Profiling Iowa's Conservation Successes in 2008-2009
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NFL Start Credited With Starting Farmer Building Terraces
Former Miami Dolphins defensive end Vern Den Herder earned many football
awards over the years, including two Super Bowl rings and being named to the
College Football Hall of Fame. Plymouth County farmer Gilbert Winter says he
wants to add an unofficial award to the list. He names Den Herder as the man
responsible for showing him the value of terraces and the benefits they
provide to the land.
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Family Farm Team Dams Gully Growth
Three generations of Quastad men are putting a plug into erosion on their
family farm. They are building a dam to stop additional gully growth on
their Emmet County land. Experts say their work will also help others
downstream by improving water quality and reducing the potential for
flooding.
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NW Iowa Cattle Producer Following Award-Winning Footsteps
Just like his father did more than 40 years ago,
Estherville farmer Mark Guge is winning awards for his conservation efforts.
Guge (pronounced GOO-Gee) is the 2008 National Cattlemen’s Association
Environmental Stewardship Award winner for Region III. Guge and his father
have been using conservation practices on their Estherville area farm for
over 50 years and winning conservation awards since 1966.
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Solar-Powered Pump Combats Livestock Watering Issues
Solar panels that provide energy to pump water for his
livestock watering system are allowing cattleman Dick Lester, owner of
Spring Valley Ranch in Cherokee County, and operators Britt and Mark Carlson
to better utilize their pasture, save money, reduce streambank erosion, and
improve cattle performance on the remote 650- acre pasture.
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Absentee Landowner Leads by Example
A retired farmer from Cambridge makes conservation a priority on each of
his farms even though he does not farm the ground himself. “Jim Sievers
installed conservation practices on the land he owns in five different Iowa
counties. He’s saving soil, protecting water resources, improving soil
quality and providing habitat for wildlife. I see him setting a good example
for others and having fun while he does it,” says District Conservationist
Jered Finley.
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Cows Major Source of Farm Power
Dairy farmer Francis Thicke says cows power his dairy farm.
Some may think he is joking, but Thicke is serious. He says letting his cows
walk to grass is much more efficient and economical than mechanically
harvesting forage and transporting it to the cows. Thicke says he designed
his Jefferson County dairy operation to be as energy efficient and
environmentally friendly as possible and set up his farm so that available
cow power is captured.
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Conservation Vision Now Shared with Thousands
In 1992, Mildred and Leonard Grimes had a dream. Their vision was to
donate 22 acres of land for the construction of a wetland and conservation
center to benefit the people of Marshall County.
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Monroe County Sportsman Targets Habitat Diversity
Outdoorsman Bill Winke believes a natural environment with diverse
habitat is the key to attracting deer. That idea influenced his decision to
direct-seed 120 bushels of acorns (red and white oaks) and walnuts by hand
spreading them on 22 acres of his Monroe County farm in October 2007.
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Hanson Improves Monroe County Wildlife Habitat
Steve Hanson’s forestry and wildlife expertise is helping to turn rough,
hilly, often marginal, southern Iowa cropland and unmanaged timber into a
wildlife haven, as land manager for more than two dozen farms. He also
manages 600 of his own acres.
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No-Till, Grassed Waterways Protect Linn County Farm
A combination of no-till and small grassed waterways delivered a one-two
punch to potential storm damages and erosion for Linn County farmer Jack
Kintzle after continuous heavy rains hit his farm April through June. His
conservation work helped minimize potential crop replanting as well as
severe soil erosion on his 1,400 acres of cropland.
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Conservation Efforts Lead to More Than a Dream Lake
As a young boy, 71-year-old Benny Davis said he wanted his own lake. As a
young man, Davis built his lake. Today, conservation experts say this boyish
dream is benefiting many more people than the man who fulfilled his dream.
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New Farmer Finds Success with Conservation
Suzanne Gibboney claims she doesn’t know much about farming, but she does
know where to go for help. She says Steve Allen, at her local U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
office, is her best source for farming advice.
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Farmers Expect 'Unbelievable' Profits from Conservation Tillage System
Farmer Doug Seltz says he expects “unbelievable” 40 percent returns from
his latest investment--a strip-till system. Iowa State University data
suggest the return on his conservation tillage system will be higher.
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CNMP Win-Win For New Cattleman
A comprehensive nutrient management plan (CNMP) is turning into a win-win
situation for Winneshiek County cattleman Pat O’Regan – by helping him trim
input costs and reduce manure and sediment runoff.
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Taylor County
Farmer Finds Cover Crops an Essential Conservation Tool
Bedford farmer Paul Ackley says cover crops he planted last fall protected
his soil from the ravages of this spring’s flooding. Read more...
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Rotational Grazing Pays for Bedford Man
Rotational grazing is paying off for a Taylor County farmer. Paul Ackley,
of Bedford, says he can raise the same number of cattle on one-third less
land thanks to rotational grazing. He installed fences, cattle watering
tanks and lines, and methodically moves his 100-head of cattle among 15
paddocks so they always have fresh grass.
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Conservation Cooperation Protects
Important Iowa Resource
A few years ago conservationists from Dickinson County sent money to help
their peers in Jackson County, Minnesota. They are now returning the favor
by "sending back" cleaner water to the Iowa Great Lakes Watershed. One of
the first Minnesota farmers to install conservation practices to improve
water quality in the Iowa Great Lakes was Orville Sangl Sr.
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Farmer Helps Protect Top Iowa Tourist
Attraction
This year one million people will likely enjoy cleaner water at the Iowa
Great Lakes thanks, in part, to Mark Ingwersen. He is a Spirit Lake farmer
and chairman of the Dickinson County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD).
Ingwersen worked the past 20 years to improve water quality in the area
which is a top Iowa tourist attraction.
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Rotational Grazing Helps Organic Rancher
Accomplish Goals
A passion for natural, wide-open spaces is driving southern Iowa organic
grass farmers Mike and Dan DeCook to “re-wild” their land in the most
holistic way possible. For their cattle business, this means adopting an
organic grazing system that includes just grass, trees, mineral and water—no
chemicals of any kind.
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Sediment Basin to Benefit Elk River,
Livestock Production
Thanks to a newly constructed sediment basin built to reduce manure and
sediment runoff and increase farm productivity, longtime livestock producer
Loren Peters of Clinton County says he now feels good about the
environmental condition of the operation he is leaving to his family.
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Winnebago County Century Farm Now Youth
Conservation Area
If her father Herbert Holland were still alive, Martha Olson is certain he
would approve of the name change on their family's Winnebago County farm.
Instead of "Holland Century Farm", it is now known as "Holland Prairie
Conservation and Youth Hunting Area." The new name signals the start of
another conservation chapter on this farmland.
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Living Snow Fence Grows Up
Iowa spring storms can be fickle. But even if a late spring snowstorm hits
northern Iowa this year, John Laflen will be happy. It isn't that he likes
bad weather, it's just that blowing snow gives him the opportunity to test
his maturing living snow fence. Protecting nearly a quarter mile of Highway
9 and a half-mile of 50th Avenue in Washington County, the trees, shrubs and
native grasses planted in 2005 tame snow drifts and keep the roads open
during winter storms.
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Dickinson
County Wins National Conservation Competition
Out of 3,000 counties in the country, the
Dickinson County Soil and Water Conservation District in northwest Iowa was
recently recognized as the best district in the nation in the Urban,
Community and Coastal Resources category by the National Association of
Conservation Districts (NACD).
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Terraces Popular in Protecting
Muchakinock Creek
Mahaska County farmers are responding to a push to clean up Muchakinock
Creek, which was added to Iowa’s impaired waters list in 2002 after falling
below state standards for maintaining aquatic life. Cleaning up Muchakinock
Creek with soil saving and water quality improving best management practices
is part of the Mahaska County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)
Muchakinock Creek Watershed Project.
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No-Till Farmer Benefits Water Quality at
Little Brown Church
There is a tradition at the Little Brown Church in the Vail near Nashua that
newly married couples, at the close of the service, walk down the aisle and
pull the rope to ring the church bell. Carried out by many of the 72,000
couples married at the church, the practice is designed to remind couples
that they need to “pull together,” because life always has its ups and
downs. Robert Wolff of Nashua can hear the bell ringing from his nearby
farm. His land is on a hill that overlooks the historic 150-year-old church
immortalized by the hymn “The Church in the Wildwood.”
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Small Waterway Offers Big Challenges
Farmers, like Bob and Judy Kremer of Jackson County in eastern Iowa, are
supporting the Farmers Creek Watershed Project by installing conservation
practices to prevent soil erosion and improve water quality.
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New Farm Prompts Expert Conservationist
to Seek Help from the Experts
Larry Cuddeback is a long-time farmer and an award-winning conservationist
who just bought a second farm. Trained in forestry and a former park ranger
for the Army Corps of Engineers, The Washington County farmer knows a lot
about conservation practices and land management. And he knows where to get
help with solving natural resource concerns.
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Loess Hills Residential Development
Retains Rain
A one-of-a-kind residential housing subdivision called Woodfield is
developing in southwest Iowa, near Glenwood, along the Loess Hills Scenic
Byway, which minimizes soil disturbing activities during construction and
permanently manages storm water to protect water quality with low impact
development (LID) practices that infiltrate water on-site.
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Impaired Waterway List Provokes Farmer
to Act
Polk County farmer Don Soutter installed several conservation practices
through several state and federal cost-share and financial assistance
programs to keep Camp Creek, an impaired waterway that runs through his
farm, as clean as possible.
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