MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture will open a four-week general signup for the Conservation Reserve Program on May 20th.  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement Saturday at the National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic in Minneapolis. He says the CRP was vital in later summer’s drought. He says it protected sensitive land from erosion, while emergency haying and grazing on CRP lands provided critical livestock feed and forage.

Around 27 million acres are enrolled in the CRP, a voluntary program that pays farmers to keep environmentally sensitive land out of production, typically for 10 to 15 years. The goals are to improve water quality, control erosion and enhance wildlife habitat. Contracts on about 3.3 million acres expire September 30th.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court says farmers who host educational tours are not shielded from personal injury lawsuits under Iowa’s recreational use law. The court ruled 5-2 on Friday that the owners of a dairy farm can be sued by a chaperone injured when she fell through a hole in a hayloft during a kindergarten class field trip.

The Iowa Farm Bureau had warned that allowing farmers to face liability would jeopardize tours that teach children about animals and farming. The group says farmers may no longer host such events if they’re worried about lawsuits.

At issue is a law that bars injury lawsuits against landowners who open their land for public recreational uses such as snowmobiling and hunting. The court says playing on a hayloft in a barn doesn’t qualify.

The Cass County Soil and Water Conservation District is partnering with the Atlantic Public Library, to sponsor a Conservation Poster Contest.  This year’s theme is:  Where Does Your Water Shed?  Students ages K-12 can participate. Schools in Cass County also have the poster contest information.   Posters may be created at the Atlantic Public Library. Julie Tjepkes, Youth Coordinator with the Atlantic Public Library will have materials available.  All posters must be completed by Friday, March 29^th.

Posters will be judged locally by the Cass Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner by May 17th.  All posters need to have an entry form attached to the back of the poster.  First place selections are forwarded to the Conservation Districts of Iowa Regional Directors in which a first place poster is selected from each age group.  State winning posters will be displayed in September at the 2013 Annual Conference in Des Moines.

Last year, Danelle Haas submitted a poster which was selected to move onto Regional competition.  Her poster also received first place in the 7-9^th grade age group. Prizes are awarded at a local level, along with prizes for Regional selection winners. For more information on the poster contest, please contact Julie Tjepkes at the Atlantic Public Library or contact the Cass SWCD office at (712)243-3180.

HOMER, Neb. (AP) – Officials have reached an informal agreement to sell portions of a northeast Nebraska ranch that’s been used for years by Nebraska and Iowa Boy Scouts.  John McCollister of the Boy Scouts Mid-America Council in Omaha told the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, that the agreement includes about 360 acres of the Thomas Ashford Scout Ranch. The ranch covers a total of about 600 acres a few miles west of the Missouri River in rural Homer.

The buyer would use the 360 acres for hunting. McCollister wouldn’t discuss the price or identify the buyer. McCollister says the rest of the land, including the main campground, also may be sold, but a final decision hasn’t been made. He says the ranch isn’t used enough to justify paying for the repairs it needs.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Mandatory water cutbacks may be employed this summer in some parts of Iowa if the drought lingers.  Tim Hall is bureau chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ geology and water survey staff and he told a legislative panel on Thursday that the situation was worst in northwest Iowa.

The state has the power to prioritize water use based on a system developed in the 1950s. Hall says the system has never been used and won’t be used this summer either. He says conservation decisions are best left to local communities because situations vary so widely from one county or part of the state to the next.

The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says nearly a quarter of Iowa remains in severe or extreme drought.

Info from the Atlantic Animal Shelter at 309 Sunnyside Lane in Atlantic.

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A bill that has passed its first step in the Iowa Senate Tuesday would allow more farmers to create game preserves on their land to boost pheasant hunting in the state. The bill allows landowners to offer hunting on as little at 40 acres of land for pheasants, quail and partridges. Senator Steve Sodders, a Democrat from State Center, says pheasant hunting has deteriorated dramatically in Iowa. “Farming has tore out trees we’re losing habitat. So, I think it’s much easier for someone with land out there to be able to find 40 acres along a certain waterway or tree line that they are not going to take out, as opposed to trying to take out a big chunk all in one spot,” Sodders says.

Current law requires landowners to have at least 320 acres of land for game preserves. Sodders says there are benefits for hunters and everyone else when the birds are released. He says the owners put the birds out in the morning before the hunt. Some of the birds are going to get away, and they’re going to hunt some of them.

Lack of habitat is one of the factors cited in the decline of pheasant numbers in the state, along with poor weather conditions that have hurt the development of young birds.

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