(Radio Iowa) – While Iowa’s largest water utility is spending up to ten-thousand dollars a day to remove nutrients from drinking water, a small town in northeast Iowa is exploring a cheaper alternative. Manchester City Manager Tim Vick says the city council is moving forward with creating a meandering wetlands area to help control flooding and to improve water quality. “This will be the first one in the state of Iowa that is situated the way it is,” Vick says. “It’s going to be an example for the communities of what they can do, and if this works out really well, we want to do a couple more of them.” The Storm Water Wetlands Project is to be developed on Manchester’s east side and will cost around 233-thousand dollars.

“We have a lot of stormwater that comes in and runs through the community,” Vick says. “We can clean up the water, do some better water quality with that because it’s coming from runoff and so if we can take care of that, that’ll help. It won’t necessarily address flooding, so if you get the 100-year flood, we can’t necessarily address that, but we can help out with the 25-year flood.” Vick hopes construction can start on the wetlands project this fall.

“The idea here is to slow the water down so it has time to drop the nutrients out of the water, so things can settle,” Vick says, “What we’re trying to do is get some plants and some vegetation that will take up those nutrients and use those before they get into the groundwater.” Late spring rains are washing nitrates off farmland upstream. Last week, the Des Moines Water Works fired up its nitrate removal equipment as nitrate levels spiked in the rivers that are the source of drinking water to 600-thousand central Iowa customers. A Water Works official suggests Iowa needs up to 15-million acres of cover crops and hundreds of wetlands to make real improvements.

(Reporting by Janelle Tucker, KMCH, Manchester)

ATLANTIC, IA – Produce in the Park is expecting another busy market today, June 16. Market Manager Brigham Hoegh says Over 20 vendors, food trucks, and increased activities from visiting organizations have been drawing more visitors to the park. The increase in participation and attendance has been great for vendors, but the sidewalks at the park have become more crowded.

Produce in the Park is working with vendors to reduce sidewalk crowding, and there will be a new layout at the park June 16. All vendors and visiting organizations will still be found in the Atlantic City Park, but the market footprint will expand to use more of the sidewalks and shady spaces available in the park. Additionally, today’s June 16 market will host the Atlantic Elks’ Bike Rodeo for kids age 12 and under, which will be set up on 6th Street. To keep the bike rodeo safe for everyone involved, there will be no senior parking available on 6th Street on June 16. Senior parking on 6th Street will be available again on June 23.

Visitors at Produce in the Park June 9

Produce in the Park thanks customers for the feedback and support as the farmers market continues to grow.

(Radio Iowa) – Researchers at Iowa State University using satellite data have found an impact from city lights on trees and plants. Yuyu Zhou, says the impact is significant. “The artificial nighttime lights can advance the start of the (growing) season of the trees, and also delay the end of the, of the trees or plants,” he says. They concluded the lights advanced the date of breaking leaf buds in the spring by nearly nine days and delayed the coloring of leaves by about six days in the fall. He says it’s the first large-scale look at the impact. Those who suffer from allergies could be feeling the impact on the growing season for what it produces.

“Early pollen season and also longer pollen season,” he says. Zhou says the urban heat island effect — where urban areas heat up faster than rural areas also contributes to the growing season changes. He says the change in the growing season can mismatch different trees and mess with the natural cycle. “It will cause the problem of the pollination service. And also another issue is because of the early start up — it can have high vulnerability to the spring frost damage.” Zhou explains.

Zhou is an associate professor of geological and atmospheric sciences at Iowa State. He says there is a positive to extending the season for some plants. “Because we can have a longer growing season in an urban area for an urban farm,” he says. The study compared seasonal changes in plants at around three thousand urban sites.

(Radio Iowa) – Out of state visitors at two western Iowa parks will have to keep paying an entrance fee for at least two and a half more years. Lake Manawa State Park in Council Bluffs had three million visitors last year and Representative Brent Siegrist, of Council Bluffs, says the fee may be a way to thin the crowds.

“Lake Manawa is the most heavily used park in the state park system, particularly because it’s next to Omaha and there are tons of Nebraskans that come over,” Siegrist says. “…Waubonsie State Park also is down near the Missouri border in Fremont County and they have a lot of traffic and visitors there.” In 2019, the legislature authorized an entrance fee of five dollars per out-of-state vehicle at both parks. It was a pilot project, to see if visitor traffic would change.

“The COVID years dramatically affected those parks at that time,” Siegrist says, “so they didn’t have a particularly good read about whether this is something they wanted to extend into the future.” This week Governor Reynolds approved the bill that keeps the fee in place until the end of 2025. Senator Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs says the fee can be a tool for keeping the peace in the park that’s just 10 miles from Omaha.

“When they have a crowd coming over to our parks to use it for purposes that you and I or anyone else here might not enjoy to take our families there and just enjoy the day — whether they want to drink or tear up the park or go off-road or so something like that, this is one more tool to try to maybe redirect some of our non-residents back to their state,” Dawson says.

There’s a daily fee for every vehicle entering a NEBRASKA state park. It’s six dollars for Nebraskans and eight dollars for everyone else. The State of Iowa began charging a 10-dollar yearly park user fee in 1987, but it was repealed two years later. During debate of the continued entrance fees for Lake Manawa and Waubonsie State Parks, legislators said they were not interested in imposing entrance fees at the other 81 state parks and recreation areas in Iowa.

• KJAN, Atlantic  1.95″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  2.51″
• 3 miles N of Atlantic  2.5″
• Elk Horn  1.92″
• Exira 2.55″
• Anita  .56″
• Avoca  1.85″
• Oakland  2.33″
• Audubon  2″
• Guthrie Center  1.9″
• Neola  2.23″
• Manning  1.33″
• Missouri Valley  1.37″
• Logan  1.64″

w/Kate Olson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of Farm Service Agency offices across Iowa are seeking new employees. Matt Russell, the Iowa F-S-A director, says they’re hiring for a host of positions in dozens of Iowa communities. “One of the things this administration is really committed to is filling these positions all across rural America in USDA,” Russell says. “We’re in a hiring time at FSA, and I’d also say at NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service), which shares our office spaces in the counties, and Rural Development, which is only about eight counties in the state. They’re also hiring.”

There are 97 F-S-A offices statewide, nearly one in every county, and Russell says the need is great for new workers. There was a big hiring push in 1985 after the new farm and conservation bills, and many of those people are now retiring. “We’re now at a similar time where we’re having to ramp up what USDA does because American farmers are needed on the front lines, for fuel, for food, for conservation and ecosystem services,” Russell says, “and that’s part of what we’re seeing as well.” It’s a challenging time to be in agriculture, he says, because while commodities prices are at near-record high levels, so are input prices.

“There’s a lot of money coming in and a lot of money going out,” Russell says. “This year should be a pretty good year for income for farmers — if they had their inputs purchased ahead of time. Going forward, interest rates, input prices that could be challenging, but the expectation is that the prices are going to continue to be pretty strong as well because the demand is high.” He says the U-S-D-A plays a big role in helping to manage all of those ups and downs.

Learn more about the job opportunities at your county’s nearest Farm Service Agency office or visit: www.usajobs.gov.

ATLANTIC, IA – Produce in the Park June 16 will offer all sorts of activities and delicious food. This Thursday, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA will be at the park with two bounce houses for kids and adultsized tricycles for teens and adults. But the YMCA won’t be the only organization offering bicycling fun at the farmers market.

The Atlantic Elks will be hosting a Bike Rodeo for kids at Produce in the Park June 16. The bike rodeo will offer kids the chance to participate in bike obstacle courses and win small prizes. Kids are encouraged to bring their bikes, trikes, and helmets to the park. Don’t have a bike? The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department will be at Produce in the Park with a few rental bikes and helmets for kids to use for free (not to mention lots of fun yard games for both kids and adults).

Lastly, Nishna Valley Trails will be at the market sharing Cass County trails maps and other information on biking in Cass County. In addition to the bike activities, yard games, and bounce houses, this week visitors to Produce in the Park will enjoy Hungry Spartan Pizza food truck and lots of rhubarb. The Guest Chef will be offering free taste tests of fresh rhubarb and rhubarb cobbler, and vendors will be selling rhubarb jams, pastries, crisps, and more.

Other products expected at the June 16 market include popcorn and lemonade, early season produce such as green onions, asparagus, spinach, and other greens, lots of local meats (beef, pork, and lamb), farm-fresh eggs, honey, soaps, candles, jewelry, wood crafts, greeting cards, and plants for your home  garden.

DETAILS….Produce in the Park June 16:
Time: 4:30-6:30 PM
Location: Atlantic City Park (10 W. 7th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022)

Food Truck: Hungry Spartan Pizza
Free Live Music: Sarah Selders
Products: Produce, meats, eggs, honey, baked goods and desserts, popcorn and lemonade, soaps,
candles, greeting cards, wood crafts, and more.
Featured Food: Rhubarb! Fresh rhubarb, rhubarb jams, rhubarb pastries, free samples of rhubarb
cobbler from the Guest Chef, and more.
Activities: Bounce houses and bike rodeo for kids; yard games for all!
Visiting organizations: Atlantic Parks and Recreation, Cass County Master Gardeners, Cass County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, Nishna Valley Trails, Nishna Valley Family YMCA.
Self-Care Summer Organization: Zion Integrated Behavioral Health Services
Free drawing: 1 dozen farm-fresh eggs from Brun Ko Farm. (Sponsored by the Cass County Local Food Policy Council.)

Payment methods accepted: All vendors accept cash. Many accept credit card and Venmo. All qualifying food vendors accept SNAP/EBT (also known as food stamps). All fresh produce vendors both accept and distribute Double Up Food Bucks (coupons given for SNAP/EBT purchases of fresh produce).

Produce in the Park June 2022 farmers markets are sponsored by the Atlantic Community Promotion Commission, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA, Cass County Tourism, Cass Health, First Whitney Bank and Trust, the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, and Deter Motor Co. For updates on Produce in the Park, follow Produce in the Park on Facebook
(www.facebook.com/ProduceInThePark) or Instagram (www.instagram.com/produceintheparkatlanticia/), or visit the Produce in the Park website to sign up for the e-newsletter at www.produceintheparkatlanticiowa.com.

(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa farmers had to replant following rain and hail last week. The U-S-D-A report shows the corn planting was completed by the end of the week and just three percent of the beans remain to be planted. There were some reports however of pockets of heavy rain and isolated severe hail that led to farmers replanting some damaged crops. Ninety-five percent of the corn has emerged and the report says 86 percent of the corn crop is rated good to excellent condition. Eighty-four percent of soybeans have emerged — with 82 percent of the beans rated good to excellent.

(Radio Iowa) – An attorney for the Iowa Utilities Board says the staff is reviewing several items in Carbon Solutions’ proposal to construct approximately 681 miles of pipeline through Iowa to carry liquefied carbon dioxide. A couple of people spoke during the public comment period of the I-U-B meeting about pipeline concerns. Cynthia Hansen and her siblings own a century farm in Shelby County in western Iowa.

“We have landowners who are being what we considered harassed by the land agents who are showing up multiple times when they’ve already been told know that the landowner is not interested in signing for voluntary easements,” she says. Hansen had another concern as well. “We have surveyors who are showing up even though landowners have not signed or have not received proper notice, and have not accepted proper notice through the U-S mail. And we would like to see that stopped,” Hansen says.

She says two people have told her that their elderly family members in the nursing home have been approached multiple times by landowners or land agents, even though they have told them no. I-U-B chair Geri Huser told Hansen there is a way to deal with these issues. “You have the right to file in the docket if there are situations that are arising that you believe are outside the statutory framework for proceeding of this type,” Huser says. She says the Board’s legal counsel would then review those filings to make a determination on how to proceed.

“Whether or not there’s any jurisdiction that the Iowa Utilities Board has to take action related to those complaints or situations that are arising,” she said. Hansen and another speaker asked about the number of landowners involved and how to get that information. They also expressed concern that last-minute changes would not allow them to take action before the proceedings began. Huser said they can talk with the I-U-B staff and get an update on the landowners, and the Board’s attorney said they will have all the information updated before moving forward.