(NWS/Des Moines, Iowa) – The latest U-S Drought Monitor report from the National Weather Service in Des Moines, shows drought conditions improved in portions of northern and eastern Iowa during the past week. The report, issued Thursday, Oct. 19th, showed none of Iowa’s 99 counties are in an Exceptional Drought (D4). Portions of eastern Iowa are in an Extreme Drought (D3). Severe Drought (D2) conditions are found outside those counties in an Extreme Drought, and extends across much of southern and west central Iowa, to include the extreme northern, western and southwestern portions of Cass County, all of Pottawattamie, Harrison and Shelby Counties, and portions of Audubon, Guthrie, Adair, Mills, Montgomery and Adams Counties.

Moderate Drought (D1) or Abnormally Dry (D-O) conditions exist in areas of the State not already covered by the D2, D3 or D4 Drought conditions. Officials say the 30-day precipitation totals are now above normal for much of northwest Iowa and eastern portions of the State. The largest deficits are across southern Iowa. The seven-day precipitation forecast call for dry conditions this weekend, with an increasing threat of rainfall into next week.

The eight-to 14-day outlook indicates a better chance of below normal temperatures across Iowa, with near normal precipitation during that time frame. The bottom line: Drought conditions are expected to persist across Iowa through the end of this month. (Click on the graphics to enlarge)

(Shenandoah, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is partnering with Optimal Aquafeed and Page County Conservation Board to stock rainbow trout at 9 a.m. this Saturday, October 21 in RAPP Park, outside Shenandoah. Approximately 750 rainbow trout ranging from 0.75 lbs to 4.0 lbs. from Optimal Aquafeed will be stocked by Iowa DNR staff in a small borrow pit on the RAPP Park property. A second stocking of approximately 500 rainbow trout is planned for November.

Anglers must have a valid fishing license and pay the trout fee to fish for or possess trout.  The daily limit is five trout per licensed angler with a possession limit of 10. Children age 15 or younger can fish for trout with a properly licensed adult, but they must limit their catch to one daily limit.  The child can buy a trout fee which will allow them to catch their own limit of five trout.

Rainbow Trout (DNR Photo)

This is the third year of this successful partnership that provides a unique fishing opportunity to southwest Iowa anglers.

(Radio Iowa) – Alpaca farmers from all across the Midwest will be bringing their animals to central Iowa this weekend for a large convention, show and competition. The president of the National Alpaca Owners Association, Jennifer Hack, says the Fall Alpaca Spectacular will be the first-ever “mega” alpaca show in North America, as it’s combining five competitions into one.

There will be some 350 alpacas shown at the Iowa venue, which is free and open to the general public. Unlike most other livestock, alpacas aren’t raised for meat, but rather for their fleece, which Hack says is truly unlike that of any other creature.

The event runs today (Friday) through Sunday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State University and Alliant Energy dedicated a solar farm on the south side of Ames Thursday. The Dean of the I-S-U College of Agriculture, Daniel Robison says it’s an agrivoltaic project that combines agricultural use with the production of voltage or electricity. The solar panels are up higher and can rotate to allow for the planting of fruits and vegetables around them.

ISU Solar farm (ISU photo)

Robison says I-S-U received a two-point-two million dollar grant from the U-S Department of Energy to study how the crops do in a solar field. He says that type of research isn’t very abundant in the Midwest. They also have planted pollinator plants like prairie grasses around the solar farm and will have beehives as well so they can harvest honey along with the electricity produced by the solar panels.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County, Thursday, reported the arrest of 25-year-old Dawson Allen Dawson, of Red Oak. He was taken into custody at around 12:11-p.m. in the 100 block of E. Reed Street, on a Montgomery County Magistrate warrant for Contempt/Resist Court Order. Dawson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A woman was arrested on an assault charge Thursday night, in Montgomery County. Red Oak Police report 45-year-old Jill Renee Coddington, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9:50-p.m. in the 1600 block of E. Summit Street. She was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and charged with Assault causing bodily injury/1st offense. Coddington was being held without bond in the jail.

CARROLL COUNTY, Iowa (KCCI) — The Animal Rescue League of Iowa on Thursday released new details about an animal hoarding case in Carroll County. The ARL of Iowa was on the scene just outside of Lanesboro, along with the Carroll County sheriff, Friday afternoon. KCCI reports ARL of Iowa Executive Director Tom Colvin said “It’s difficult to describe what they saw actually. Because the amount of garbage and living conditions.”

Colvin says the 96 dogs they rescued are currently in isolation rooms for disease prevention and their conditions. The ARL says the process to get the dogs to where they can be adopted could be as long as a year. “It was clear to us that these dogs had seldom, if ever, really been touched by humans,” Colvin said. Not all the dogs will make it.

Colvin said this is the fourth case of animal hoarding/neglect the ARL of Iowa has been called to this year. He says situations like this are far too common and are stretching the ARL’s resources thin.

You can donate or learn more about the adoption process on the ARL of Iowa’s website.

(Radio Iowa) – An 80-million dollar U-S-D-A grant will provide new incentives to farmers in Iowa and Missouri who switch from planting corn and soybeans on marginal cropland — and grow native grasses and prairie plants to harvest instead. Roeslein Alternative Energy of St. Louis, Missouri, secured the grant with help from Iowa State University and the Iowa Soybean Association. Roeslein spokesman Brandon Butler says the company, which started in 2012, has been capturing energy from livestock waste.

“We’re able to tarp over those lagoons, capture all those gases, bring them to a centralized (location) and then we separate those molecules,” he says. “We upgrade the methane into…renewable natural gas — called RNG — and we directly inject that into the natural gas grid.” The new initiative plans to make renewable natural gas from the plant material harvested from local fields.

“The biogas is really, really important to rural America and agricultural communities,” Butler says. “This is reallly our chance to interact with this extreme push towards a more sustainable future.” Butler says this new project also fits with the company’s mission.

“We want to create processes that are good economically, they’re good environmentally and they’re good for wildlife,” he says, ‘because when it’s good for wildlife, it’s good for us as well.” The five-year pilot project will compensate farmers for growing restored grasses and prairie plants, which have deep roots that store carbon in the soil. The harvested biomass will be combined with manure in facilities that ultimately produce renewable natural gas.

The University of Iowa has hired a mental health counselor to work with students who are military veterans. Chuck Xander is a veteran and mental health counselor who will fill the role. He says veterans coming from active duty on a rigid schedule and can struggle with the pace of university life.

Xander says the U-I hopes to create a program that can be a model for other schools.

The University of Iowa has more than 22 hundred students who are veterans or military-connected, such as active duty Iowa National Guard members. And it says they are the first Big 10 school to hire a mental health counselor specifically dedicated to working with student veterans.

The central Iowa city of Urbandale is asking residents to look at its coyote management plan to help keep the animals from causing problems. The D-N-R’s Andy Kellner helped the leaders of the Des Moines suburb put together the plan after increased reports of coyotes.

Kellner says one of the key points is to make sure there are no easy food sources around homes.

Birdseed is another food source that could attract the coyotes. Kellner says the plan also give tips for keeping pets from becoming prey.

Kellner says cities like Urbandale that have greenways and river corridors provide the habitat where coyotes can live. He says he hasn’t had calls about coyote populations in other Iowa cities, but says it’s likely there are coyote populations in many other areas. Kellner says people can make the problem worse by treating the coyotes like they are pets.

He says people should do the opposite and take actions that make the coyotes fear being around humans.

Kellner says it’s also important to appreciate the good things coyotes provide to keep our ecosystem balanced.

Kellner says some wildlife species adjust a little bit better than others to the humans who have moved into their territories. He says coyotes, deer, turkeys, foxes, rabbits, and squirrels are among those that have found ways to adapt.