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Most wildlife biologists and hunters, like me, admittedly have less of a mainstream attitude toward weeds. Those of us who spend fall mornings behind bird dogs or summer days glassing butterflies look upon field edges and odd areas in a different light...

To continue reading this article in Wallace’s Farmer, click here.

I have seen a wide gamut of responses to the question posed in the title of this post. While preparing for my Ph.D. candidacy exams, I was asked a version of this question as it related to ducks and agonized over the response for months (you’ll see elements of my answer below). In another extreme, I recently posed the same question at a meeting and received an enthusiastic, unequivocating answer of, “corn fields.” I’ll spare you the details of why it is that Iowa’s 13.2 million acres of corn are almost certainly not a limiting feature for ducks, but suffice it to say that my mental picture of habitat for ducks (wetlands) was starkly different from this respondent’s own mental image (corn fields). Same word. Same question. Drastically different responses....

To continue reading this article on the Iowa Learning Farms blog, click here.

The South Skunk River Watershed Project celebrates its one-year anniversary in October. This project is a partnership between Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) to further Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals.

Iowa State Extension Watershed Specialist, Doug Gass, has led the South Skunk Project since its beginning. He is using Water Quality Initiative funds to provide cost-share and technical assistance for farmers installing edge-of-field nutrient management practices such as saturated buffers and bioreactors. A minimum of 75% cost-share is offered for installing these practices.

“We are meeting with landowners and figuring out what practices best fit on their field to address their nutrient loss concerns… getting started and enrolled can be very time consuming, so we act as a point of contact for the landowner to guide them through the process,” Gass said.

Gass has found that practice cost is the biggest roadblock to implementing these practices.

“Without cost-share, this project would be incredibly difficult”, Gass said.

Cost-share through WQI makes more financial sense and motivates farmers to consider new nutrient management practices.

The two main practices promoted through the South Skunk River Watershed Project are saturated buffers and denitrifying bioreactors. These practices can reduce nitrate flowing into waterways by about 50% by harnessing natural biological processes to convert nitrate in water to nitrogen gas. Saturated buffers do this through use of carbon in the soil organic matter and soil microbes while bioreactors use the carbon in woodchips and naturally occurring microbes to facilitate the denitrification process.

“Edge-of-Field practices are effective because they can be tucked in at the edge of fields and don’t require landowners to take much, if any, cropland from production,” Gass said.

Gass will continue to meet with local farmers and landowners in the South Skunk Watershed after harvest is complete.  Extension staff in Boone, Story, and Hamilton counties are encouraged to reach out to Gass at dgass@iastate.edu or (515) 294-7148 to discuss water quality programming opportunities.

This fall, over 100,000 Iowans will take refuge in the fields and forests of our state to participate in an annual ritual: deer season. This ritual however has shallow roots, dating only to the 1950s thanks to the successful restoration of white-tailed deer following their extinction in the state. The annual tradition is important for farms and farmers, car bumpers and their insurance companies, and most importantly, families who annually share time outdoors, creating memories, and harvest a healthy food source. The growth of this tradition in Iowa is a true conservation success story.

Soaring above many of these hunters this fall will be another symbol of the conservation movement’s meritorious achievements of the 20th century. The bald eagle was once entirely absent from Iowa’s rivers and fields due to the impacts of the chemical DDT. But, as the story for the white-tails goes, the eagle was restored through the passionate efforts of concerned citizens and wildlife agencies and today can be seen in every corner of the state.

Today, thanks to 21st century research in Minnesota, Arizona, and elsewhere, we’re learning about an important nexus between these two conservation success stories that’s leading scientists and both hunting and non-hunting wildlife champions to encourage a minor tweak in the traditional equipment used for hunting deer...

Continue reading the story on the Acreage Living Newsletter here.