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MISSOURI VALLEY – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will treat Nobles Lake with a low concentration of rotenone to eliminate rough fish. Nobles Lake, 95-acre cutoff oxbow lake located in Harrison and Pottawatomie counties on the Missouri River floodplain, was inundated and infested with numerous invasive and river fish species during the floods of 2011 and 2019.
The dryer than normal conditions and historic low flows in the Missouri River has nearly drained Nobles Lake, providing ideal conditions to remove rough fish. Invasive species like silver carp, bighead carp, shortnose gar and common carp have a negative impact on water quality and wildlife habitat by suppressing aquatic plants. “The most effective method to eliminate the remaining fish population is to apply rotenone under the ice this winter,” said Bryan Hayes, fisheries management biologist with the Iowa DNR. 
Rotenone is used world-wide and has been since the 1930s. It is a common tool that fisheries managers use for fish removal. Rotenone is a naturally occurring compound that comes from the roots of a tropical plant in the bean family. The Iowa DNR commonly uses the commercially available formulation, five percent Prenfish, which has been approved for fisheries management by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Nobles Lake is part of a larger 236-acre Iowa DNR Wildlife Management Area primarily used by waterfowl hunters and bird watchers.
Ag/Outdoor, Heartbeat Today, Podcasts
Jim Field visit with Kendra Meyer, Executive Secretary of the Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association, about the Iowa Specialty Producers Conference February 22-23 in Ankeny. Visit www.iowaspecialtyproducers.com/registernow.
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(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa Christmas tree growers are concerned damage done by the drought could limit their supply in the next few years. Country Pines Farm owner, Justin Pritts, says last year’s lack of snow led to a loss of 100 fully grown Christmas trees at his operation in Marcus — and he also lost around one third of the saplings this year to drought. “My big concern is going to be six or seven years down the road, if these little ones don’t start taking off or we lose more over the wintertime, I mean, we’re going to be in trouble down the road,” Pitts says.
Pritts says it takes around seven years for his trees to mature. He says the farm may have to rely more on getting trees from places like Michigan and Wisconsin where drought isn’t as pervasive. Robin Miller operates T&S Christmas Tree Farm near Hawarden in northwest Iowa. She says they usually lose around 25 percent of trees planted — but the drought pushed that number is up to 90 percent. ” I’ve been losing trees, I would say, it’s been all of three years. So that puts me at, you know, four years from now, I’m not going to have any of those trees. And there’s really no way to make up that time,” Miller says.
Miller says she’s especially worried about the supply of fir trees, which have taken the biggest hit. She fears she won’t be able to stock that popular tree type in the furture following the drought losses.
(reporting by Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa families have a tradition of taking down the Christmas tree tomorrow (Saturday), on the last day of the year, in order to start the new year out fresh on Sunday. Horticulturist and extension educator John Fech says don’t just toss the tree to the curb, but find a way to repurpose it. “Recycling it, reusing it, thinking of it again as a resource or an asset,” Fech says. If you’re crafty, trim the branches to make a fragrant sachet, wreath, or garland to enjoy in the weeks ahead. You could also cut up pieces of the evergreen to toss in a nearby lake or pond to provide a habitat for fish. Fech says mulching is another option.
“Do that yourself with a hatchet or you could have it run through a chipper,” Fech says. “Many of the cities do that for their parks and then they use that for trail cover around city parks and hospitals and places like that.” Another idea is to return the tree to the great outdoors for wildlife to use as shelter. He likes to call it tree-cycling. “Also, it could just be songbird habitat,” Fech says. “Set it near the bird feeder so birds have a place to get out of the wind and have a little bit of refuge from predator birds.”
If mulching the entire tree is too much work, just using the needles can be an effective mulch on perennial plants, in your garden, and to keep weeds in check.
(Massena, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board (CCCB) will host an “Intro to Ice Fishing” program, on January 14, 2023 at 10-a.m.. The event takes place at the Outdoor Classroom shelter, located at 76977 Tucson Rd, near Massena. The program will focus on ice fishing basics; what is needed to get out on the ice and enjoy the outdoors. We will go over ice safety and the necessary equipment needed to be safe.
Conservation Director Micah Lee says “We will also go over rods, reels, lines, augers, and bait as well as many extras such as shelters, electronics, clothing. CCCB staff will have examples on hand to show you how it works and the best ways to use it.” 
In addition, Lee says there will be “A drawing for those that attend, at the end of the event for a chance to win an ice fishing package to get you out on the ice and fishing. Depending on weather and ice conditions, following the program there will be a chance to go fishing as well. The CCCB will have ice rods, bait, and augers available for those that don’t have them.”
For further information please contact Conservation Director Micah Lee at 712-769-2372.
(Radio Iowa) – The annual Iowa State University survey finds more farmland sales in the last two to three years compared to five or six years ago. But survey manager, Wendong Zhang, says the farmland turnover rate is still very low and the buyer profile has only changed slightly.”Iowa farmland purchases by the buyer type are still dominated by existing farmers. But the share of the investors that includes both local and non-local investors are going up,” he says. He says the increase hasn’t been that pronounced.
“South-central has the highest investor share, so almost 40 percent of the land is actually bought by local or non-local investors,” Zhang says. “But on average, you’re seeing that they’re half and a half in terms of local, non-local across the board.” Zhang says the area with the highest land values has the most local buys. “In northwest Iowa where you see the strongest gross it’s the predominantly it’s the existing local farmers are buying the land in their own county or nearby counties pushing the land market,” he says.
Zhang says this is due in part to the large number of cattle owners in the area that need farmland to spread the manure on from their operations. He says that the desire to expand operations pushed up land in O’Brien County — which edged out Sioux County by 15 dollars for the most expensive farmland acres. Both topped long-running value champ Scott County. “It is the first time that Scott County is not the top county in the last 20 years, I think,” Zhang says. O’Brien County averaged 15-thousand-931 dollars an acre to Scott County’s 15-thousand-968. He says a majority of the farmland on the auction block is coming from estate sales or retired farmers.
“So, in northwest Iowa, for example two-thirds are actually coming from estate sales and 15 are coming from retired farmers,” he says. “So yes, we see a growing investor interest. But it is it’s predominantly a still a local farmer buying a local land story.” Zhang says other states like Illinois probably attract more of the investor interest because they have fewer restrictions on corporate land ownership than Iowa.
(Radio Iowa) – Top Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate say the 2023 legislature will consider new guidelines for pipelines that would capture and carry carbon away from Iowa’s ethanol plants. The proposed Summit and Navigator pipelines run through areas House Speaker Pat Grassley represents.
“I’ve been around here long enough to know when something really is an issue in our districts and I’ve talked to enough members as well as (people) in my own district to know that this is a real thing,” Grassley says. “This is something that Iowans are frustrated about.” Grassley suggests an outright ban on carbon pipelines is unlikely.
“Sometimes it’s just: ‘Well, stop it! Make it stop,’ where we have to be thoughtful in this process,” Grassley says, “and that’s what we’re trying to do right now.” Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver says it won’t be an easy debate. “I expect that we’ll have a thorough conversation about this. It’s something that our members have heard about back on the campaign trail,” Whitver says. “And they hear from both sides — people that want the pipeline, that are excited about it, that think it’s good for our economy and our rural areas and people that are against it and so we have a lot of members that have a lot of different opinions on it.”
Whitver says there are similar debates about the siting of wind turbines and large-scale solar arrays. “Landowner rights is a key part of Republican philosophy in our platform and so we certainly want to restrict that and that’s what makes these issues difficult, you know. There are people concerned about solar farms going up. There’s also people saying: ‘Well, that’s their land. They can do what they want,'” and that’s what makes these conversations difficult and we’re coming into session to try to work through these issues.”
This fall, Grassley sent a letter to the Iowa Utilities Board, expressing concern about a waiver developers of the Navigator pipeline were seeking from current regulations about sampling and restoring topsoil in farm fields. “When I’m talking back in my district — I know I’m not allowed to take off my speaker’s hat, but I’m going to try to — and I said: ‘I’m going to watch this very closely…I want the process to play out, but if there’s things that happen that I don’t think are up to par or not being fully transparent, I’ll weigh in,” Grassley says.
Navigator withdrew its request to reduce the amount of testing and restoration of topsoil currently required by state regulations. This fall during a televised debate, Governor Reynolds said she supports existing state law outlining when carbon pipeline developers would be able to seize property from unwilling landowners, but she has not commented on county ordinances which establish local rules for where the pipelines may be built.
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