LENOX – Responding to a complaint about manure application, Iowa DNR staff found manure running into a stream about four miles south of Lenox Thursday morning. Manure was flowing from multiple locations into an unnamed tributary of the East River. Staff collected water samples for analysis, but did not see any dead fish in the stream.

DNR staff learned manure from the Utah North facility was applied by Larabee Applicators Wednesday evening prior to rainfall.  Manure reached the stream due to improper injection. Kristi Burg of the DNR’s Atlantic field office, said “We know the weather and field conditions have been challenging this fall, but I’d like to remind people to check the weather forecast before land applying manure to reduce the potential for runoff.”

DNR will consider appropriate enforcement. As a reminder, manure spills and releases must be reported to the DNR field offices or called in to the spill line at 515-725-8694 within 6 hours of occurrence or discovery.

(Radio Iowa) — Three men are charged with illegally shooting a trumpeter swan at the Cedar Bottoms Wildlife Management Area in Muscatine County. Conservation officer, Derrick Slutts, says he investigated after getting a tip that the swan had been shot Sunday. “I was able to collect some evidence at the scene — shell casings and what not — which led me to a potential suspect. We went and interviewed the suspect and he confessed that he believed the swan was a snow goose and his two other friends had believed the same,” Slutts says. Twenty-seven-year-old Austin McMillan of West Branch, 26-year-old Daniel Solorio-Oldenburg of Cedar Rapids and 28-year-old Mitchell Kesterson of Van Horne were each charged with one count of attempt to take wildlife and one count of abandonment of wildlife. The men were hunting ducks and Slutts says it’s mistake that should not have happened.

“They should be able to distinctly know the difference between a snow goose and a trumpeter swan. A trumpeter swan can be upwards of eight to ten feet wingspan — where a snow goose is only going to be maybe that five feet range at max. And a majority of them are only three to four foot wingspan,” according to Sluttes. “There’s a large size difference.” He says it’s a reminder to hunters to remain calm and see the target before shooting during any type of hunt. “It’s important to know what your target is in front of you before you pull that trigger,” he says. “You just need to wait and make sure you properly identify that target. Once you determine it’s a snow goose or not a snow goose, you pull that trigger — and don’t get too excited just thinking that there’s birds coming at you.” Slutts says they recovered the swan and have a use for it.

He says they are going to try and get it mounted and have offered it to county conservation boards to use for educational purposes. Trumpeter swans were very common in Iowa around the time the state was being settled, but they vanished over the decades due to excessive hunting. Conservationists began working to restore the swans in Iowa in the 1990s. Slutts says there aren’t as many trumpeter swans out there as other species of birds — but hunters need to be aware they do fly in the same areas.

(Radio Iowa) — Officials with Iowa’s biodiesel industry are in Washington D-C this week, pushing members of Congress for promised extensions of tax credits. For two years, biodiesel plants have operated under the promise that tax credits will be renewed, but Congress hasn’t passed the necessary bills for 2018 or 2019. Western Iowa Energy President Bradley Wilson says the industry can only hold on for so long.  Wilson says, “Quite frankly, if they do not do ’18 and ’19, you’ve already seen some plant closings but it’s nothing like you’re gonna see next year if they don’t take care of it this year.”

Wilson says meetings this week with Democrats and Republicans in both chambers were positive. He’s looking for a bill yet this year that includes tax credits for 2018, ’19 and ’20. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley met with some of the biodiesel industry leaders and recognizes they need the promised legislation. Grassley offered one biodiesel plant’s math as an example. “Without the tax credit, there’s a $5-million loss. With the tax credit, there’s a $5-million profit, so that’s a $10-million swing,” Grassley says. “If we don’t get this done it’s probably going to be shuttered.”

Grassley says that would eliminate 30 jobs. Several biodiesel plants have already been forced to close this year. Traditional and cellulosic ethanol producers have also reduced production and laid off workers.

(Reporting by Amy Mayer, Iowa Public Radio)