The TRWMA Flood Reduction Plan was released in June 2015 and has a price tag of approximately $32 million. In the plan, it was documented, based on reports from communities and counties, that floods had caused at least $20 million over the past 20 years. Since only a few of the communities and counties reported, it was deduced that this was a fraction of the actual cost.… Read more ›

The TRWMA Flood Reduction was in the news this week as a featured article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. The flood reduction plan was finished at the end of may and released to the public in mid-June. The article, which ran in the June 29th edition of the Gazette, is already garnering statewide attention, especially as recent rains again threaten flooding in Iowa.… Read more ›

Tuesday April 7th 2015, staff from the Iowa Flood Center and IIHR in Iowa City put on a training for new flood forecasting tools available for the Turkey River Watershed. The web-based tool is called the Iowa Flood Information System or IFIS. Some of the tools available through IFIS, such as stream gauge information, have been available for a couple of years but the Iowa Flood Center has recently added some new tools to help people anticipate and prepare for flooding.… Read more ›

“An Iowa State University research team has discovered that strategically adding a little bit of prairie back onto the agricultural landscape can result in many benefits – in water and soil quality, habitat for wildlife and pollinators, as well as opportunities for biomass production. Learn more about this new conservation practice and the excitement it is generating both within and outside Iowa.”… Read more ›

permeable parking lot in Monona

A press release by the DNR  regarding the permeable paver parking lot in Monona has garnered a lot of attention. The video in the release on February 10, 2015 has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. The DNR has also fielded many calls inquiring about the project. The permeable paver parking lot was completed in 2014 by the City of Monona in an effort to reduce the water quantity and improve the water quality of a nearby un-named tributary that eventually feeds into the Turkey River.  … Read more ›

12-4-2014 – Postville Iowa – The Turkey River Watershed Management Authority met on Thursday December 4th and heard a presentation from the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) regarding information from their modeling results in the Turkey River Watershed and the Otter Creek Watershed.  The models used by the IFC simulate surface and subsurface conditions leading up to and following large precipitation events.… Read more ›

Wayne Fredericks says he isn’t a poster child for conservation.

But the 63-year-old farmer near Osage is willing to test ideas, gather data about the results, and see what works best in the field.

“Farmers have been real hungry for data,” said Fredericks, a farmer participating in the Rock Creek watershed improvement project in north-central Iowa. “They want to know what these practices are going to do and how they will affect yields and the bottom line.… Read more ›