Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”
116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”
Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Chesapeake Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.
Agricultural drainage tile, a system used by farmers to increase crop yields, is a main contributor to excess nutrients in waterways.
Six-plus decades after the University of Iowa began managing a 485-acre swath of mostly woodland known as the Macbride Nature Recreation Area — host to popular UI programs like School of the Wild, the Iowa Raptor Project, and Iowa Wildlife Camps — the university is reviewing its use of that land “to ensure fiscal sustainability and consistency with the university’s mission of excellent education and research opportunities for a broad array of students.”
Linn County Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt believes wind and solar energy are critical to economic development in Iowa. But she also wants to make sure landowners who sign contracts for wind projects aren’t left twisting in the wind.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in a budget-saving move, is asking employees who live in state-owned houses at fish hatcheries to move out by the end of 2028. The houses where biologists and other staff have lived for decades will be sold or torn down, according to records obtained by The Gazette.
NOAA’s forecast is based on the amount of nutrients monitored by USGS in the system, so depending on weather, and whether hurricanes stir up water in the gulf this summer, what the scientists actually measure in August could differ.
A holding company has agreed to pay $7,500 for releasing chlorinated water into a Cedar Rapids trout stream in January, killing an estimated 400 fish.
Some parts of Iowa are experiencing the emergence of two broods of periodical cicadas, which hasn’t occurred in over 200 years.
Williamson Dilg pushed for Upper Mississippi wildlife refuge
Native plants are valued by gardeners because native wildlife have relied on those plants for centuries. But which plants are the most beneficial for butterflies, bees and other insects, and how can you tell if a plant is truly native?
The Linn County Public Health Department has been expanding its systems for monitoring and reporting on air quality across the county, including adding an additional location for its portable air quality monitors.
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