We are talking about parks and other public lands!  This is Iowa, where we 
have one of the lowest percentages of public land in the nation.

Sec. Northey evidently doesn't realize that highway rights-of-way are mowed 
already in many areas, for the most part.   And if he thinks state parks are 
going to be a gold mine of hay, he hasn't visited many state parks lately. 
Northey and Gov. Culver have already made a request to the USDA to hay and 
graze CRP lands in Iowa, which would probably provide much more hay than 
state parks.  I must say, it would be pretty interesting to see a hay baler 
or a herd of cattle in the median of I-80!  Nothing like a little more 
distraction and congestion along that roadway.

Grazing parks and highway rights-of way and medians is really out of the 
question. First they would have to fence in those areas and then.....would 
the precedent be set for every future year after that? And besides, this is 
an "emergency" request--Northey doesn't even want to wait until August 1, 
but could they have all that fencing in place that quickly?

I don't think so.  As Northey said, this isn't a silver bullet, but I think 
he shot from the hip.

Northey also said, "livestock producers who are struggling with record feed 
prices."  Does anyone expect these prices to go down?

Regarding grazing and how the prairie survived for thousands of years with 
large animals--those large animals were bison, not cattle.  Research has 
been going on through grants from the Leopold Center about cattle 
grazing--if the timing is wrong, bird species are impacted.  But the cattle 
are usually placed in fenced paddocks and moved from paddock to paddock on a 
schedule--this would mean more fencing.   I doubt if haying or grazing a 
prairie planting one time would do a lot of harm to the prairie (if it were 
done at the right time of the year), but I am really concerned again about 
the precedent that would be set.

As Cindy wrote, some of the issues:  range from habitat degradation to the 
spreading of invasive exotics via seeds in cattle manure and contaminated 
haying equipment.

All of the invasive species that could be brought into a prairie after so 
much work has been done to remove exotic species--could be very harmful to 
the prairie remnants or restoration efforts.

Here is an interesting comment from another listserv:
This is a great message to the listserve as there are several restrictions 
on the haying and grazing on the State of Iowa Highway right of ways. The 
restrictions depend on the herbicides applied to the area over the last year 
or so.This applies to the labeling on the herbicide which is considered law, 
and can't be changed to make things better for the average farmer.
    It also depends on the fact that they have to apply for permits to hay 
any State Highway Right of Way.The fact is that any area that has been 
sprayed for Canada thisles or about any other noxious weed in the past year 
can't be used for harvesting hay or for the fact of even being mowed.


Jane Clark

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Buell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: Iowa state parks and public lands proposed for grazing and 
haying


> Would somebody please explain why haying would devastate prairie 
> plantings?
> Are we concerned about the plants ability to go to seed?
>
> It seems that prairie survived for thousands of years with large animals
> grazing.  The only concerns I've ever heard about grazing are where we 
> give
> the animals unfettered access to waterways and they cause stream bank 
> damage
> and erosion.
>
> Thanks,
> Donna
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve & Connie Swan
> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 10:22 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Iowa state parks and public lands proposed for grazing and 
> haying
>
> A lot of the interstate right of ways in Iowa have been involved in great
> prairie restoration projects which would be devastated by haying and need 
> no
> mowing.
>
> Steve Swan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jerry Neff
> Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 6:09 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Iowa state parks and public lands proposed for grazing and 
haying
I do not want our state parks to be pastures. Except for safety concerns, I 
have always felt that right of way along interstates should be used to 
harvest something useful like hay. Nebraska allows farmers to bale hay along 
I-80. Maybe the state could rent the land to the farmers so instead of 
spending money to mow they could have an income from the land. One down side 
is that so many farmers now a days do not have livestock and thus no need 
for hay.  Jerry N
> ----------------------  Original Message:  ---------------------
> From:    Donna Buell <[log in to unmask]>
> To:      [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Iowa state parks and public lands proposed for grazing and 
haying
> Date:    Mon, 7 Jul 2008 23:36:02 +0000
>
>> If we had the farm animals in pastures where they belonged, the
>> pasture grasses would still be there for the livestock to eat.  And
>> they would have soaked up lots of water that flooded instead.
>>
>> Donna
>> On Jul 7, 2008, at 5:59 PM, Cindy Hildebrand wrote:

Per below, the issues range from habitat degradation to the spreading of 
invasive exotics via seeds in cattle manure and contaminated haying 
equipment.
***
Iowa official: Open state land for haying, grazing

Monday July 7, 2:04 pm ET
AP

Iowa Ag Secretary Northey asks Culver to open state lands for haying, 
grazing to aid producers

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey wants to 
consider using state parks, roadside right of ways and medians for haying 
and grazing.

Northey says opening the land could help livestock producers who are 
struggling with record feed prices.

In a request sent to Gov. Chet Culver on Monday, Northey says that it won't 
be a "silver bullet" but the move could help producers.

Culver's office is reviewing the letter, which was also sent to the Iowa 
Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Transportation. 
A spokesman for Northey says the secretary doesn't know how much land the 
request entails.

*** 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]

Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp