ATLANTIC – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting eight meetings in Western Iowa to discuss the status of the region’s deer herd as population levels have fallen in recent years.

In Atlantic, the meeting will be held July 8, at the Venue, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

State wildlife experts say there are likely multiple factors that have contributed to the decline in the number of deer on the landscape and it might take a multilevel approach for the herd to recover.

“With the hindsight we have today, we can look back and realize that too much doe harvest was encouraged for too long in western Iowa. Significant outbreaks of hemorrhagic disease over the last decade have not helped populations recover, and changes in land cover resulting in less habitat makes deer more vulnerable to harvest,” said Jace Elliott, state deer biologist with the Iowa DNR. “This population decline impacts roughly one-fifth of the state so we are encouraging hunters and landowners to come to the meetings and give us their feedback. Every voice counts.”

The goal of these meetings is to move forward with a plan the department can execute and that hunters will support, he said.

“Deer hunting is one of Iowa’s most recreationally and economically important traditions. Our goal is to manage deer numbers at a level that is acceptable to our citizens and that supports a quality hunting experience,” Elliott said.

Meetings are scheduled in July and run from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

(Iowa News Service) – Family farm advocates are calling for cuts in federal subsidies to large animal feeding operations known as CAFOs in the Farm Bill being debated in Congress. Iowa family farmers want more support for conservation programs that benefit smaller agriculture operations. Right now, CAFOs can qualify for as much as 100-million dollars every year to reduce some of the environmental damage they can cause. That’s taxpayer money that Barb Kalbach, a fourth-generation family farmer in Adair County, says could be put to much better use by small family farmers on their land.

CAFO operators contend they use the federal money to defend against environmental damage and that they’re always looking for cleaner, safer ways to raise high-quality meats while responding to increased consumer demand.

As a board member for the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Kalbach is calling for more support of conservation programs that would help family farmers, but she is just as adamant that the long-standing rules governing CAFOs are changed.

The Farm Bill saw its first action in the House Agriculture Committee May 23rd. The House version of the measure also proposes 30-billion dollars in cuts to SNAP benefits over the next decade, including 170-million in Iowa.

Western Iowa is starting to see more widespread cases of trees becoming infested with the emerald ash borer. The first case was discovered in Woodbury County last year and that’s where Lindsay Meylor (MY-ler) works as a horticulture educator with the I-S-U Extension and Outreach. Meylor says her office is now fielding frequent calls from people, wondering what they can do to save their trees.

Meylor says insecticide is best applied before any signs of damage, and treatment — which can cost hundreds of dollars per application — will have to continue throughout the life of the tree. The insect can kill a tree within two years of infestation.

The D-N-R says when the invasive pest first appeared in eastern Iowa in 2010, there were an estimated 54-million woodland ash trees and another three-million planted in urban areas. It’s unclear how many survived. The emerald ash borer has been detected in all but one of Iowa’s 99 counties. Emmett in northwest Iowa is the only county without a confirmed case.

(Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)