Montgomery County 4-H and Extension held “Outdoor Day Camp” for all area youth in grades 4-8 on Tuesday, June 9th at Viking Lake State Park from 9am – 3pm. With 10 excited youth signed up for the busy event, the day began with get to know you games. Youth were then divided into small group. One group focused on fishing; youth learned about their poles, how to bait, cast and even got to try out their fishing luck in the lake.

The second group was kayaking; youth learned about water safety, how to paddle,
and got to play around in the kayaks on the water. The third group focused on leaf identification; youth learned a few common Iowa trees, looked for their leaves, and identified other leaves they found around the park. Participants enjoyed a lunch grilled on site along. The warm afternoon consisted of several more small groups.

The first group learned about the environment and make wildflower seed bombs; the second group went on a nature scavenger hunt; the third group learned about solitary bees and created nests to put out to help the bees in our areas; and the last group was outdoor cooking where youth learned about cooking with a Dutch oven and cooked banana smores! Youth finished the day with some team building activities and some outdoor games.

If there is anything you would like to learn more about, see a presentation on, or attend a workshop for, Hallie Peck, with Montgomery County Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says they are always open to ideas and would love to hear your interests!

Peck says a special “thank you” goes to Johnson Controls and their program, Blue Sky Involve, where they helped with funding the program, in addition to the volunteers who helped to make this day camp possible! For any other questions regarding 4-H contact Hallie at the Extension Office (712) 623-2592 or email hpeck@iastate.edu.

No injuries were reported to the drivers of two vehicles that struck cattle on the road in Union County, late Wednesday night. The Sheriff’s Office says at around 11:35-p.m., a 2002 Chevy pickup driven by 64-year old Dwight Ingram, of Winterset, hit a cow on N. Cherry Street (Union County Road P-33), causing $1,500 damage to the vehicle. The cow, owned by Richard Downing, of Creston, was valued at $3,000.

About 10-minutes later, a van driven by 21-year old Jonathan Zollman, of Bedford, was traveling on the same road at about the same location, when it struck three black angus cattle on the road. Damage to the 2002 Dodge Caravan was estimated at $3,500..or, a total loss. The cow and two calves were valued at $3,000.

An avian influenza support prayer supper was held in northwest Iowa’s Buena Vista County last night (Wednesday). Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey was among the attendees, sharing in a picnic of pulled pork sandwiches and salads in support of impacted poultry producers. Northey told the group of about 175 people that it’s vital for a community to pull together during difficult times like these.

Of the 77 confirmed cases of bird flu in Iowa poultry operations, 14 of them were in Buena Vista County. More than 31-million chickens and turkeys have been euthanized in Iowa in recent months due to the bird flu epidemic. The USDA provides an indemnity for euthanized birds and will cover some costs of disposal, but the federal government doesn’t give aid for loss of income. Some called the 2014-2015 Avian Flu Outbreak the biggest animal health emergency in U.S. history.

While attending the grand opening of an agronomy center in Buena Vista County on Wednesday, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey discussed the ongoing lawsuit between Des Moines Water Works and three counties in northwest Iowa. The water utility says Calhoun, Buena Vista and Sac counties aren’t proactive enough in preventing agricultural runoff. Des Moines Water Works says it’s causing an excessive financial burden on the city to remove nitrates from the water supply. Northey says while he doubts a lawsuit is the answer, he also says the agricultural community needs to find a long-term solution.

“Society is going to demand that of us,” Northey says. “We want those nutrients to stay there. We’re motivated by it. We’re going to learn things that are going to make us better producers as we learn how that nitrogen mineralizes in the soil.” According to the Des Moines Water Work’s petition, in the summer of 2013, fall of 2014 and winter of 2015, nitrate levels in the Raccoon River reached record peaks.

Bill Stowe, CEO and general manager of Des Moines Water Works, alleges the drainage districts in the three northwest Iowa counties are violating the federal Clean Water Act. Stowe says the system to remove the nitrates costs $7,000 per day to operate.

(Radio Iowa)