DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Outdoor enthusiasts and business groups are forming a new group to promote hunting in hopes of reversing declining interest in the activity. Iowa Retail Federation President Jim Henter says hunters spend more than $288 million in Iowa every year and have a big impact on the state’s economy. Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Roger Lande says part of the hunting decline has been because the state has had a series of harsh winters that cut into wildlife population. Last year’s mild winter could help that population. 

Lande says a loss of habitat also has contributed to the wildlife decline.  Statistics from the DNR bear out the trend, with the number of hunting licenses issued in Iowa dropping for 10 straight years.

w/ Kate Olsen

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After decades of failed attempts, lawmakers say this could be the session they succeed in at least beginning to overhaul Iowa’s property tax system. With hopes of adjourning this week, legislators are running out of time, but they express optimism that Republicans and Democrats will reach a deal. Lawmakers have considered changing Iowa’s property tax system for at least 30 years, but the issue is a nightmare for politicians because in Iowa, farmland, businesses and residential property are all taxed differently. To tinker with one means shifting the burden onto the others. This year, though, veteran legislators have reached a bipartisan agreement to address the matter. Republican Rep. Stewart Iverson of Clarion speculates there is a 60 to 70 percent chance that lawmakers will get something done on property taxes.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Former Iowa Governor Chet Culver says his program to support renewable energy research and development has been “wildly successful” even if only a fraction of the money has been spent. Culver pointed to a plant in Shenandoah that is growing algae as an example of a success story from the Iowa Power Fund. He says construction on a cellulosic ethanol plant is under way in Emmetsburg, and a second plant is moving forward. Culver says those three projects alone, if they come to fruition, would justify the state’s $71 million investment in the fund.  Culver reacted Friday to an investigation by The Associated Press that found a third of the fund’s money has been spent, five years after its creation. He says the fund has been careful with tax dollars.

w/ Kate Olsen

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Atlantic Parks and Recreation Director Roger Herring has made available to the media mileage maps for the walking/biking trails at the Schildberg Recreation Area.  At a recent park board meeting the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, in addition to KJAN and other local media, expressed an interest in putting the charts on their websites, for viewing by the public. 

Herring says he hopes to have a park and rec link off of the city’s website in the near future but that feature is currently not  available. He says the walking trails are getting used frequently, but questions remained as to how far the trails were. 

Click on the images below to view the charts.

Herring says they will also have some signage at the entrances to the trails that will have the mileage charts on them, but there is currently no funding available for those signs.

The U-S-D-A crop report shows some farmers have been able to get their planters into the field.The report says five-percent of Iowa’s corn acreage has been planted in the early going, which compares with one percent at this time last year. It’s also ahead of the five-year average of three-percent. .The report says widespread rain improved moisture levels throughout the state — with topsoil moisture levels improving so only six-percent very short and, 21 percent short of soil moisture. Subsoil moisture also improved and 53-percent is called adequate and two percent surplus. The report says the cold weather did raise some concerns, as farmers fear hay growth was affected after most of the state received a hard freeze in the early part of last week.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Kansas City, Kansas, office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today (Monday), a western Iowa beef cattle feedlot company has agreed to pay a large penalty for violations of the Clean  Water Act related to discharges of pollutants into a creek and its tributaries. Petersen-Bubke, LLP, in Monona County, Iowa, has agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty. By agreeing to the settlement, Petersen-Bubke has certified that it is currently in compliance with the Clean Water Act.  

According to an administrative civil consent agreement and final order filed by EPA in Kansas City, Kan., EPA personnel conducted a compliance evaluation and inspection of the facility in March 2011 and observed evidence of discharges of process wastewater and pollutants from the facility into Rush creek. Petersen-Bubke was confining approximately 1,050 cattle at the time of the inspection, which made it subject to regulation as a large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). However, the feedlot did not have a necessary National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, nor had it applied for one, as required by the Clean Water Act. 

EPA Region 7 issued an order to the feedlot in May 2011, directing it to install discharge controls or apply for an NPDES permit. In accordance with the order, Petersen-Bubke has complied with the Clean Water Act by reducing the number of cattle it confines below the regulatory threshold, and by constructing livestock waste controls. Unauthorized and uncontrolled discharges of wastewater and stormwater from concentrated animal feeding operations and their production areas can cause exceedances of water quality standards, pose risks to human health, threaten aquatic life and its habitat, and impair the use and enjoyment of waterways.