As posted on the Raccoon River Watershed FB page:
This Tuesday at The Des Moines Izaak Walton League meet the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s (IDALS) Susan Kozak, Division Director for Soil Conservation and Water Quality!
Susan will talk about how the Soil Conservation and Water Quality Division works alongside farmers, landowners, city managers, and public and private partners to advance and accelerate conservation projects across Iowa. Using a combination of in-field management, edge-of-field filtration, and urban practices, the division is working to reduce soil erosion, filter nitrates and improve water quality. You’ll also find out about Federal Funding available for conservation work by farmers in the Raccoon River Watershed.
Small group chat at 5 in the Crum Center with Mike Delaney, Tenderloin dinner at 6, and a large group talk at 6:45!
Open to the public with FREE ADMISSION!
I know there are some very good people in IDALS, doing their best under the very inadequate state and federal laws they must follow. Those laws are far friendlier to conventional industrial agriculture than water and soil resources. I appreciate what the good people in IDALS are managing to accomplish.
At this point, however, what interests me most is what IDALS is NOT accomplishing, and also the massive water-policy failures that the current leader of IDALS refuses to talk about. Just repeating “there is more work to do” over and over and over is not even a remotely-adequate response to Iowa’s current water horrors. And Central Iowa drinking water having 8 mg/l nitrate, day after day, is a horror.
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