Articles Tagged: conservation

Outdoor recreation is Iowa’s top source of tourism and accounts for $8 billion annually in economic output, according to a recent study.

The number of monarch butterflies that spent the winter in Mexico doubled this year, giving hope for a species that has faced decline in recent decades. And while conservationists welcome that news, they warn those numbers still lag and more work is needed.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources relies on Iowa volunteers, and some power plant employees, to monitor peregrine falcons’ nests to ensure the species, which was reintroduced in 1989, continues to take refuge in the Hawkeye State.

These four scientists studied Iowa’s flora, preserved prairie, and drafted legislation to establish Iowa’s state park system.

Over 77 percent of voters in the county approved the measure, which needed 60 percent approval to pass. This was the second time that Johnson County voters approved a conservation bond — in 2008, voters approved a $20 million bond. The bonds are paid off through property taxes.

The number of donors to Iowa’s Fish and Wildlife Fund has declined by 50 percent in the last 20 years, the DNR reports.

Tax exemptions provide an incentive to qualifying landowners to preserve their woodlands, but bills introduced in the Iowa Legislature last year and again this year seek to change the state’s Forest and Fruit Tree Reserve program.

Government officials across the Midwest face pressure to address high levels of nitrate pollution in water. In Iowa, saturated buffers — installed with taxpayer money — are being promoted by the state. But research and records show the state’s saturated buffers aren’t as effective as promised.

Many researchers who’ve spent their careers studying the natural world experience environmental grief from witnessing the changes and disappearances of some species. They encourage people to reconnect with nature, and say climate change is a challenge that an be turned into an opportunity.

The bond will be used to protect water quality, preserve natural areas and improve public access to parks and trails in Johnson County over the next 20 years.

Johnson County voter passed a similar $20 million conservation bond in 2008.

A former Tama County conservation director used public funds for personal purchases, including a fuel pump, ammunition and home remodeling materials, according to a state audit published Wednesday.

Larry Gullett worked on conservation boards throughout Iowa for most of his career. He was 65.

Williamson Dilg pushed for Upper Mississippi wildlife refuge

Sixteen years after Johnson County voters approved a $20 million bond to fund conservation projects -- the first referendum of its kind in the state -- voters will be asked to approve a new bond, this time for $30 million, to acquire land to protect water quality and natural areas, and provide land for parks and trails.