WASHINGTON (AP) – Students in nine states and the nation’s capital are preparing to examine the legacy of the Dust Bowl and the current impact of drought on agriculture and global food security.  The Smithsonian and the National Endowment for the Humanities are holding a national youth summit for middle and high school students Wednesday. It will include a discussion with scholars and experts, along with segments from filmmaker Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary, “The Dust Bowl.”

The summit will be webcast from the National Museum of American History in Washington to nine Smithsonian affiliate museums and the National Steinbeck Center. Regional town halls will be held in Nebraska, Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Dakota and California.  Educators and students can join the webcast online for free.

An artist from Aberdeen, South Dakota has been selected to create a statue of a famous Iowan for display in Washington, D.C. Last year, the Iowa legislature and Governor Branstad approved the move to place a statue of 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug in the U.S. Capitol Building’s National Statuary Hall. Jeff Morgan, spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, says 33-year-old Benjamin Victor was selected by a committee to create the likeness of Borlaug after reviewing resumes and proposals from 65 artists from around the world.

Borlaug clay statue

Victor will be working to install the statue in March of 2014 – around the time of what would have been Borlaug’s 100th birthday. Borlaug, a native of Cresco, died in the fall of 2009 at the age of 95. Borlaug was a plant scientist who developed new strains of wheat. He’s credited with saving up to a billion people from starvation around the world. Morgan says Victor, the artist, has developed a maquette – or scale model – of the statue, which features a young Borlaug writing in a notebook and standing in front of wheat plants.  “The process will be to develop the clay model and from there it will be sent to a foundry to be cast and made into bronze with a patina applied to it,” Morgan said. “It will then be transported to the U.S. Capitol Building for the installation.”

The selection of the artist for the Borlaug statue was announced Tuesday as the World Food Prize festivities were getting underway in Des Moines. The annual award was created by Borlaug in 1986 as a way to honor individuals who’ve worked to improve the quality and quantity of food around the world. Borlaug’s likeness will replace the statue of a Civil War hero from Iowa that was placed in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall in 1903. That statue of U.S. Senator James Harlan, the one-time president of Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, will be moved to the Iowa capitol in Des Moines. Each U.S. state is allowed to have statues of two “notable citizens” on display in the U.S. Capitol.

Borlaug statue sketch

The Borlaug statue will join a statue of Samuel Kirkwood, who served as governor of Iowa during the Civil War. The creation and installation of the Borlaug statue is being financed through a private fundraising effort.

(Radio Iowa)

Most of Iowa got a good soaking last weekend, but it didn’t go far in terms of making up for the drought. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says far northwest Iowa didn’t receive any rain, while the heaviest downpours were scattered around the state. Areas of northeast Iowa, around New Hampton and Decorah, received three-and-a-half to four inches of rain. Similar rainfall totals were reported around Red Oak, Greenfield and Winterset in southwest Iowa, and near Centerville, Albia and Oskaloosa in southeast Iowa. In Atlantic, we received 1.93-inches of rain over the weekend.

Statewide, on average, the weekend system dumped one-and-a-half inches of rain. It marked the single biggest rainfall event in Iowa since early May. “This one event over the weekend was almost as big as what we had for the whole month of September,” Hillaker said. Despite the downpour, Hillaker notes we’re a long way from bringing an end to the 2012 drought.

“We’re still roughly eight-and-a-half inches below normal for the year to date, as far as statewide average,” Hillaker said. “We did trim about an inch off the deficit we had going before this last rain event. So, it’s not a huge impact as far as reducing our deficit, but it will have quite a positive impact on soil moisture levels.”

(Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources say the Nodaway River Valley Woodland Owners Association Forestry Field Day is Oct. 30th, at 12:30 p.m., beginning from the host landowner property at 1974 U Avenue, Villisca. The field day will include light hiking and demonstrations on woodland health and wildlife habitat management, pond management, and bow making.

It will also include a discussion on alternative products from Iowa forests like ginseng, maple syrup, wild plum, hazelnuts, aronia berries, using thinning residues for meat smoking and native tree species for wood working. The field day is scheduled to conclude at 4 p.m. Attendees should plan to dress for outdoor weather conditions and be prepared for light physical activity.

Directions to the host property: 2.8 miles north of Hwy. 34/71 interchange on Hwy. 71, then east on 198^th street to the bend in the road where hit becomes U Avenue. The property is at the corner of U Avenue and 198^th Street.

The Atlantic Parks and Rec Board Monday approved a grading and seeding project for the Schildberg Recreation Area, in Atlantic. Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring presented the final draft plans from Engineer Ken Coffman and the Schildberg Recreation Committee for the campground area, which will be graded and prepped for gravel pads. The one-way (south to north) entrance to the campground area, once completed, will be off of Iowa Avenue, and make its way toward the parking area on the east side of the lakes, and back toward Chestnut Street.

Herring said the 60-foot long gravel camping pads will be at the recommended 60-degree angle, to make for easy entry. There will also be an 8-foot, L-shaped gravel “patio” for a picnic table and a fire ring. There will be water and electric hookups as well, but Herring says two pads will have to share one water hookup. There will be separate electric hookups to each pad, however. A dump station will be available at the end of the campground driveway, for disposal of r-v and camper “gray water” and waste, just like those found at the Cass County Fairgrounds.

Future plans, according to Herring, call for a road to 10-acres of City-owned land, for the another, large R-V Park, capable of handling 32-foot campers and custom coach-type R-V’s. The parking stalls for those types of campers and vehicles will be drive-through, so no backing-up will be necessary. There will also be a boat ramp in that same location, for access to Lake Number Two. One small parking area will be designated for campground visitor’s use, also, to eliminate parking congestion. There will be 21 stalls for that purpose.

Herring says walkers and bikers around the lakes don’t have to fear their path being disrupted by the future plans, as those paths will remain in-place. In fact, signs indicating mileage around the lakes will be installed soon. And in the future, there will be 33 spaces on the gravel lot for pedestrians and bicyclists to park their vehicles, four of which will be marked for handicapped use.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa farmers are close to wrapping up this year’s harvest as much needed rain finally fell across most of the state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 87 percent of the corn crop has been harvested, which is a month ahead of schedule. Ninety-three percent of the soybean crop is in from the fields, which is three weeks ahead of normal. The USDA says in Monday’s report that rain over the weekend helped Iowa’s pasture and range land. Hay supplies are running short across 41 percent of the state. Calves are being weaned and sold early due to the short supply of winter hay. The statewide average rainfall last week was 1.65 inches, triple the normal for the week. It was Iowa’s wettest week since early May.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office in Des Moines has rescinded a Burn Ban for Fremont County, at the request of Emergency Management Coordinator, Mike Crecelius. The ban, which had been in place since July 19th, officially ends at Noon today (Monday, Oct. 15th). Conditions in the County are no longer conducive to rapidly spreading fires, as had been the case during the extremely dry summer the area had experienced.

A ban on outdoor burning remains in effect until further notice, for: Cass, Audubon, Pottawattamie, Mills, Montgomery, Madison, Carroll, Crawford and Page Counties.

Shelby County Emergency Management Director Bob Seivert says fire stations and other locations in the County may change their Fire Danger signs from “High,” to “Moderate.” Seivert says they expect the fire danger to be lower over the next couple of days, due to the recent rain. The “Moderate” rating will remain in-place until the next update, or Thursday, which ever comes first.

Seivert asks residents of Shelby County to continue to notify the Shelby County EMA/9-1-1 and your local fire chief, prior to igniting any burns. He also asks you to use common sense, and attend all open burning projects until they are fully extinguished.

Once again, it’s the time of year for the Cass County Conservation Board to ask residents of the county, “When do you think the first Trumpeter Swans will arrive at the Schildberg Quarry in Atlantic?” Officials say Trumpeter Swans have visited the Schildberg Quarry for at least, fourteen out of the last fifteen winters. Call in your prediction (by November 12^th) to the Conservation Board at 712-769-2372, leave a message and return phone number if we are not in.

Duplicate dates will not be allowed.  For example, if a caller predicts November 25th, no one else will be allowed to predict that arrival date.  Call anytime until November 12th to make your prediction.  Only one prediction is allowed per family. The sponsors of the contest will determine the official arrival of the swans.  The winner will receive a Trumpeter Swan 8×10 print from the Cass County Conservation Board.  The contest is only open to residents of Cass County

Arrival and departure dates of the swans over the past 14-years have been as follows:

1997/1998   December 18 – January 2

1998/1999   Nothing on record

1999/2000   December 25 – February 15

2000/2001   November 23 – March 6

2001/2002   December 25 – February 24

2002/2003   November 23 – March 15

2003/2004   November 26 – March 21

2004/2005   November 25 – March 18

2005/2006   November 17 – March 5

2006/2007 October 30 – March 9

2007/2008 November 22- February 14

2008/2009 November 18- March 12

2009-2010 November 19 – January 5

2010-2011 November 5 – February 10

2011/2012 November 17 – February 21