Atlantic Parks and Recreation Director Roger Herring has made available to the media mileage maps for the walking/biking trails at the Schildberg Recreation Area.  At a recent park board meeting the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, in addition to KJAN and other local media, expressed an interest in putting the charts on their websites, for viewing by the public. 

Herring says he hopes to have a park and rec link off of the city’s website in the near future but that feature is currently not  available. He says the walking trails are getting used frequently, but questions remained as to how far the trails were. 

Click on the images below to view the charts.

Herring says they will also have some signage at the entrances to the trails that will have the mileage charts on them, but there is currently no funding available for those signs.

The U-S-D-A crop report shows some farmers have been able to get their planters into the field.The report says five-percent of Iowa’s corn acreage has been planted in the early going, which compares with one percent at this time last year. It’s also ahead of the five-year average of three-percent. .The report says widespread rain improved moisture levels throughout the state — with topsoil moisture levels improving so only six-percent very short and, 21 percent short of soil moisture. Subsoil moisture also improved and 53-percent is called adequate and two percent surplus. The report says the cold weather did raise some concerns, as farmers fear hay growth was affected after most of the state received a hard freeze in the early part of last week.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

Officials with the Kansas City, Kansas, office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today (Monday), a western Iowa beef cattle feedlot company has agreed to pay a large penalty for violations of the Clean  Water Act related to discharges of pollutants into a creek and its tributaries. Petersen-Bubke, LLP, in Monona County, Iowa, has agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty. By agreeing to the settlement, Petersen-Bubke has certified that it is currently in compliance with the Clean Water Act.  

According to an administrative civil consent agreement and final order filed by EPA in Kansas City, Kan., EPA personnel conducted a compliance evaluation and inspection of the facility in March 2011 and observed evidence of discharges of process wastewater and pollutants from the facility into Rush creek. Petersen-Bubke was confining approximately 1,050 cattle at the time of the inspection, which made it subject to regulation as a large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). However, the feedlot did not have a necessary National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, nor had it applied for one, as required by the Clean Water Act. 

EPA Region 7 issued an order to the feedlot in May 2011, directing it to install discharge controls or apply for an NPDES permit. In accordance with the order, Petersen-Bubke has complied with the Clean Water Act by reducing the number of cattle it confines below the regulatory threshold, and by constructing livestock waste controls. Unauthorized and uncontrolled discharges of wastewater and stormwater from concentrated animal feeding operations and their production areas can cause exceedances of water quality standards, pose risks to human health, threaten aquatic life and its habitat, and impair the use and enjoyment of waterways.

 Iowa State University is installing water quality monitors 16 Iowa lakes to help find out what causes harmful algal blooms. Some types of blue-green algae, for example, can produce dangerous toxins. Drinking toxin-tainted water can cause vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory failure and, rarely, death.

Among the western Iowa lakes that will be part of the monitoring study is: Arrowhead and Black Hawk Lakes in Sac County; Lake Orient, in Adair County; and, Springbrook Lake, in Guthrie County. 

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is cooperating in the study. The monitoring equipment will be underwater and will be marked by hazard buoys.

Iowa’s unusual stretch of warm weather in late winter and early spring has led to earlier than normal tick activity and start to the tick-borne disease season. The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) reminds Iowans to protect themselves against tick bites. Ticks can carry the organisms that cause Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Ehrlichiosis. The best way to prevent tick bites is to avoid wooded and grassy areas, where ticks are usually found.

If you do spend time in these areas:

• Wear long-sleeved shirts and long, light-colored pants tucked into socks or boots.
• Stay on trails when walking or hiking, and avoid high grass.
• Use insect repellants that contain DEET. Read and follow the label directions for application. DEET is not recommended for use on children under 2 months of age. For more information on DEET, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/idph_universalhelp/main.aspx?system=IdphEpiManual&context=DEET_factsheet.
• Check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks. Ticks tend to prefer the back of the knee, armpit, scalp, groin, and back of the neck.

If you discover a tick on your body, remove it right away. Folk remedies, such as burning the tick with a match or covering it with petroleum jelly or nail polish, are not effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend the following instructions for removing a tick:

• Carefully grasp the tick by using tweezers to grip the tick by its mouthparts which are close to the skin. Do not squeeze the tick’s body.
• Pull steadily directly away from your skin. Because removing the tick’s body is your main goal, don’t worry if its mouthparts break off in the process.
• Clean the wound and disinfect the site of the bite.

The most common tick-borne disease is Lyme disease; 85 cases of Lyme disease were reported to IDPH in 2011. Not everyone who gets Lyme disease will have the same symptoms, but the best and earliest sign of infection is a rash that may appear within a few days to a month, usually at the site of the tick bite. The rash will first look like a small, red bump, then expand until it begins to look like a bull’s eye, with a red center and a red ring surrounding a clear area. It is important to contact your healthcare provider immediately if you develop this type of rash.

For more information on Lyme disease visit www.idph.state.ia.us/idph_universalhelp/main.aspx?

w/ Denny Heflin

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Figures from the Iowa Department of Revenue show the sale of biodiesel nearly doubled in Iowa from 2010 to 2011. The figures show sales of biodiesel went from seven-point-four (7.4) million gallons to 13-point-nine (13.9) million. Iowa Biodiesel Board executive director, Randy Olson, says he’s pleased to see the numbers which indicate drivers of the big rigs are using the product. “Reports and analysis suggest that truckstops along our interstate highway system are embracing the use of biodiesel. The economics have been very favorable for biodiesel in 2011,” Olson says. “Truck stop operators are clearly patriotic folks as are truckers, and the trucking industry have been strong supporters of biodiesel.”

Olson says federal tax incentives, the federal renewable fuel standard and the state tax credit have all helped biodiesel. He says there’s a (state) retailers credit in 2011 that incented blends of B-two or two-percent biodiesel at three-cents-per-gallon, and in 2012 retailers are incented four-and-a-half cents for blends of five-percent biodiesel, B-five. The figures show biodiesel makes up around 42-percent of all diesel sold at the retail level in Iowa. “Biodiesel would be normal petroleum diesel that’s blended with any percentage of renewable biodiesel,” Olson explains. “So biodiesel can be made from agricultural co-products like soybean oil, or animal fats, or even recycled restaurant greases. And any product that is made out of those renewable agriculture byproducts can be blended into diesel at any percentage.” 

Olson says the blended fuel works jus as well as the straight diesel. “Blends of biodiesel up to B-20 perform very comparably to petroleum diesel, and very importantly, it’s good for Iowa’s economy, it’s good for Iowa’s environment because it burns cleaner. And it’s good for our nation’s energy security. For every gallon of biodiesel we use, we import less foreign petroleum. And I think we all agree that’s a good idea,” Olson says. Iowa is home to 13 biodiesel plants that produced about 175 million gallons of biodiesel in 2011.

The Nishna Valley Trails association is inviting the public to a “Bike/Trails Expo” to be held at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic on Monday, April 30^th, beginning at 7 p.m.  Mark Wyatt, the president of the Iowa Bicycling Coalition will be the speaker for the evening, talking about trends in bicycling as recreation and transportation, and about Iowa as the “Bike Trails Capitol of the World”.  There will be informational displays, a bicycle show, and refreshments will be served.  By registering at the door, participants can enter a drawing for door prizes, including bicycles and biking accessories.  For more information contact Ed Kail at 243-4265.