River Valley

The annual Yellow River State Forest Fall Forestry Field Day is scheduled to be held Thursday, October 3 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. This event is being coordinated by Billy Beck, assistant professor and extension forestry specialist at Iowa State University.

“We’ve organized a wide variety of events for the public. They are intended for landowners, foresters and anyone with an interest in woodland stewardship.” said Beck.

The field day will be held at Yellow River State Forest, near Harpers Ferry in Allamakee County. Participants can engage with forestry professionals and practitioners across the state, as well as local forest stewards and woodland owners.

Main Street Lansing will be sponsoring a Trick-or-Treat Downtown Extravaganza the evening of Halloween, Thursday, October 31, from 4-7 p.m. Local youth are invited to trick-or-treat through the downtown businesses in Lansing. There will also be games, hot dogs and hot chocolate available for free at the downtown plaza.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is hosting an open house at Lock and Dam 9 on the Mississippi River, near Lynxville, WI, September 28.

Corps officials are hosting the free event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., to allow people to get a behind-the-scenes view of the site while also getting a better understanding of what the staff do to ensure safe, reliable navigation.

In addition to the open house, Corps staff and partners will have a variety of activities onsite. Visitors will have an opportunity to see some of the boats that are used on the river as well as learn about the importance of wearing a life jacket while on the water.

Lock and Dam 9, located at 24545 State Highway 35, Eastman, WI, was built in 1937 and underwent a major rehabilitation from 1989-2006. The dam consists of a concrete structure 811 feet long with five roller gates and eight Tainter gates. The lock is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long.

Friday, September 20 at 1 p.m., the Lansing VFW Post and Auxiliary and the Lansing American Legion Post #50 will commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day with a Missing Man Ceremony on Mt. Hosmer in Lansing. The ceremony will be held on the Ralph Bartels Patio located next to the shelter house.

Everyone is invited to attend this special ceremony and should bring a lawn chair for seating, if desired. The Missing Man ceremony honors those still missing from this nation’s past wars and conflicts, as well as those who made the ultimate sacrifi ce and whose remains have not yet been recovered and returned home to the country they served.

Saturday, September 21, family and friends of lifelong resident and local “River Rat” Pat Sandry will be honoring his memory with the Seventh Annual Pat Sandry Memorial Fishing Derby and Friends of Pool 9 Fundraiser held on the Mississippi River. Sandry passed away in November of 2017 after a short, courageous battle with cancer. He thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors, had a great passion for fishing and hunting, and he truly treasured the beauty of Lansing and the surrounding area.

Entry fee is $50 per boat with 50% payback in prize money and 50% being donated to Friends of Pool 9. There is a limit of two adults and two children per boat.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

Monday, September 30, 2024, Ross Kolsrud will become Lansing’s new chief of police.

Currently an Allamakee County Deputy Sheriff, Kolsrud was hired as the city’s chief of police during the regular Lansing City Council meeting held Tuesday, September 3, a day later than the council’s typical Monday meeting date due to the Labor Day holiday observed September 2. As chief of police, Kolsrud will be paid $75,000 per year with two weeks of annual vacation time.

LAW ENFORCEMENT BACKGROUND
Kolsrud, who graduated from Kee High School in Lansing in 2004, began his law enforcement career with the Lansing Police Department in 2017. In 2019, he took a position with the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office. Since 2020, Deputy Kolsrud has been partnered with K9 Tyr, a Belgian Malinois.

Friday, September 20 at 1 p.m., the Lansing VFW Post and Auxiliary and the Lansing American Legion Post #50 will commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day with a Missing Man Ceremony on Mt. Hosmer in Lansing. The ceremony will be held on the Ralph Bartels Patio located next to the shelter house.

Everyone is invited to attend this special ceremony and should bring a lawn chair for seating, if desired. The Missing Man ceremony honors those still missing from this nation’s past wars and conflicts, as well as those who made the ultimate sacrifice and whose remains have not yet been recovered and returned home to the country they served.
 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is hosting an open house at Lock and Dam 9 on the Mississippi River, near Lynxville, WI, September 28.

Corps officials are hosting the free event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., to allow people to get a behind-the-scenes view of the site while also getting a better understanding of what the staff do to ensure safe, reliable navigation.

In addition to the open house, Corps staff and partners will have a variety of activities onsite. Visitors will have an opportunity to see some of the boats that are used on the river as well as learn about the importance of wearing a life jacket while on the water.

Lock and Dam 9, located at 24545 State Highway 35, Eastman, WI, was built in 1937 and underwent a major rehabilitation from 1989-2006. The dam consists of a concrete structure 811 feet long with five roller gates and eight Tainter gates. The lock is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long.

submitted by the Iowa Department of Transportation

The flood waters have receded and it’s back to work for the contractors at the site of the new Mississippi River bridge at Lansing. The high water shut down construction for just over a month, proving again that Mother Nature almost always has the upper hand!

When the crews returned to work July 22, they had to clean up and set up the project site. When the flood hit, crews moved equipment and materials to protect them from the water. Before they could resume construction, they had to put things back where they belong and clean materials that may have been covered in water. That includes power washing rebar (as shown in the picture at right). It wasn’t just cleaning and moving equipment and materials, the contractor also had to do a lot of work on the site itself, like hauling in gravel to give them a solid and level surface to drive and work on.