaks with Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly and Officer Austin Durnin about all things outdoors. This week they talk about fishing opportunities, water recreation tips, young wildlife and much more.

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