The Iowa Supreme Court has issued a ruling that has an impact on water and railroads.  In the spring of 2007 Union Pacific workers noticed a hole in the roadbed under their tracks in Hardin County and filled the hole with rock. The railroad did not know the hole was caused by the collapse of a nearly 100-year-old clay drainage tile, and the rock repair caused water drained by the tile to back up and flood farm ground. The local drainage district fixed the broken tile and sent a bill to the railroad.

The total bill — including crop losses — was over 100-thousand dollars. The railroad refused to pay, saying state law requires them to repair bridges and culverts, and a tile is not a culvert. The district court sided with the drainage district and said the railroad had to pay. But the Iowa Supreme Court ruling says the legislature was very specific in making the railroads responsible for bridges and culverts, and did not use the word drains to cover repairs to any pipes that drain water. For that reason the court said a tile is not a culvert and the railroad is not required to pay for tile repairs.

The court information says there could be hundreds of such tiles under the railroad bed that will be impacted by the ruling.

(Radio Iowa)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after a federal appeals court said the Obama administration is setting overly optimistic production quotas for the struggling biofuels industry, the government has issued new standards that raise production estimates for 2013. New standards announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency require production of 14 million gallons of so-called cellulosic biofuels made from grasses and woody material. That’s up from an 8.7 million-gallon requirement in 2012 — when actual production was near zero.

An oil industry representative said EPA was ignoring the court ruling as it pursued an “absurd” mandate for biofuels. The administration has said increased use of biofuels could lower greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. A spokeswoman said EPA believes the proposed standards “are a reasonable representation of expected production” of biofuels this year.

Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning announced Thursday, that Cass County Conservation was awarded a Resource Enhancement and Protection Program- Conservation Education Program (REAP-CEP) Perpetuate a Good Idea Grant for Outdoor Educational Classroom Nature Trunks. This Resources Ehancement mini-grant provided funding to Cass County Conservation to complete two Nature Trunks that will be housed at the Outdoor Educational Classroom in Massena, IA. The project has 6 trunks total; the two funded are the Orienteering and the Birds’ trunks. Each trunk will contain multi-grade activities on the topic for teachers to use at the Outdoor Educational Classroom.

Iowa’s  REAP-CEP provides funding to public and private partners for natural and cultural resource projects, including water quality, wildlife habitat, soil conservation, parks, trails, historic preservation, and more. Conservation Education Program is grants for programs that teach people of all ages about their environment and how to make intelligent, informed decisions about its well-being.

For more information about the environmental education opportunities in Cass County, contact Lora Kanning at 712-769-2372 or lkanning@casscoia.us .

Info from the Atlantic Animal Shelter.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

w/ Dr. Keith Leonard

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

w/ Denny Heflin  Note: Audio is scratchy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (332.8KB)

Subscribe: RSS

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa lawmaker wants to require double-fencing at deer farms and shooting preserves where white-tail deer are kept.  The bill introduced Monday by Senate Natural Resources Committee Chairman Dick Dearden is intended to reduce the threat of chronic wasting disease being transmitted to Iowa’s deer herd.

The height of fences around deer farms and preserves would have to increase from 8 to 10 feet and there would have to be a 10-foot secondary fence. This would prevent nose-to-nose contact between captive deer and wild deer.  Dale Garner, who heads the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ wildlife bureau, tells The Gazette in Cedar Rapids that double-fencing would help.

The DNR says deer hunting has a $214 million annual economic impact on the state.

w/ Kate Olson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Trustee in the case of the Portsmouth-based G and R Feed and Grain Company Incorporated bankruptcy case, reports an informational meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 5th at 1:30 p.m. at Club 191 in Portsmouth. The meeting is informational only and claim forms will be available. Trustee Deborah Petersen says the U.S. Department of Agriculture has sold all stored grain. Each producer with a warehouse receipt for stored grain will receive a letter in the next couple of weeks from the USDA. Producers
can expect to receive a check for their stored grain from the USDA within 4 – 6 weeks after all grain is removed. Petersen says at this point, there is no action for producers to take with the USDA.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture has sent letters to producers who sold grain to G & R for cash or who sold grain on an unsigned contract and were not paid. Such individuals may qualify for the Indemnity Fund and may receive up to 90% of their claim, with certain limits from IDALS. These producers can file their claims with the Iowa Department of Agriculture, as well as with the
Bankruptcy Court. If you have a claim for a deferred price contract, or other amount due you, you should take action
to timely file a claim with the Bankruptcy Court. If you have a contract for future delivery of grain, you will soon receive notice of rejection or assumption of that contract, as the Trustee will not be fulfilling those contracts, but may have offers to purchase them or assign.

Once the decision is made, the Trustee will file the necessary notice with the Court and all holders will receive notice of the Trustee’s action. Contracts that are rejected, once approved by the Court, will have no further action required. If contracts are assumed or sold, then the producer will be required to fulfill the contract. The Trustee is gathering other information and working on liquidating all assets as soon as possible, as well as collecting all accounts due G & R, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on January 1st, 2013. The company’s estimated debt is between $1 million and $10 million. Its estimated assets are up to $50,000.

Iowans may see more mountain lions in their back yards and fields this year, as cougar populations are rising in their natural habitats — like Colorado and Oklahoma. Chuck Gipp, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says cougars are solitary and territorial so a growing population means some are forced to strike out on their own. Some will make it to Iowa, he says, which is how a big cat came to be shot in Des Moines last fall.  “As these young males get kicked out of their home area and they can travel significantly per day to get here,” Gipp says. “How it wound up in the middle of Des Moines is an interesting concept.”

While humans aren’t usually at risk, he says mountain lions prefer to prey on small mammals like rabbits and stray cats. “You’re going to see more and more of these types of things coming to Iowa because we’ve got a food source,” he says. Gipp says the rise of mountain lions in Iowa should balance itself out in the next few years. As more hunters in other states kill mountain lions, fewer shunned young males will wander into Iowa.

(Radio Iowa)