IOWA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
June 14,
2007
For immediate release
1. Money available for volunteer watershed
cleanups
2. EPC July meeting change
3. Open feedlot producers can find
help on nutrient management
plans
4. City employee discovers Des Moines
wastewater bypass
5. SIFIC board to meet June 20
MONEY AVAILABLE FOR
VOLUNTEER WATERSHED CLEANUPS
MEDIA CONTACT: Brandon Harland at (515)
281-3150 or
[log in to unmask].
DES MOINES -This summer, several Iowa communities will get
help
cleaning up their waterways from the Iowa Department of
Natural
Resources (DNR). The DNR will accept applications for up to 18
watershed
cleanup mini-grants until Sept. 7.
The mini-grants, worth up
to $1,000 apiece, are part of the DNR’s
CLEAR (Community Leaders Enhancing
Area Rivers) program. Winning
applicants will use the money to fund cleanup
events on local lakes,
rivers or streams.
“We had a phenomenal 2006
cleanup season, so we’re very excited to
start a new round for grants,” said
Brandon Harland, who works with
the DNR’s CLEAR grants. “Iowans are very
motivated in cleaning up
their lakes and streams, and we’re happy we can
assist them with these
grants.”
The cleanup events will include
volunteer trash removal, natural
resources education and responsible waste
management (collected garbage
must be properly disposed of and recycled when
possible). Cleanup
organizers should plan to make their events
self-sufficient in
subsequent years.
Find more information, including
application materials, at
www.iowater.net. The Sept. 7 deadline marks
the first round of CLEAR
applications. During the program’s 2006 cleanup
season, the DNR
awarded funds to 17 Iowa communities. Visit an online events
calendar at
www.keepersoftheland.org for details
about these and other volunteer
opportunities.
The CLEAR mini-grant
program evolved from the DNR’s annual river
cleanup event called Project
AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River
Expedition). That program, a weeklong
canoe trip and watershed cleanup,
has involved hundreds of Iowa volunteers
every year since 2003.
Tremendous interest in local cleanups among AWARE
volunteers first
inspired CLEAR.
First-round CLEAR grant recipients
will be announced on Sept. 21 and
can receive funding beginning Sept. 28.
They must use their funds within
one year of receiving the money. Completed
applications must be
postmarked by September 7, 2007 and mailed to: Brandon
Harland - Iowa
DNR, Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. Ninth St., Des
Moines IA
50319.
Funded through the DNR’s REAP (Resource Enhancement
and Protection)
program, CLEAR grants are administered by the DNR’s
watershed
monitoring and assessment program.
Writer: Brandon
Harland
# # #
EPC JULY MEETING CHANGE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Tammie Krausman, (515) 281-8382
DES MOINES - The Environmental Protection
Commission (EPC) has
rescheduled its July meeting to be held on July 2 at 10
a.m.
The meeting will take place at the DNR Air Quality Building,
7900
Hickman Ave., Des Moines. Public comments are scheduled for 10:30
a.m.
The meeting was originally scheduled for July 3, but was moved due
to
the Fourth of July holiday.
The agenda and further information may
be found at:
http://www.iowadnr.gov/epc/ later this
week.
Writer: Holly Williams
# # #
OPEN FEEDLOT PRODUCERS
CAN FIND HELP ON NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PLANS
MEDIA CONTACT: Jeff Prier,
DNR Spencer field office, at (712)
262-4177.
DES MOINES - Livestock
producers who are required to have a nutrient
management plan can find help
on the DNR Web site.
The plans are required by state law for open
feedlot (unroofed or
partially roofed) producers that have the capacity to
house 1,000 or
more animal units. One thousand animal units is equivalent to
1,000 beef
cattle, 700 mature dairy cattle or 2,500 finishing
hogs.
“We’ve tried to make it easier for these larger open feedlots
to
get their nutrient management plan done and submitted to the DNR by
the
state deadline of July 31, 2007,” said Jeff Prier of the Spencer
DNR
field office.
Prier said that the DNR has developed several new
Web pages for
producers that include information about nutrient management
plans,
forms to prepare the plans and forms that can be used to prepare
the
required public notice. Producers can find information at
http://www.iowadnrgov/afo/mhandling_nmp.html
or under Open Feedlots
on the DNR’s Web site at
http://www.iowadnr.gov/afo/index.html.
“If
a producer fills out this form and uses it to provide public
notice in a
newspaper, that should meet the state requirements for
public notice,” Prier
said. “We developed this form because a couple
of producers have already
prepared plans and didn’t include all the
required elements. Consequently,
they have had to redo the public
notice, and we don’t want anyone to have to
do that,” he said.
After July 31, producers who are required to have a
nutrient management
plan can no longer spread manure until their plan is
approved by the
DNR.
For more information or copies of the
forms, call one of the regional
DNR field offices:
Northeast Iowa,
Manchester, (563) 927-2640.
North Central Iowa, Mason City, (641)
424-4073.
Northwest Iowa, Spencer, (712) 262-4177.
Southwest Iowa,
Atlantic, (712) 243-1934.
South Central Iowa, Des Moines, (515)
725-0268.
Southeast Iowa, Washington, (319) 653-2135.
Writer: Karen
Grimes
# # #
CITY EMPLOYEE DISCOVERS DES MOINES WASTEWATER
BYPASS
MEDIA CONTACT: Ted Petersen at (515) 725-0274
DES MOINES -
A Des Moines Public Works employee discovered a wastewater
discharge
Wednesday afternoon while taking routine water samples.
The employee
noticed cloudy water in a stream and tracked the cloudy
water back to a
discharge from a manhole. The manhole is located in an
open field behind 2315
Bennett Ave. City staff found that tree roots
were clogging the sanitary
sewer line and stopped the discharge by 6:30
Wednesday evening.
While
it is unknown when the discharge began, the city estimates it was
flowing at
a rate of two to three gallons per minute. Some of the
wastewater likely
reached the Des Moines River, but would have been
highly diluted.
The
city will remove the root obstruction and further inspect the sewer
line. It
also used lime to disinfect the area around the manhole.
Writer: Jessie
Brown
# # #
SIFIC BOARD TO MEET JUNE 20
MEDIA CONTACT: Dan
Lane, DNR, at (515) 281-6696
DES MOINES - The State of Iowa Facilities
Improvement Corporation
(SIFIC), an Iowa non-profit corporation, will hold a
meeting of its
Board of Directors at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20.
The board will meet in the Kennedy Conference Room of the Iowa
State
Capitol Building. SIFIC is responsible for facilitating
energy
management improvements in state
facilities.
-30-