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DES MOINES – The City of Atlantic was recently honored with the 2021 Tree City USA Award at the 31st Annual Community Forestry Awards Luncheon in Ankeny. The award was presented by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources April 12th at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny. State forester Jeff Goerndt says “The Tree City USA award is a symbol for communities who have made a commitment to the management of public trees. The City of Atlantic,” he says, “has provided an outstanding example for other Iowa communities by enhancing our forest resources and demonstrating the great value of trees in providing multiple benefits for future generations.”
Atlantic was one of 74 Iowa communities to qualify for Tree City USA status. To receive the award, a city must, at a minimum, have either a city forester or an active city tree board; have a tree ordinance; spend at least $2 per capita annually for its community forestry program; and have a tree planting and maintenance plan.
Jeff Goerndt, State Forester and Dolly Bergmann, Atlantic Trees Forever (photo submitted)
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Officials with the Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund said today (Thursday), they are pleased to be a sponsor of the Southwest Iowa Fishing Team again, this year. Trevor’s mom and Foundation spokesperson Melanie Petty says fishing was a huge part of Trevor’s life and watching this program grow in the last two years is wonderful to see. Anyone who is interested in joining should email swifishingteam@gmail.com or reach out to Bob Harris at 712-304-2015. The club has several opportunities to fish with a Boat Series, a Kayak Series and a Virtual Series.
(Grant Petty and Bob Harris) – photo submitted
The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund raises money each year at their annual golf tournament. This year the 14th TFred Memorial Golf Tournament will be held at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club on Saturday, June 18th. Although the tournament is already full we are still accepting hole sponsors and items for our silent auction that will be held in the club house all day. Stop out and have lunch with us and bid on some amazing items. All monies raised are given back to the things that Trevor loved in a community that held a special place in his heart.
For further information call Melanie Petty at 712-249-3696.
(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials in Mills County report a county-wide Burn Ban will be effect from 8-a.m. Thursday (April 14th) until further notice. Mills County EMA Director Gabe Barney says the ban, which prohibits open burning in Mills County, and includes all the cities within the county, is being implemented due to the abnormally dry air conditions, temperatures and high winds. A majority of the local fire departments were in agreement, and the ban was approved today (Wednesday), by the State Fire Marshal in Des Moines.
An application to your local fire chief can be obtained to allow a permit for an open burn IF your local fire official believes it is safe to do so. After approval of a permit, several county entities are informed, to lessen the danger of false alarms and the unnecessary expenditure of crews and equipment. Barney says “This is a dangerous situation, and we relay on the public to assist us in this ban.” The conditions are such that a fast moving wild land fire and quickly destroy property, and become life threatening if left uncontrolled.
Citizens are reminded to:
Small recreational camp fires are permitted ONLY if they are conducted in a fireplace made of brick, metal or heavy, one-inch wire mesh. Any camp fire not in an outdoor fireplace is prohibited. Violation of a burn ban can subject a person to a citation or arrest for reckless use of fire, or disobeying a burn ban. For more information on burn bans and the law, contact the State Fire Marshal’s Office at 515-725-6125, or go to www.dps.state.ia.us. You may also call the Mills County EMA Office at 712-527-3643.
(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic Trees Forever spokesperson Dolly Bergmann says spring tree vouchers are now available. Bergmann says “Because of the past year there are many people needing trees this spring. We ask that you limit one voucher per homeowner so more people can get a start replacing trees that were destroyed.” Tree vouchers are a great way to help with the cost of a tree to plant. The vouchers are worth $30 off the cost of a tree, and can be obtained at Pymosa Farms, north of Atlantic.
Dolly Bergmann said there are a limited number of vouchers available. Those at Pymosa Farms can help you determine what kind of tree would work best in the location you would like to plant a tree. It is important to water the trees this spring and during the summer. 
Pymosa Farms is located at 50979 Buck Creek Road, Atlantic, but Bergmann suggests calling owner Tim Reavis, at 402-659-1213 before driving out to the farm to ensure someone is available to help you.
Photo 1. A species of pinion moth found in a true armyworm trap. Photo by Ryan McClintock.
(Lewis, Iowa) – Although it has been uncharacteristically cold recently, it is officially springtime in Iowa and many insects are coming to life. One of the first things the field crop entomologists do each year is coordinate the Iowa Moth Trapping Network. Aaron Saeugling, ISUEO Field Agronomist out of Lewis, reports usually, these traps catch the specific species we are interested in, but there can also be a lot of bycatch. It seems the past few years a particular look-alike continues to show up in the true armyworm (Mythimna unipuncta) traps placed around the state, and others not in the trapping network have noticed and contacted me for clarification as well.
True armyworm is a moth in the family Noctuidae, which is a family that contains a lot of “little brown moths” that may or may not be economically important for field crops in Iowa. I did not run these moths through an identification key, but I suspect the look-alikes are either Bethune’s pinion (Lithophane bethunei) or Nameless pinion (Lithophane innominata) moths (Photo 1). Neither are considered agricultural pests in Iowa and instead feed on broadleaf trees as larvae (caterpillars). You can learn more about their biology by clicking their scientific names.
True armyworm is an agricultural pest in Iowa (consumes leaf tissue), and we monitor true armyworm moths each spring to provide scouting information. True armyworm can be identified by the light brown forewings that each have a white spot in the center, plus there is a fading black line from the wing tip to the interior (Photo 2). As these moths migrate to Iowa from southern states this spring, we will provide weekly scouting updates on the ICM Blog.
Photo 2. Left: The features used to identify a true armyworm moth. The circles show the location of the white spots on the forewings, and the arrows point to the black lines that start at the wing tips and fade going into the center. Photo by Province of Manitoba. Right) A true armyworm moth. Photo by Ashley Dean. Note the range of color variation, with the identification features being prominent on both moths.
(Radio Iowa) – President Biden visited an Iowa ethanol plant this (Tuesday) afternoon to highlight his administration’s move to allow nationwide sales of E-15 during the summer months. Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw says it’s the single most important step Biden could have taken to keep fuel costs down this summer.
“It’s keeps a cheaper fuel that’s more ‘Made in America’ in the market when we’re dealing with these overseas oil embargoes of Russia and all this stuff that’s driving up prices,” Shaw says. In parts of rural Iowa, E-15 is about 30 cents per gallon cheaper than gasoline with 10 percent ethanol and it’s a cheaper option near Shaw’s office in suburban Des Moines.
“Down the street from me there’s one store on one side of the street that’s selling E15 10 cents under and the store on the other side of the street is selling it for 20 cents under E10,” Shaw says, “so you know which one I go to.” Some stations in Minnesota and other parts of the country have E-15 priced 50 cents a gallon cheaper than E-10.
The Trump Administration moved to allow year-round sales of E-15 in 2019, but a recent court ruling in a lawsuit filed by the oil industry would have blocked sales in much of the country this summer. “We really appreciate what President Biden is doing not just to help Iowans and Americans save money this year, but E15 won’t leave the marketplace,” Shaw says.
“There won’t be a disruption and we’ll continue to work with them on a permanent fix.” There are 22-hundred gas stations in Iowa and about 275 of them offer E-15. “Consumers who have access to E15 are going to continue to save money,” Shaw says. Shaw was among the crowd at the POET plant near Menlo for today’s (Tuesday’s) event.
(Radio Iowa) – President Biden has taken a temporary step to ensure E-15 can be sold year-round.
Biden spoke about the decision to a crowd of invited guests inside an ethanol plant near Menlo Tuesday afternoon.
Biden says energy prices are the major driver of inflation right now.
Emily Skor is executive director of Growth Energy, a trade association for ethanol producers. Skor says the president has made a commitment to find a permanent fix.
In 2019, the Trump Administration moved to allow nationwide E-15 sales from June to mid-September.
Twitter photo of Pres. Biden at POET Biorefining, via Christian Datoc, White House Correspondent, Washington Examiner.
A federal judge ruled in favor of the oil industry’s challenge of that move and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. That means the litigation path for addressing this issue is closed and Skor says the industry is pursuing two options: E-P-A action or passage of a bill in congress.
Iowa Farm Bureau president Brent Johnson says ethanol is a major market for one of Iowa’s main crops and Biden’s announcement helps stabilize the ethanol industry.
Biden made the announcement in a storage barn for dried distillers grain — by by-product of ethanol production and hosts left a 300 ton pile of it inside for the event.. Michael Walz is a V-P for POET, the company that owns the facility Biden visited.
POET operates 33 ethanol plants in eight states.
(Radio Iowa) – The bird flu outbreak throughout the state is helping to drive up egg prices. Economist Brian Earnest with CoBank, which is part of the Farm Credit System, says the nation already saw a significant decrease in egg layers due to the pandemic. The virus will only exacerbate the shortage. “If we continue to see these flock depopulations, especially at the rates we’ve been seeing, that continues to put pressure on availability even into this fall,” Earnest says.
The outbreak has already led to the culling of 24 million birds in commercial and backyard flocks across the nation. Earnest says the price of wholesale eggs rose to three dollars a dozen last month. He says prices are likely to fall in the summer but tight supply will continue to plague the industry. Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig says he’s concerned about seeing a repeat of the 2015 outbreak which took a one-point-two BILLION dollar toll on the state. “We’re all interested in looking at the cost of food right now. There’s food price inflation for a lot of reasons. But we don’t want to add on top of that shortages because of high path,” Niag says. 
Rembrandt Enterprises laid off more than 200 workers after the northwest Iowa egg producer lost its flock of more than five million chickens to the virus.
(By Kendall Crawford, Iowa Public Radio)
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