By Orlan Love, Steve Gravelle and Kaj O'Mara
By KCRG Intern

Story Created: Feb 19, 2010 at 9:07 AM CST

Story Updated: Feb 19, 2010 at 10:14 PM CST
CEDAR RAPIDS - The risk of the Cedar River flooding here this spring has increased dramatically in the past three weeks, according to a flood forecast released Friday by the National Weather Service.

Three weeks ago the service pegged the spring flood risk at Cedar Rapids at 33 percent greater than normal. The comparable figure Friday is 69 percent.

The liquid content of the snowpack and elevated river and soil moisture levels are the chief factors contributing to the increased risk of spring flooding, the Weather Service said.

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Lawmakers carp that bill bans fishing with live bait

By JENNIFER JACOBS • E-Mail • February 10, 2010

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An effort to curb feeding of wildlife in Iowa, aimed at preventing the spread of some diseases, is a serious matter, two state lawmakers acknowledge.

But a proposed law goes to a ludicrous extreme, they say: It would ban most fishing in Iowa.

The bill, proposed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, would prohibit fishing with worms or other "natural food materials" both on public lakes and private ponds, said Senate Minority Whip Sen. Steve Kettering, R-Lake View, and Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton.




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story and photos by Lowell Washburn
Posted: February 2, 2010 White-Tailed Jackrabbit, photo by Lowell Washburn

As a signature inhabitant of the open prairie, the white-tailed jackrabbit maintains a unique and historic niche on the North Iowa landscape. Unlike the more familiar cottontail, the 'jack really isn't a rabbit at all, but is rather the state's only native species of wild hare.

Brown in summer, white in winter, the jackrabbit is well adapted to remaining invisible to predators, including to its chief enemy the coyote. Virtually weatherproof in winter, jackrabbits typically live life in the open where they fashion small depressions to lie in. The effective, surround view perspective makes it virtually impossible for predators to put the sneak on resting jacks. Highly resourceful, jacks will occasionally excavate makeshift snow caves on the lee side of drifting snow. But unless the weather really gets tough, the impressive 8 to 9 pound adults are more likely to be seen sitting in front of rather than inside their caves. Even as howling January winds plunged the chill index into negative double digits this hardy jackrabbit, photographed near Ventura, was perfectly content to relax in the open air. When it comes to coping with the elements, they just don't come any tougher than this.

But extreme changes in land use are one thing that jackrabbits have not been able to cope with. During the 1960s, white-tailed jackrabbits sometimes attained population densities exceeding 100 animals per square mile, while populations of up to 30 per square mile were not uncommon. Mirroring the dramatic reduction in Iowa's oats, alfalfa, and pasture habitats, jackrabbits have all but disappeared from much of their former range. No jackrabbits were observed during the DNR's statewide 2008 August Roadside Game Survey, and only one jackrabbit was seen during the 2009 survey.

Posted: January 19, 2010

The bald eagle has made a tremendous comeback in Iowa. The Iowa DNR has on record at least 254 bald eagle nests that have been active within the last couple years. This is compared to exactly one nest in 1977, which was the first after more than 70 years. All these nests do pose a bit of a problem for the DNR. Keeping track of 254 known nests, and likely more, is a lot harder than the 50 nests from not that long ago.

"In the 1990s we had a pretty good idea of where all the eagle nests were and what was going on with them. Now with the number of nests tripled, the nests we are aware of are likely just the tip of the iceberg and we have little data on how successful and productive those nests are," said Stephanie Shepherd, wildlife diversity biologist with the Iowa DNR. Shepherd is coordinating an effort to get a better handle on Iowa's eagle nesting population.



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