Iowa Nature Summit

 

We Iowans must be more assertive when defending Nature and our environment, Neil Hamilton urged attendees at the Iowa Nature Summit he hosted November 16-17 at Drake University.

“Iowa nice” just may not accomplish what needs to happen to reverse what Hamilton described as our environment’s “continuum of little progress and slow decline.”

Hamilton, emeritus Professor of Law, and founder of Drake’s Agricultural Law Center, has been planning the Summit for more than a year. He also has published two books, The Land Remains and The River Knows, (https://icecubepress.com/) in which Nature voices their own perspective on what humans have done to the state’s natural resources.

More than 300 people, including passionate individuals and representatives of most Iowa conservation groups, debated how to better get the resource protection message to the public and – perhaps more importantly – to politicians. But were they just preaching to the choir, several skeptics wondered?

“Well, when was the last time we got the choir together?” Hamilton countered. Nature advocates need collaboration, communication, and cooperation to counter the very wealthy, powerful, well-organized groups whose priority may be profit and freedom from regulations, rather than natural resource protection.

“We lack a unified voice speaking for Nature,” Hamilton said. “This contrasts to the constant amplified voice coming from agriculture.”

Lora Friest, a tourism liaison for the Iowa Tourism Office, said Iowa’s $6.9 billion tourism industry, which creates, more than 48,000 jobs, depends on a quality environment. Parks and outdoor recreation are among the top attractions for visitors and residents. Other speakers cited research touting the physical, mental, and psychological benefits of outdoor recreation.

“The question isn’t ‘when is there enough Nature’.” Hamilton observed. “Instead, the real question is ‘what does Nature need?’ The answer is simple:  Nature needs us to change our attitudes so more landowners, citizens, and politicians care.”

Building a culture of caring for our natural resources is critical, Summit speakers agreed. And giving grade school kids the opportunity to get outdoors to get wet and dirty is one of the best ways to build a life-long appreciation for Nature, said Jay Gorsh, director of the University of Iowa’s School of the Wild. The program brings classes to a park or natural area for 4 or 5 days of hands-on learning with three formal educators and two informal educators. The curriculum is tailored to lessons that otherwise might have taken place indoors.

Students often recall the School of the Wild as one of the most significant experiences of their education career, Gorsh said. He longed for funding to make the program available in all of Iowa’s 330 school districts – not just the 80 systems where it is used now.

Students from MFL MarMac schools follow School of the Wild protocol to get wet and dirty in Clayton County’s Bloody Run Creek

We should capitalize on opportunities to cooperate with diverse groups on resource issues – “movement moments” – said Jess Mazour, Conservation Program Coordinator for the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club. Mazour cited her success in helping organize landowners to oppose three carbon dioxide pipelines that have been proposed to pass through Iowa. Conservative farmers objected to the use of eminent domain to route potentially hazardous pipelines across private land. The more liberal Sierra Club viewed the project as damaging to the natural environment, and yet another way to prolong the unsustainable use of corn ethanol. Coming together to fight the pipeline could pave the way for agreement on future resource issues.

Larry Webber, director of Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa, suggested that describing resource degradation merely as in a “slow decline” may be too optimistic. For example, the voluntary approach to solving the problems of Iowa’s water quality and agriculture’s impact on the Gulf of Mexico’s Dead Zone is not working. In two of the last three years, Webber said, the state has exported more than a billion pounds of nitrogen – mostly nonpoint pollution from farm field runoff into the Mississippi River. And the problem is bound to get worse without drastic changes in our corn-soybeans-concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) system of agriculture, he said. By the year 2100, climate models point to a 20% increase in precipitation, resulting in a 30% jump in runoff.

Mary Charlton, director of the Iowa Cancer Registry, worried that environmental factors could be part of the reason that Iowa ranks second in the nation in cancer deaths. She noted that bladder, ovarian, and thyroid cancers in particular may be related to the high nitrate levels in our water.

Many at the Summit stressed the need for more money for natural resources, citing Iowa voters’ 2010 approval of a constitutional amendment establishing a Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, earmarked for soil and water conservation, outdoor recreation, and wildlife. “Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy” (WILL) passed with a 63% voter majority, and recent polls put public support at almost 70%. Nearly $200 million annually was to be provided by raising the state sales tax by 3/8%. Unfortunately, the Trust Fund remains empty, because the Iowa Legislature has steadfastly refused to increase the sales tax.

Similarly, Iowa’s Resources Enhancement and Protection (REAP) program has never received full funding. Originally authorized at $30 million annually in 1989, the target was cut to $20 million when the program was renewed 10 years later. But even the $20 million goal has never been attained. Potential REAP projects include state, county, and local land conservation, soil and water enhancement, historical resources, and environmental education.

While they made no promises on legislation or funding for natural resources, several legislators in a panel discussion voiced willingness to discuss conservation. Seizing on that offer, Pat Boddy, head of a strategic communications firm and former director of both the Polk County Conservation Board and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, suggested that Nature advocates take their legislators to coffee and convey personal stories about the value of natural resource connections. State Representative Austin Baeth (D – Des Moines) suggested that the environment could even become a unifying issue when society seems otherwise very polarized.

Paul Willis, a pork producer for Niman Ranch, said he considers his farm an ecosystem, with diverse environments to support birds, wildlife, insects, and healthy soil, as well as hogs. This approach to agriculture appeals to younger farmers, he said. The average age of more than 700 Niman Ranch livestock producers is 42, Willis said, while conventional Iowa farmers may average nearly 60.

Many young people – college students or 20-somethings early in their careers - participated in the Summit, due at least in part to more than 60 scholarships funded by donors. Seeing and hearing members of a new generation of Nature advocates was refreshing to some of us not-so-young environmentalists!

Joe McGovern, president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, said it’s essential that many diverse Nature advocates work together. Agricultural and business interests who oppose spending money to protect public land or enforce environmental regulations would delight to see squabbles among conservationists on natural resources policies.

What now? Hamilton and others challenged fellow Nature advocates to action: talk to politicians, get kids outdoors; share good news stories with people who you may think are your adversaries. Or even, as one wag declared, “raise more hell and less corn!”

“We are Nature’s advocates,” Hamilton implored the gathering. “Our job is to confront injustice, to defend and define nature, and to offer our voices and experiences to elevate and celebrate nature.”

“So now let us get to work!”

Friend and former Des Moines Register colleague Chuck “Iowa Boy” Offenburger joined me at the Summit to further embarrass me with stories about how the good ol’ days led to my receiving one of a half-dozen “nature champion” awards given to long-time Iowa Nature advocates. (www.iowanature.org)

To see commentary from Chuck and more of Iowa’s best writers, please follow the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative members:

Columnists

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

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Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

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Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia

Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

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