CARTER LAKE, Iowa (AP) — Heavy rainfall has forced the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to close Carter Lake in southwest Iowa to all boaters.

The DNR says in a news release on Monday the heavy rainfalls from storms that moved across the area Sunday night has led the agency to close all boat ramps on Carter Lake until the water level has dropped enough so that docks and the shoreline are protected.

The DNR also says all boat ramps on Carter Lake in Omaha, Neb., are closed.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Gov. Terry Branstad says state environmental officials clearly overstepped their bounds when they sought to ban lead shot in dove hunting. Speaking Monday at his weekly news conference, Branstad argued that efforts by the Natural Resources Commission to ban lead shot was the latest example of state bureaucrats abusing their power. A legislative panel delayed the action last week, and the matter will go to the Legislature next year. Branstad says he’s restructuring the commission and wants to send a message to other state entities that they shouldn’t take action better left to lawmakers. Environmentalists say lead shot can be deadly to other animals who can consume the pellets.

GREENFIELD, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has denied a request to build a 5,000 head hog confinement in Adair County. In a letter dated Friday to a consultant working with the operator of the proposed facility, the DNR said an evaluation of the proposal indicated it failed to meet the requirements necessary for approval. The Adair County Board of Supervisors recommended the DNR deny the construction permit because of problems with the application and community opposition.

The operator, Twin Lakes Environmental Services LLC, a manure management company based in Rockwell City, has 14 days to appeal the decision. Mike Sexton, a consultant with Twin Lakes, says the company is reviewing its options to determine its next step. He declined to identify who his company is working for.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today (Friday) announced that he will be participating in agricultural focused town meetings in Pottawattamie, Montgomery and Cass Counties on Tuesday, August 30th, as part of his efforts to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties again in 2011.  Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Congressman Tom Latham will also participate in the meetings. The town meetings will take place in Oakland, Red Oak and Atlantic.
In Pottawattamie County, the Agriculture Town Hall meeting will be from  10:00 – 11:30 a.m., in Oakland, at the Community Building, at 129 Harrison Street.

In Montgomery County, the meeting is from 1: 00 – 2:30 p.m., at the Montgomery County YMCA, at 101 E. Cherry Street, in Red Oak.

In Cass County, the meeting is from 3:30 until 5-p.m. in the Medium room at the Cass County Community, in Atlantic.

Northey, a corn and soybean farmer from Spirit Lake, is serving his second term as Secretary of Agriculture. His priorities as Secretary of Agriculture are promoting the use of science and new technologies to better care for our air, soil and water, and reaching out to tell the story of Iowa agriculture.

An official with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the Lake of Three Fires State Park, near Bedford, in Taylor County, was damaged Thursday evening from a storm that caused power outages across the region. State Parks Chief Kevin Szcodronski says the storm brought golf ball sized hail that striped trees by the lake nearly bare. Trees and limbs were damaged in the park to the extent that the roads to the picnic areas are impassible.

Szcodronski said the DNR is calling campers who had reservations to tell them the park has some damage and is without electricity. He says the water is still on, and restrooms are functioning. Campers are still welcome to camp if they choose, he says, and the DNR will help them find a site in a nearby state park campground, or give them a full refund.

Szcodronski said he will be bringing in staff from other parks to help with the clean up and inspect the facilities and trails. He says “Everything is covered in leaf litter. This was a big storm that caused a lot of damage and power outages across southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri.” He says they really don’t know when the power will return.

Waubonsie, Viking Lake and Lake Manawa state parks also sustained damage, but not to the extent of Lake of Three Fires. Szcodronski said there were no injuries reported.

A hazard alert has been issued by the University of Iowa College of Public Health after an especially bad month in Iowa for fatal tractor accidents. Four farmers, all elderly, died in separate incidents between June 8th and July 8th. Each person was killed when an older tractor rolled over and pinned them underneath. U-of-I Occupational Health Professor Marizen Ramirez says tractor rollovers are a significant danger every year.

“On average, we have 8 to 10 tractor rollover deaths per year, so for us to see four in a one month period of time – it did catch our attention,” Ramirez said. The U-of-I has launched a public information campaign to encourage farmers driving older equipment to outfit their machines with tractor rollover protection. Newer tractors come with cabs or with the safety gear already installed.

“It takes money to try to retrofit these models, so it’s a challenge for our communities to come up with innovative ways to encourage folks to retrofit this older equipment so they can keep themselves safe,” Ramirez said. She added that anti-rollover devices used with seatbelts are very effective in preventing injury and death.

(Radio Iowa)

From the Audubon and Cass County FSA and NRCS offices.

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A state legislative panel has voted to block a rule that would’ve banned the use of lead shot by dove hunters. Tuesday’s action will allow hunters to use lead shot when the inaugural dove hunting season opens September 1st. Representative Clel Baudler, a Republican from Greenfield, is not on the legislative committee but requested to testify before his colleagues. “This is nothing but an anti-hunting issue,” Baudler said. “I hope you’ll do the right thing and stop this rule from going into effect.” Baudler believes the Natural Resource Commission overstepped its authority when it approved the ban last month.

“We have a situation here in Iowa with the Department of Natural Resources…it appears, from the hunting community, to be very anti-hunting,” Baudler said. Other hunters testified that lead shot is toxic to wildlife and that using copper or steel ammunition is an easy alternative. Liz Garst of Coon Rapids is a former chair of the Natural Resource Commission.

“If we hunters persist in saying we’re exempt from the environmental problems of lead, we hunters are going to get a black mark in the public’s eye,” Garst said. She pointed to research that shows increasing lead poisoning in bald Eagles. But lawmakers say it’s up to Iowa Legislature to review the data and decide if the rule should stand. The legislature must now repeal the ban on lead shot during the next session, or it goes into effect for the 2012 dove hunting season.

(Radio Iowa)

Hunters who plan to pursue doves this fall will be allowed to use lead shot except on wildlife areas that require the use of non-toxic shot for hunting any species, except deer and turkey, which are listed on p. 16 of the Iowa Hunting and Trapping regulations booklet available at more than 800 locations in Iowa and online at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting<http://www.iowadnr.gov/hunting>. The correction in the regulations booklet is on p. 3 under the heading Highlights or Changes to the 2011-2012 Hunting and Trapping Regulations that states: Hunters are required to use non-toxic shot to hunt doves. The non-toxic shot requirement was discussed during the Administrative Rules Review Committee Tuesday that placed a session delay on it to allow the Iowa legislature to address the requirement.