DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The director of Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources is stepping down next week. Chuck Gipp announced his retirement Thursday in a news release. He submitted a resignation letter dated April 2 to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. His retirement begins Tuesday.

Gipp has been director for six years. He previously served nine terms in the Iowa House, including as majority leader. He says in the letter that running the DNR was “the crowning achievement” of his public service career.

Gipp says he plans to spend more time with his family in Decorah. Deputy Director Bruce Trautman will take over as acting director. The DNR oversees environmental regulation, state parks and natural resource stewardship programs in Iowa. Some DNR programs have seen significant cuts, and a proposed budget backed by Republicans would spend less on the agency next year than when Gipp became director six years ago.

(DES MOINES) – Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Chuck Gipp announced his retirement Thursday. His last day at the department will be Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

“Chuck has an outstanding record of service to Iowa,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said. “He’s spent the last six years leading in this important department, protecting Iowa’s most valuable resources – our land, lakes, waterways and air. Thank you, Chuck, for your service to this great state, and I wish you all the best as you enter retirement.”

“During his time as director, Chuck used his passion for Iowa’s natural resources as his guide in leading the department,” Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg said. “He served our state well for many years, and I know this retirement is well-deserved.”

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to serve Iowans for the past 28 years,” Gipp said. “I’ve been blessed to work among some of the best in the state, and nothing is more gratifying than being able to make a difference in the lives of Iowans.”

Gipp was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1990, where he served nine consecutive terms in several different capacities, including House Majority Leader. After deciding not to seek re-election, Gipp was hired by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey as director of the Division of Soil Conservation. He served in that role for three years.

Gipp began serving as deputy director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in August 2011. Not long after, he became director.

Gipp resides in Decorah with his wife, Ranae. They have two children and one grandson.

Deputy Director Bruce Trautman will serve as acting director of the DNR.

The East Pottawattamie County 4-H is offering an Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium overnight trip.  You’re invited to come camp out overnight with the sharks at the Zoo.  The campout is open to all area youth completing grades 4, 5, and 6.  The campout will be held on Saturday, June 16, 2018 where we will meet outside the Zoo entrance at 6:30pm.  The evening will consist of evening & morning zoo hikes, programing, snack, an overnight stay, breakfast, drinks and a souvenir campout patch.  Parents will pick up youth at the zoo entrance on Sunday morning at 9:00am where participating youth will then have a day pass into the zoo for Sunday.  Registration and health forms can be found on our website https://www.extension.iastate.edu/eastpottawattamie/news/sleeping-bags-sharks-zoo-overnight .

Registration forms and fees are due to the East Pottawattamie County Extension by April 30th.  All spots will be filled on a first come, first served basis.  A limited number of spots are available.

Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Seivert reports, the local fire Danger will remain HIGH through Monday. If you plan to burn, PLEASE, contact your local Fire Chief.   Seivert says they have had several fire dispatches in the last few days where the volunteers are called from home and work to respond to a fire, only to arrive and find someone has started a controlled burn, and not called their local Fire Chief or Emergency Management 911. He asks persons planning a controlled burn, to “Please respect the time our volunteers spend protecting your property. Plan your burn in advance, use a burn plan, and call in prior to starting. 712-755-2124.”

Seivert warns also, that the chances for severe weather are expected to increase next week, so be prepared for weather bulletins and to take cover when warnings are issued.

Cass County: Corn $3.33, Beans $9.44
Adair County: Corn $3.30, Beans $9.47
Adams County: Corn $3.30, Beans $9.43
Audubon County: Corn $3.32, Beans $9.46
East Pottawattamie County: Corn $3.36, Beans $9.44
Guthrie County: Corn $3.35, Beans $9.48
Montgomery County: Corn $3.35, Beans $9.46
Shelby County: Corn $3.36, Beans $9.44

Oats $2.47 (always the same in all counties)

(Information from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency offices)

The Iowa House has approved a budget plan for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that would provide an extra two million dollars for operations and maintenance of state parks. Republican Representative Norlin Mommsen, of DeWitt, says without the boost, some state parks might have to close.

“So when it came to funding, we increased funding by 43.5 percent for our state parks,” Mommssen says, “because, I think, of the desperate need…it’s a high priority.” Mommssen says he often visits state parks, including Maquoketa Caves State Park which is near his home. “The park ranger has figured out the F10 with the basset hound hanging out the window is me, inspecting,” Mommssen says. “All last year, the urinal in the bathroom by the caves. I go to Bellevue and there’s a state park up there…and the one lodge there, the roof is so bad, it’s starting to leak through and it’ll get to the point where if we don’t fix it, we’ll tear it down.”

Democrats in the House say the parks do need upgrades, but they complained the extra money for the parks was coming at the expense of other state environmental programs.

(Radio Iowa)

AMES, IA – The Iowa FFA Creed Speaking Leadership Event was held at Iowa State University, Ames, on Monday, April 23, 2018. Eighteen individuals participated in this year’s Career Development Event (CDE). The  first place individual for the event was Anna Campbell from the Audubon FFA Chapter. Their agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor is Mrs. Brittany Elmquist.The second place individual for the event was Carter Wagner from the Harlan FFA Chapter. Their agriculture education instructors and FFA advisors are Ms. Justine McCall and Mr. James Shughart.

Anna Campbell (Photo submitted)

This event is designed to develop leadership and the ability to appear before groups by 7th through 9th grade students as they become members of the FFA.

The wild goose chase in Cedar Rapids could be coming to an end with a new method for dealing with an overpopulation of Canadian Geese. The Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department began using “egg oiling” this month to cut the goose population. Parks and Rec Supervisor, Brent Neighbor, says it starts by floating goose eggs in a bucket of water to determine their stage of development. “Based on that stage — then you know whether it is good to oil or whether it is not,” Neighbor explains. “If it is, then you take 100 percent corn oil and then you coat the egg, and then you put it back in the nest.”

Cedar Rapids Geese

He says the corn oil stops the development of the egg. “The egg is porous and so the coating cuts off the oxygen to the interior of the egg,” Neighbor says. The eggs are left in the nest and the mother stays with them, but the never develop. More than one-thousand eggs in 200 nests have been oiled. The city has tied all sorts of other methods to control the geese population since 1996, including big roundups where the geese were chased into pens and relocated. Neighbor says the efforts to control the population have been controversial on both sides — but the egg oiling is one that appears to be acceptable. “It’s actually accepted by PETA as the most humane way to reduce populations,” he says, “so it has been accepted by both sides, which is good.”

Neighbor says if they just removed the eggs then the goose could lay again and it wouldn’t solve the problem. This allows them to cut the number of new goslings and the hope is that will eventually cut the number of adults who make Cedar Rapids their home. “Once they’re imprinted on an area and they are born in and area they are either going to stay here or not leave. And when they do leave they will come right back,” according to Neighbor. “…When we have done the roundups in the past and taken them to other areas of the state the D-N-R has tagged those geese and they just find them right back in Cedar Rapids.”

Neighbor says the egg oiling method is also cheaper than some of the other efforts. He says they use three park staff to oil the eggs and with the roundup they used the entire park staff and added several D-N-R employees to gather up the geese. “The labor savings is huge and the corn oil is very cheap.” The great goose roundups evolved after several other methods failed — including mechanical dogs designed to scare the geese away. “We called those the Fido, the radio-controlled units. And then we’ve also tried the distress calls, lasers, decoys, coyote and fox decoys, so we’ve tried quite a few things to get them to move along, ” Neighbor says. “And it works temporarily and then it doesn’t work any more.”

He says the population kept growing and the persistent geese cause all sorts of problems. “They are up and down the sidewalks, they’re covering the law areas, they are crossing the streets, which stops traffic and gives us an unexpected traffic delay, which is dangerous to the public,” he explains. “And then also on the trails the goose droppings makes it slippery and we’ve had some slipping incidents. We’ve had interactions with bicyclists where bicyclists have been flown at and charged by geese.” He says they are always getting calls to come pick up geese that had flown into cars or gotten run over. The results of the egg oil effort could start to show in a few months.

Neighbor says they should know by this summer how effective the oil treatment has been as the remaining goose eggs hatch and they see how many new goslings there are crossing the streets and in the parks and green spaces. He says it will two to four years down the road to know if they have brought the population to a more manageable level. The goose egg oiling was done under the training and supervision of the Iowa D-N-R.

(Radio Iowa)

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst took her concerns about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s handling of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to a Senate Ag Committee hearing Tuesday. She questioned Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue about the so-called “small refinery hardship waivers” Pruitt has been granting to oil refiners. “Some of these refiners are neither small nor facing hardships – and I’m very, very upset about this action that the administrator has taken that would destroy our demand for biofuels,” Ernst said.

U-S Ag Sec. Sonny Perdue

Perdue responded, saying all he has is “the power of persuasion” with Pruitt. Perdue said he told the EPA administrator the instructions he was given last fall for maintaining the renewable volume obligations (RVO) at 15 billion gallons has essentially been circumvented by the waivers. “We have no legal statutory authority to do anything other than that…letting (him) know that our farmers and biofuel producers are very concerned about that,” Perdue said.

Perdue said he is also pushing Pruitt to approve a waiver for E15, allowing year-round sales of the higher ethanol blend. “I have exhorted him to do the E15 waiver, as I have the President,” Perdue said. “I am encouraging the President to go ahead and make good on the commitment to do that.” Perdue also told Senate Ag Committee members that he’s encouraging President Trump to consider rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 11-nation trade deal shortly after taking office.

(Radio Iowa)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says their personnel will release eight trumpeter swans at three locations in southwest Iowa as part of the effort to create a self-sustaining population of swans south of Interstate 80. All releases will occur rain or shine.

• Four swans will be released on the north side of Lake Icaria at the east boat ramp on May 10 at 9:30 a.m., in partnership with the Adams County Conservation Board.
• Two swans will be released at Viking Lake near the restaurant/beach area on May 10 at 1 p.m.
• Two swans will be released at Lake Anita on May 11 at 1:30 p.m., in partnership with the Cass County Conservation Board.

swans released at Lake Icaria in 2015

The releases are part of the Iowa DNR’s statewide effort to restore trumpeter swans to Iowa that began in 1993. Trumpeter swans were once common in Iowa, but were gone from the state by the late 1880s. By the early 1930s, only 69 trumpeter swans remained in the lower 48 states. It takes six years, on average, before trumpeter swans successfully nest. Last year, Iowa was home to 54 pairs of nesting trumpeter swans; however, only two of those nesting pairs were south of I-80. Dave Hoffman, wildlife research technician with the Iowa DNR, said the goal is to raise that number to seven, which would likely create a self-sustaining population.

“We are hopeful to get them nesting here in a year or two,” Hoffman said. “We had swans displaying some territorial signs last year at Lake Icaria, which is encouraging.” As the largest North American waterfowl, these all-white birds can weigh up to 32 pounds and have an 8-foot wingspan. The trumpeter swans being released are young and flightless and will imprint on the area where they learn to fly, returning each year as open water is available. The swans were donated to the project from zoos in Cleveland, Kansas City, Green Bay, Wis. and Maryland.

Each event includes a swan and wetland presentation, an opportunity to touch and view the swans up close, and a photo opportunity with the kids.