First Of Its Kind Iowa Jackrabbit Study Is A Big Harey Deal

By Lowell Washburn
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

AMES ---A first of its kind, Iowa wildlife study is literally becoming one big, harey deal.
A cooperative joint venture between Iowa DNR and Iowa State University, the study’s focus is to capture and install radio transmitters on white-tailed jackrabbits living at ISU’s Agricultural Research Farm. Scientists hope future radio monitoring will enable researchers to collect long term data regarding the survival, habitat use, spacing, reproduction, and nocturnal movements of the state’s only species of wild hare. Amazingly abundant during the 1950s and 1960s, jackrabbit numbers have shown a steady and alarming decline during the past four decades. Today, they have nearly vanished from the state.

Over time, many types of building skills have been
lost to modern manufacturing. A skill that is still used
today, as it has been for generations, is bow building.
If you have an interest in building your own osage orange longbow with
the help of an experienced instructor, this is your
chance - offered through Linn County Conservation Department.

Iowa DNR Press Release.

DES MOINES - Ice storms, weeklong below zero cold snaps and an endless supply of snow storms can make it difficult to relate to camping this time of year. But it is that time again, time to dream of warmer weather, dust off the camping gear and plan for the upcoming season. Campers may begin reserving sites for Camping Kickoff Weekend on January 30.
For the past four years, the first weekend of May has been the kickoff to camping season in Iowa State Parks.

Press Release from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources

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.

Press Releases from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources

In the middle of winter, ice fishing can be hit or miss. After a flurry of activity just as the ice forms, fish settle into a more dormant state as the water temperatures stay just above 32 degrees. That’s when a little more strategy sometimes pays off.
“There really isn’t a bad time to fish, even in the dog days of winter,” said Joe Larscheid, chief of the Department of Natural Resources’ fisheries bureau. “But the most productive times during midwinter are the first light and then last light of the day. Fish will bite all day, but you’re going to catch the most fish in those ‘low light’ hours.”

We as Iowans have a chance to improve our situation. In reading some of the other posts here it is clear that many of us are worried about our future hunting and fishing opportunities and the economic impact that can have on our state. In November we have the opportunity to claim 3/8ths of the next 1 cent sales tax increase to be enacted. Please keep in mind this is not a vote for a sales tax increase it is a vote to claim a portion of the next sales tax increase to be passed. I am certain with the economic climate being what it is it will not be long before that sales tax increase comes.

$25,000 Winterfest Ice Fishing Derby
Jan. 30, 2010 7:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Lake Manawa, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Over $50,000 in Cash & Prizes!

Reel in Winter Fun with this one-day tournament at Lake Manawa State Park!

New Pre-registration fee is $15.

All Pre-registrants will have the opportunity to win a free ice shack.
Drawings will be held on January 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. Jim Flowers will announce the winner on the 6:00 news on channel 6.

Pre-registrants will also receive a free raffle ticket for a chance to win the 2009 Arctic Cat ATV 250 2x4 valued at $3,999. Additional chances for this prize are also available for $5 or 5 for $20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 12, 2010
FOR MORE INFORMATION: ROSS HARRISON, 515-281-5973; ROSS.HARRISON@DNR.IOWA.GOV

MORE HELP SOUGHT FOR
CONSERVATION EDUCATION

DES MOINES – Among actions taken by this year’s Resources Enhancement And Protection (REAP) Congress is a request to the Iowa Legislature to increase funding for conservation education.

REAP provides funding to cities, counties and state conservation efforts, as well as to landowners and conservation organizations and individuals. It is currently funded at $18 million in appropriations from state gaming revenues and about $1 million from natural resource license plates. Two new license plates were unveiled at the Congress by Lt. Gov Patty Judge. The funding is distributed among 8 program areas; conservation education is one of those.

New plate designs link: http://www.iowadnr.gov/news/10jan/plates.html

“These delegates were elected by 650 Iowans from every corner of the state. They represent the people’s voice on how Iowans want REAP to function,” explained Ross Harrison, DNR REAP coordinator. “They saw the need to increase the annual allotment to education from $350,000 to $500,000, then to keep the formula for the rest of the funding exactly as it has been since 1989 when REAP became law.”

Harrison added that the delegates recommended full funding of REAP at $20 million per year, continued emphasis on acquisition of public conservation lands, and endorsed the Iowa Water and Land Legacy (IWiLL) constitutional amendment that would further increase conservation funding if approved by voters in November.

The REAP Congress is comprised of five delegates elected this past fall from each of 17 meetings around the state. Sixty three of the 85 delegates attended, braving the coldest day of the year with many roads still in bad shape, to voice their directions on REAP to Gov. Culver, the legislature, and Natural Resources Commission as required by the REAP Act.

The Congress also accepted a series of recommendations from a young-adult group to improve the level of activity among young Iowans in natural resources policy.

MEDIA CONTACT: ROSS HARRISON, DNR, 515-281-5973, ROSS.HARRISON@DNR.IOWA.GOV

TWO NEW ‘WLD’ LICENSE PLATES REVEALED
Proceeds help support conservation in Iowa

DES MOINES -- Two new Iowa license plates to help fund natural resources will be available for purchase at county treasurers’ offices this spring. The plates were unveiled by Lt. Gov. Patty Judge Saturday at the State Capitol during the Resource Enhancement And Protection (REAP) Congress.

The two new designs, featuring a brook trout and a deer, will attract two of the largest groups of Iowan outdoor enthusiasts, anglers and deer hunters, said Ross Harrison, DNR REAP coordinator. The license plates were designed by Cedar Rapids artist Greg Bordignon. At a purchase price of $45, and annual renewal of $25 for the numbered plates, the REAP program receives $35 from each purchase and $10 from renewals. The DNR’s Wildlife Diversity program gets $10 from the purchase and $15 from renewals.

The two new plates join three others dedicated to those natural resource programs: the goldfinch/rose, pheasant and eagle plates which together generate about $1 million a year and outsell all of the state’s other specialty plates. Bordignon also designed the current pheasant and eagle plates.

Harrison predicted the two new plates may double the current income within two years because of the popularity of the designs. “The brook trout is Iowa’s only native trout, and is the best indicator of water quality of any fish species.”

REAP provides funding to cities, counties and state conservation efforts, as well as to landowners and conservation organizations and individuals. Currently funded at $18 million in appropriations from state gaming revenues, the license plate income is added on top of that amount. REAP’s public participation component includes a congress every two year for citizen input into running the program.

The DNR’s nongame wildlife program uses its license plate revenue to match federal money for projects dealing with wildlife that are not hunted or fished, and therefore not managed by use of hunting and fishing license revenue.
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By Lowell Washburn
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

For Iowa pheasant populations it has already been a long hard winter. It’s no wonder that wildlife enthusiasts are expressing widespread concern over the future of Iowa’s Number One Gamebird. But although this winter has been brutal by any standards, winter is always a time for pheasant losses. It’s the simple reason why, come spring, hens will ten or twelve eggs to replace those losses instead of just two or three. But in order to rebuild nesting habitat. The importance of that commodity cannot be overstated, nor has it ever been more accurately defined than on an obscure Northern Iowa study plot that most contemporaries have never even heard of.