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CRESTON – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is relaxing the fishing regulations at McKinley Lake in Creston. The city of Creston will begin to drain the lake in August as part of a lake restoration project. McKinley Lake, constructed in the 1870s, has accumulated a lot of sediment and nutrients over time causing poor water quality that impacts outdoor recreation opportunities on the community lake.
The City of Creston’s Park and Recreation Board has made improvements to the lake’s watershed to reduce the amount of sediment and nutrients washing into the lake. In-lake work is the final step in the lake restoration process. Planned improvements include targeted dredging, improving shoreline access and adding fish habitat, a fishing pier and small boat/canoe/kayak access.
Anglers with a valid fishing license may harvest any size or number of largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, and all other fish species from McKinley Lake. Any number of fishing poles or jug fishing is allowed. Anglers must remain in sight of these lines at all times, and follow all other fishing regulations and area rules. Trot lines will be allowed (name and address must be attached), however lines may not be set across the entire water body. It is illegal to sell fish or stock captured fish into public waters. All navigation rules still apply.
Liberalized fishing regulations for McKinley Lake will be in effect immediately. Specific regulation changes include:
(State News) – A lawsuit alleges that a company operating an alternative fuels plant in the eastern Iowa town of Marengo, lied to and may have bribed, public officials before a massive explosion injured workers there in 2022. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports Tali Washburn, a Pottawattamie County woman who worked for the C6-Zero company as its government relations director, is now suing the company, six of its affiliates and several company officials in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
In December 2022, C6-Zero’s roof-shingle recycling plant in Marengo was rocked by a massive explosion that injured more than a dozen people and resulted in a partial evacuation of the town.
As part of her lawsuit, Washburn alleges that long before the explosion, company officials told her they had purchased a house from the Marengo city official tasked with approving the plant’s emergency safety plan. The purchase was then put in someone else’s name to obscure C6-Zero’s involvement, the lawsuit claims.
In 2023, a judge ordered the company to pay a $95,700 fine for workplace safety violations that contributed to the explosion. The state has since sued the company for $1.5 million in expenses caused by the cleanup of contaminated water at the Marengo site. A trial in that case is scheduled for later this year.
According to Washburn’s lawsuit, she was hired by C6-Zero in March 2020. In mid-2021, she claims, she “blew the whistle” on corporate wrongdoing by contacting the company’s CEO, general counsel and chief operating officer. The lawsuit alleges she then hired a former federal prosecutor as her own legal counsel and “confronted” the company about what she considered to be safety issues, loan falsification, tax issues and “interference” with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. In January 2022, she claims, the company placed her on administrative leave and threatened her with a lawsuit for defamation. In July 2022, she alleges, she was fired and three months later disclosed her concerns to an unspecified “Iowa government official.”
Her lawsuit seeks damages for breach of contract, unpaid wages, fraudulent misrepresentation and civil conspiracy. C6-Zero and company officials named in have yet to file a response to the allegations.
The problems began, Washburn alleges, shortly after she was hired to help C6-Zero clear regulatory hurdles in developing recycling technology that would turn asphalt into oil. According to the lawsuit, C6-Zero’s biggest problem at that time was that it was unable to use patented technology due to various state agencies classifying the business as a recycler, a stockpiler of solid waste and a potential generator of hazardous waste. Washburn alleges she “developed a pathway” for C6-Zero to successfully obtain a “comfort letter” from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwest regional office to launch its business in Iowa. That letter was intended to “validate” the company’s commitment to operate, within the EPA’s own framework, as a manufacturer and not a generator of hazardous waste.
Shortly thereafter, the lawsuit claims, company officials directed Washburn to send a grant application to the state seeking a forgivable multimillion-dollar loan. State officials denied the grant request, allegedly citing issues with the company’s background. Months later, the lawsuit claims, company officials told Washburn they had “embellished” the grant application in part by stating they would hire 260 employees and have a total annual payroll of $3.7 million.
In addition, the lawsuit states, Chief Operating Officer Christopher Koehn “specifically and purposefully lied on the application” by listing a particular individual with a good reputation as C6-Zero’s chief technology officer. Koehn confessed to Washburn that the man never had any official role in the company and his name was included merely to bolster the company’s bid for the forgivable loan, the lawsuit alleges.
(Des Moines, Iowa) – Official with Summit Carbon Solutions today (Monday) argued that the main components of two county ordinances in Iowa that sought to limit the placement of carbon dioxide pipelines are entirely overridden by the authority of state and federal regulators. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the company reasserted those arguments in a recent brief in federal court — its response to the appeals by Shelby and Story counties of a judge’s rulings late last year that agreed with Summit. An injunction prevents the counties from enforcing the ordinances.
The filings of written arguments by both sides of the case set the stage for oral arguments before a panel of Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges. The oral arguments are not yet scheduled. The judges are expected to issue a decision sometime next year.
Summit seeks to build a 2,500-mile pipeline system in five states to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol producers to North Dakota, where the greenhouse gas would be pumped into the ground. It received preliminary approval in Iowa last month.
The work is incentivized by generous federal tax credits with the goal of slowing climate change. But many opponents of the project worry about the safety of people and animals near the pipeline that might be suffocated if it ruptures. The county ordinances create minimum separation distances — or setbacks — between the pipelines and populated places, such as cities, homes and livestock buildings.
The federal judge who ruled against the first county ordinances said, in part, they were so restrictive that they might make it impossible for a carbon dioxide pipeline to be built at all. A handful of ordinances that were adopted by other counties — most of which are also the target of pending lawsuits by Summit — were increasingly less restrictive. The most recent one was approved in April by Dickinson County, which has not been sued. Summit has declined to comment on the matter.
Chief Judge Stephanie Rose, of the federal Southern District of Iowa, said the Shelby and Story ordinances’ placement requirements are overruled by state regulators — the Iowa Utilities Commission — and that their safety-related provisions are the jurisdiction of federal regulators — the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Rose went further and decided that the counties’ placement requirements are also a safety feature and are overridden by PHMSA, but the agency itself has contradicted the judge. However, Summit argues Rose was correct about the relationship of setbacks and safety, and its attorneys point to an early version of Story’s ordinance: “Story County started down this path solely out of concern for pipeline safety,” attorney Ryan Koopmans wrote in the recent appeal brief. “The county’s first ordinance, No. 306, focused only on setbacks because there are ‘risks in the event of a spill or rupture.’”
Summit further says county ordinance provisions that obviously pertain to safety — such as requirements to disclose certain information to local emergency officials to aid their potential response to a breach — is also PHMSA’s jurisdiction.As for determining the pipeline routes, Summit argues state law gives the Iowa Utilities Commission absolute authority: “It does not matter whether Summit or any other pipeline company could somehow thread the needle through the counties’ heavily restrictive setbacks, or whether the counties would grant variances and let the pipeline pass through anyway (and they clearly will not),” Koopmans wrote.
The American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the nation’s oil and natural gas industries, and the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association also recently filed a brief in support of Summit’s positions. They said pipelines are vital to the U.S. economy, are the safest way to transport energy products, and that the ordinances would have “far-reaching ramifications and unintended consequences.”
The ultimate effect of the court action on the pending lawsuits against other counties is not yet clear. They have been paused until the Shelby and Story appeals conclude. PHMSA is in the process of revamping its safety standards for carbon dioxide pipelines, and the counties have said the current rules are not adequate to protect the public. They argue that there is room for some measure of local control of the issue.
(Red Oak, Iowa) – The 2024 Montgomery County Fair is underway now (Monday, July 15) through Saturday (July 20), in Red Oak. Preparations for the Fair began last Friday, with a Pre-Fair Supper, and 4-H/FFA Clover Kid Pool Party. View the full schedule HERE.
Monday’s (Today’s) scheduled activities: 4-H/FFA Horse Show; Wardrobe judging; 4-H Table Setting display & judging; Educational presentations, and Extemporaneous Speaking & Working Exhibits
Tuesday will feature entry and judging of 4-H Ag and Natural Resources; The official Fair Welcome will be held Tuesday night, followed by a Religious Rally, and Montgomery County Youth Council Gaga Ball Tournament.
Photo from the Montgomery County (IA) Fair Facebook page
Among the other activities this week, is: the Montgomery County Farm Bureau Breakfast for exhibitors and families, Thursday morning; Amusement inflatables starting Thursday at Noon and each day thereafter, until 10-p.m.; An ATV race Thursday evening; Senior Citizens Day Bingo on Friday, from 1-until 4-p.m.; Mechanical Bull Riding Friday evening at 7, and the Free Bull Ride event at 8-p.m., Friday, followed by a free concert from Tyler Folkerts; Free ice cream and pie Saturday afternoon, following the Baked Apple Pie Contest; A livestock auction Saturday afternoon, a band concert from 7-to 10-p.m., and a Demolition Derby, beginning at 7-p.m., Saturday.
Since 1956, the Montgomery County Fair has been a celebration of family values and ethical standards. Located in Red Oak, it is the home to countless attractions and events in Southwest Iowa.
(Iowa News Service) – An Iowa nonprofit group helps ag-related businesses grow to serve more farmers and get more cover crops planted in the state. Cover crops like rye and wheat are typically planted to protect the soil in winter months – and in and between row crops like corn and soybeans to control weeds in the growing season.
Practical Farmers of Iowa is making up to $10,000 available to farmers who want to commercialize their cover crop practice through the Cover Crop Business Accelerator Program. PFI’s Senior Field Crops Viability Manager Lydia English said while cover crops are good for weed control and soil health, most farmers who use them have another goal.
“Ninety percent of the time, it’s to combat erosion, either wind or water,” said English. “So, I think seeing that soil loss is really real – and that’s a lot of value that we’re washing down the drain, literally, that we don’t need to, with a practice like cover crops.” English said PFI wants to plant 12 million of Iowa’s 30 million acres of farmland with cover crops and thinks the accelerator program will encourage farmers to help reach that goal. 
Iowa corn and soybean Farmer Dan Bahe owns a business that plants cover crops for its clients on about 7,000 acres.
He and his brother were already experienced farmers who have used cover crops for more than a decade, but Bahe said they used PFI’s accelerator program to scale up their operation – especially by taking advantage of a personalized business coaching program. “Helping us put a business plan together,” said Bahe. “Ideas on creating a legal entity, marketing, branding. Because we were already established, but we really didn’t have a game plan. We were just taking orders, going out and seeding cover crops.”
The 2022 Census of Agriculture reported nearly 1.3 million acres of cover crops in Iowa. That’s a 32% increase since 2017.
PFI’s accelerator program is in its fifth year.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says U-S-D-A scientists have collected data from Iowa and are working to understand how bird flu has moved to infect dairy cows as well as other animals. “I ordered in an epidemiological strike team from USDA, appreciate they sent that team,” Naig says. “…(They) went farm-by-farm…really trying to understand how high path moves through a herd or possible ways it’s moving off the farm or onto the farm.”
No other state is doing testing of dairy operations within a 12 mile radius of any poultry flock that has to be euthanized after avian influenza is confirmed in the birds — and Naig says wildlife in those zones are being screened for bird flu as well. “I think what we’re going to get when we get to the end of this maybe in weeks or even months is that we’re going to actually have specific strategies farmers can use to protect their operations,” Naig says, “but if you’re not testing, you can’t do that kind of work.”
It’s been a couple of weeks since bird flu has been confirmed in cattle or poultry in an Iowa operation. Since March, six farm workers in Texas, Michigan and Colorado have tested positive for bird flu. Employees at Iowa facilities where the virus has been confirmed among birds or cattle have been tested, but Naig says there have been no human cases of bird flu in Iowa.
“By the way, there’s no evidence of human-to-human spread, which is very good news for all of us,” Naig said, “and why is important that we manage these things as animal health issues, try to deal with them on the farm so they don’t become human health or food safety issues.”
Naig made his comments this weekend during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S.
DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is offering a program to teach skills needed to trap furbearers to people with little to no trapping experience. The workshop will feature knowledge and skill building sessions with instructors that will teach the basics of trapping in Iowa. Jamie Cook, Iowa DNR Program Coordinator, says “For those interested in the tradition of trapping as a means of sourcing fur, this program provides the opportunity to gain the skills and the knowledge it takes to do it all yourself.”
Participants will learn basic strategies for trapping such as proper equipment, trap placement, trapping regulations and steps for preparing hides for trade. Participants are expected to dress appropriately for the weather as a significant portion of the class will be held outdoors. The workshops will take place on various dates and locations across the state. The course is designed for participants of all ages. Space is limited so be sure to register right away.
For more information and to begin the registration process, visit the link below and search by Trapper Education Class event type:
https://license.gooutdoorsiowa.com/Event/EventsHome.aspx
The program is provided through a partnership with the Iowa DNR and Iowa Trappers Association. It is part of a national effort to recruit, retain and reactivate hunters, anglers and trappers due to the overall decline in hunting and outdoor recreation.
(Radio Iowa) – Tourism is down in the Iowa Great Lakes after heavy rains and high water forced the implementation of issue boating restrictions. The Executive Director of Vacation Okoboji , Kylie Zankowski, says summer business is important to the area.
Zankowski estimates flooding has decreased tourism by 40 to 60 percent.
Zankowski says some hotel occupancy was cut in half during the Independence Day holiday. Juli Redig has been coming to the Iowa Great Lakes from Minnesota since she was the age of her grandchildren. And they saw very few boats on the water during a visit to Arnolds Park due to a five mile and hour speed limit put in place to preserve the shoreline.
Redig says she’s still making the most of her family’s vacation. They brought their pontoon boat to enjoy the water slowly. Zankowski she says there’s hope as water levels and quality continue to improve. She says the Arnolds Park amusement area and other attractions, along with the food, and entertainment give tourists other options.
(story contributed by Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University researchers say a sugar molecule they’ve found in the mammary glands of cattle is the so-called receptor that transmits highly pathogenic avian influenza. Professor Todd Bell, in I-S-U’s veterinary pathology lab, says their study could lead to measures that prevent the spread of bird flu, which has infected more than a dozen large herds of dairy cattle in northwest Iowa in recent weeks. “Our team across the street in the vet diagnostic lab kind of figured out the ‘what’ which is we have influenza in the mammary tissue of dairy cattle,” Bell says, “and now here in pathology, we’re trying to understand the ‘why’ and look at mammary tissue to understand why this virus is getting in.”
Researchers in Ames are working under the hypothesis that milking machines may be involved in spreading the virus from cow to cow. “There’s multiple different routes that influenza can infect different species, but we want to look at that as a potential route,” Bell says. “What we’re trying to do is not only understand maybe how externally the virus is getting to the mammary gland, but more specifically, we’re trying to understand how and why this virus can infect mammary tissue, which prior to this, had been unreported in mammary glands of cattle.”
If they can track the transmission of the virus to milking machines, Bell notes one possible solution to stop the spread is quite elementary. “If a virus is present on milking machines and then is getting into mammary tissue as you attach those milking machines,” Bell says, “one way to potentially stop that would be to disinfect or clean those milking machines prior to milking.” Milk sold in grocery stores and by other retailers is pasteurized, and the F-D-A and dairy industry are stressing that there’s no threat to the milk supply because the pasteurization process neutralizes viruses. Bell agrees. “Everything that we’ve seen so far from a research perspective does say that,” Bell says, “that pasteurized milk is very safe, that heating to that extent renders the virus inactive.” 
Bird flu isn’t usually deadly for cows, but it’s often fatal for birds. Since the start of the outbreak, the U-S-D-A says more than 97-million birds have been affected, while commercial poultry flocks where the virus is found are typically euthanized. The study was published in the July edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s peer-reviewed journal. Thirteen of its 14 co-authors are from I-S-U, including researchers and faculty from across the College of Veterinary Medicine.
(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Resources Commission gave final approval Thursday to antlerless deer quotas that include a drop in the number of does that can be taken in western Iowa. The D-N-R held hearings on the issue and commissioner K.R. Buck of Denison says there was support for the cutback at the hearing he attended. “I think there was 35 or 36 at our meeting. I think if everybody was asked to raise their hand they were willing to give up a doe season through the paid season and archery for two years,” he says. “They see the devastation that our deer population has taken in western Iowa.”
Buck says the lack of deer in the area is concerning. “Our deer population last two years has been wiped out. I mean it’s amazing,” Buck says. The D-N-R’s Tyler Harms oversees the state deer populations and told the commission one of the reasons for the big drop in western Iowa’s deer herd is overhunting. “It’s very obvious that overharvest over an extended period of time from really the mid 2000s to the early 2010s contributed to the population decline,” he says. Harms says disease outbreaks in the deer herd are also an issue. -H-D outbreaks in western Iowa starting in 2012,” Harms says. “Since then there’s been at least five severe outbreaks statewide, which certainly hasn’t helped the situation over in that part of the state.”
The antlerless deer licenses will be cut from 200 to 0 in Cass County, from 250 to 0 in Harrison, Monona, and Pottawattamie counties, from 150 to 0 in Page County, from 200 to 150 in Montgomery County. Some western Iowa counties, including Woodbury and Worth, already had no antlerless deer tags available.
The D-N-R has some new meetings about deer management underway now which they say will help shape how they manage the deer population in western Iowa through the next five years.
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