From our inbox –
Iowa Environmental Council and Des Moines Water Works event announcement:
What happens when three Iowa farmers decide it’s time to shake things up in the world of agriculture and water quality? The Lobe Rangers happen.
Matt Bormann, James Hepp, and Zack Smith are making waves with bold conservation messaging, real talk about Iowa’s water crisis, and a call for action upstream.
Join the Iowa Environmental Council and Des Moines Water Works for an engaging, sometimes provocative, and always honest conversation with The Lobe Rangers about farming, conservation, water quality, and how we can all move Iowa forward. The evening will bring rural and urban Iowans together around something we all share: the water that connects us.
You’ll have a chance to ask The Lobe Rangers your toughest water quality and farming questions and learn about the conservation practices they use to improve the water leaving their farmland.
This event is free and open to the public; however, your RSVP is appreciated.
Farm Fields to City Taps: A Conversation with The Lobe Rangers, hosted by the Iowa Environmental Council and Des Moines Water Works
Monday, September 14, 2026
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
(social time and appetizers at 5:30 p.m.; program begins at 6:00 p.m.)
Iowa Taproom — Marquette Room, 215 E 3rd St. #100, Des Moines, IA 50309
Questions? Contact us at iecmail@iaenvironment.org
Blog For Iowa 
Iowa farm pollution was bad forty years ago, though in somewhat different ways. I was at Iowa conservation meetings back then wherein farm pollution was discussed. I volunteered in elections wherein water was ignored. And I kept wondering — why did good conservation farmers and landowners stay silent? Why didn’t they seem to care that the majority of Iowa farmers/landowners were doing very little conservation while trying to hide behind the small number of farmers/landowners who really were working hard to do the right things for water and soil?
Thank you SO MUCH, Lobe Rangers.
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