Progress on the Schildberg Recreation Area Dog Park and other Parks and Rec Department projects have slowed to a crawl or dead-stop in some case, due to the soggy weather. Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring said Monday, the fence has been ordered for the Dog Park, and crews had wanted to begin installation, but the weather prevented that from happening. Weather permitting, the fence will be installed sometime next week.

After that, will come grading for a parking lot, drainage management and installation of dog exercise equipment being built by Atlantic Eagle Scouts. Signs stating the rules and regulations of the park will also be installed. Weather permitting, the Dog Park will be open on or about July 15th.

Herring said also, the Kiddie Korral at Sunnyside Park is complete, with the exception of a memorial bench installation. Assistant Parks Director Seth Staashelm said a handicapped accessible drinking fountain will be installed at the Camblin Shelter at Sunnyside as well, as soon as some trenching can be completed – as the weather improves. The fountain will be complete with a hose bib and jug filler.

Another weather-delayed project is the East Nishnabotna River boat ramp, near the Atlantic Wastewater Treatment Plant. Herring said they have to wait for low water on the river to install the concrete slab.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture reported just one new case of bird flu last week, and says all the infected birds at the turkey facilities have been destroyed, and all but one of the chicken facilities have had their birds euthanized. Deputy Ag Secretary Mike Naig, told Radio Iowa recently that it will not be a quick process to put birds back at those sites. “It’ll vary from site-to-site. Depending on the facility, you could be looking at several months before some of these sites can have re-population, some may be sooner than that,” Naig says. “But it really is on a case-by-case basis, whether you are talking about a turkey site that is composting, whether you are talking about a large layer facility that has cages that need to be cleaned.”

There are 76 infected sites in 18 counties, and the long it takes to get them back up and running, the more money they stand to lose. But Naig says there’s not a quick answer on a when the sites can be back in business. “That is unfortunately a big question mark for a lot of folks out there. How long will they be out of operation and how quickly can they get back in operation again,” he says. Naig says cleaning up the facilities takes more than a bucket of soapy water.

“It can be quite complex — there’s a process that has to be gone through — dry cleaning and actually cleaning out and sweeping the cages out. And then a couple of other options that could be available, some spraying and disinfection and fumigation, those types of things,” according to Naig. There are more than 31-and-a-half million birds that had to be destroyed after becoming infected. The U-S-D-A has more than 21-hundred staff and contractors working on the avian influenza situation here. More than 300 state employees have also participated in the disaster response at some point.

(Radio Iowa)