(Atlantic, Iowa) – A reminder: Cass County Master Gardeners will host their annual Spring Plant Sale Saturday morning, May 14th. Cass County Extension Director and Master Gardener Coordinator Kate Olson says you can expect to find a wide variety of perennials for gardeners looking to update their landscape this year.

Grow Another Row is a program focused on growing, harvesting and donating extra produce to local pantries and other Cass County organizations, to ensure all residents have access to fresh, tasty and local produce throughout the growing season.

The sale begins at 8-a.m. On Saturday, May 14th, and will be held in the front parking lot of the Cass County Community Center on the fairgrounds at 805 W 10th Street in Atlantic. Interested gardeners are encouraged to arrive early for best plant selection, as the annual spring and fall sales occasionally sell out before 10-a.m..

For anyone interested in learning more about the Master Gardener program and becoming a Master Gardener, the next class will be open for registration from June 3-July 1, with classes beginning in August 2022; taught as a mix of online and hands-on learning.

For more information about Master Gardener activities in Cass County, please call the Cass County Extension Office at 712-243-1132. You are also invited to follow Cass County Master Gardeners on their Facebook page.

• KJAN, Atlantic  .43″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .4″
• Massena  .32″
• Elk Horn  .3″
• Anita  .11″
• Audubon  .22″
• Oakland  .12″
• Neola  .1″
• Villisca  .3″
• Corning  .06″
• Red Oak  .33″
• Missouri Valley  .34″
• Manning  .52″
• Underwood  .11″
• Clarinda  .17″
• Carroll  .17″
• Shenandoah  .22″

SWIFT with the support from Atlantic based Duke Rentals made history this past Saturday when over 30 student anglers took to the waters on Littlefield Lake in Exira for their first competitive Bass junior and high school tournament. SWIFT will be the first kayak team in the state of Iowa and one of the largest in the country.

In just two short years the fishing team has experienced huge growth from 9 students anglers to now over 75 from across Southwest Iowa. With the growth it has presented challenges to find enough adult boat captains to allow the students to fish off boats during tournaments. This challenged the SWIFT organizers to find a way to allow more students to experience bass fishing from on the water. Kayak fishing is one of the hottest segments in the sport and it provided all the options for the more student’s angers to be involved. It was an individual sport; tournaments could be held on smaller bodies of waters, and it was more affordable to purchase than a bass boat. Plus, more and more online and in person kayak tournaments were being organized drawing more participation.

Ken Tolton, president of Duke Rentals and avid angler in his own right heard about the success of SWIFT and listened to the idea of starting a student kayak series. With his generosity and Cappel’s Ace Hardware negotiating a deal for Lifetime kayaks the first junior and high school team was formed in the state of Iowa. Student anglers have three options to be a part of the Duke Rentals Kayak series, they can use their own kayak, the kayak they purchased from SWIFT or use one of the SWIFT loaner kayaks.

At all Duke Rentals kayak tournaments anglers will use the Fishing Chaos app to score the tournament based on the longest five-bass limit. This app allows angles to photograph their fish on an approved measuring board, release the fish and then upload the photo for scoring.

30 anglers competed at Littlefield and reeled in 73 fish totaling 731.75 inches. Powerade High School division was won by Owen Hoover, 2nd place was Jake Oathoudt, 3rd place Colton Rudy, 4th Vicente Butcher and 5th Joaquin Wailes. Fairlife Junior division was won by Colin Rudy, second Gavin Dougherty, third Grady Roberts, fourth Bently Hughes and 5th was Garret Stetzel. The Duke Bank tournament was won by Jarrett Hansen, Jake Wailes was second, 3rd was Tegan Steinkuehler, 4th Brendan Wilke and 5th Kayden Dreyer. Big Fish Winner was Colin Rudy.

The SWIFT Duke Rentals Kayak Series will host four tournaments and cap off the series with the State Championships on July 17^th at Prairie Rose Lake. May 7^th was at Littlefield Lake, May 21^st at Morman Trail Lake, near Bridgewater, June 12^th Greenfield Lake.

For more information on please contact Southwest Iowa Fishing at swifishing@gmail.com or check out the website at www.swifishteam.com

(Radio Iowa) – One of the companies proposing to build a carbon pipeline through Iowa has announced it has raised more than a billion dollars for its project. According to a news release from Summit Carbon Solutions, the company has secured 300 million dollars from a private equity firm called T-P-G Rise Climate and that completes the fundraising for its pipeline. In a written statement, the executive chairman of the investment group said the global fight against climate change requires an all-of-the-above approach to decarbonization.

Summit plans to build a pipeline to ship carbon captured at Midwest ethanol plants to underground storage in North Dakota.

(Radio Iowa) – A group in northern Iowa is raising concerns about a proposed wind farm. The Lost Island Wind Project would place 40 to 50 wind turbines in parts of northern and western Palo Alto County. Stephanie Parsons, a member of the “Don’t Lose Lost Island” group, says there are wetlands and a wildlife preserve in the area. “They’re proposing to place these towers directly in the flight path of already endangered birds and threatened bat species,” she says.

The wind farm is a project of Vestas North America, a subsidiary of a Danish company that is the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines. Parsons’ group is hosting a meeting about the project tonight at 7 p.m. in Graettinger. “A lot of the community members didn’t know that there was a new project in the pipeline,” Parson says. “We actually found out because Vestas has actually reached out to ask key farmers, with contracts to start the process, and so that’s what sort of got this whole ball rolling about two months ago.”

Lost Island is the name of a township in Palo Alto County and the county’s conservation board operates the Lost Island Wetland Prairie Nature Center north of Ruthven. The website created for the Lost Island Wind Farm says the company is “determined to listen to all perspectives” and believes the Lost Island Wind Project “can benefit everyone who calls Palo Alto County, Iowa, home.”

According to the American Clean Energy Association, there were about 5900 wind turbines operating in Iowa by the end of 2020 and 5200 people work in Iowa’s wind energy industry.

w/Kate Olson.

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(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says they’re receiving reports of moderate to severe winter burn damage to some trees across the state. Forestor Tivon Feeley, says they see the damage in the arborvitae, white pine, and a little bit in Scotch and Red Pine. “And what’s going on is, you know, we had kind of an unusual spring where the ground stayed frozen, but we got pretty warm outside and then would go right back to freezing. And then you couple that with the strong winds that we had — these trees have dried out — they couldn’t absorb the water because the ground was frozen, and strong winds dried them out even faster,” Feeley says. He says the damaged trees are easy to spot.

“Some of them are completely brown. It depends on the conifer, but some of the like the red pine of Scotch Pine, there are kind of bleached we call it bleaching where the needles are kind of a light, light, light tan to a mostly white color. And those trees mostly are dead,” He says. He says partially damaged trees may still be saved. ” If you get a few random branches the tree might pull out of it. If you looking at that top third dead, it’s gonna have to be kind of a wait and see if the buds are completely dead,” according to Feeley. “if the buds are alive, you might have a chance. This is really on the newly planted trees that are less than let’s say 10 years of age and younger, that we’re seeing the majority of the damage on.” Feeley says the dead trees might have been saved by mulching watering and around the base of the tree halfway through the frost. But, he says the conditions were really tough to overcome.

“I don’t think we’ve seen winds like this for quite some time. And that was a very unusual weather pattern — so I’m not sure would have solved it all,” he says. Feeley says many of these trees were brought into Iowa and that is part of the issue when this happens. “When we look at conifers native to Iowa, eastern red cedar to all 99 counties, eastern white pine, all the way down to Hardin County in the northeast quadrant of Iowa, and then balsam fir in Allamakee County,” he says, “and everything else is not native, and not well adapted or it’s planted out of its range. And so when you have these weather events, they’re just not used to it. ” Feeley says though, he has even seen some of the native conifers suffer this year too because of the unusual spring we’ve had.

(Anita, Iowa) – The Trevor Frederickson Memorial Fund has donated $500 to the Friends of Lake Anita, for their annual kids fishing clinic scheduled to take place the first weekend in June.  Fishing is a great sport that can be part of your entire life.  Fund spokesperson Melanie Petty (Trevor’s mom), said “Trev loved fishing in his down time, especially during his college years.”

The 14^th Annual TFred Memorial Golf Tournament will be held on June 18^th this year at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club.  All monies raised at the tournament are given back to the community that Trevor loved.  Although the tournament is full for this year there are still opportunities to donate.

Melanie Petty presents a check for the Friends of Lake Anita annual fishing clinic.

Melanie said “We are still taking items for the silent auction that is held in the clubhouse all day.  Hole sponsorships are also available for $100.  If you have time that day stop up and visit us to have lunch and bid on the items for the auction.”  The fund is a 501©3 Non Profit Organization.

• KJAN, Atlantic  .47″
• 7 miles NNE of Atlantic  .18″
• Elk Horn  .18″
• Anita  .11″
• Audubon  .22″
• Manning  .15″
• Carroll  .61″
• Corning  .03″