DNR and RC&D discuss possible Iowa Water Trail designation for Upper Iowa River with landowners

by Lissa Blake

How would an Iowa Water Trail designation benefit landowners along the Upper Iowa River in Allamakee County?
That was the prevailing question at a series of special meetings last week facilitated by Northeast Iowa Resource, Conservation and Development (RC&D) and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
About 50 people attended one of those invitation-only meeting Wednesday, November 28 at Wings Supper Club in Dorchester. Those invitations were sent to landowners along the Upper Iowa River in Allamakee County. It was the second of three like meetings: the first took place in Winneshiek County the previous evening, and the third was to have taken place the following evening in Cresco.

WATERSHED PROJECT
Lora Friest, executive director of Northeast Iowa RC&D, first presented an overview of the Upper Iowa River Watershed Project, which has been under way for the past 13 years.
She said the goals for the project have included: improving water quality, improving the health of the watershed, crossing political boundaries for the benefit of all watershed residents, helping the six county Soil and Water Conservations Districts (SWCD) secure information and resources to justify and secure public and private funding to put private lands conservation ‘on the ground’ and to secure conservation dollars and technical assistance for private landowners in the watershed.

CONSERVATION LEASE
Michelle Elliott, project coordinator for the Waterloo Creek Watershed, and Luann Rolling, Natural Resource Conservation Service district conservationist for Allamakee County, said the Allamakee SWCD recently received notification the county has received grant funding to write conservation addendums to land leases, if landowners would like to see specific conservation practices.
The District’s Conservation Lease Specialist, Sara Berges, will work with interested landowners, and hopefully operators as well, to create a lease addendum that specifies conservation practices to be implemented on specific fields.
It will look similar to a conservation plan, but will be more detailed and will include such topics as specific crop rotations, required conservation practices, and nutrient management. It can also include stipulations for non-compliance, shared costs for conservation practice installation, and residue management, as well as many other topics. The goal of the program would be to have the landlord and renter work with the conservation lease specialist to determine their priorities for the farm, and work together to an agreement about how to address those priorities.
The District will work alongside the Drake Agricultural Law Center on this project to ensure that the lease addendums meet legal requirements and to build on the past work they have done. For more information, visit sustainablefarmlease.org or contact Berges at 563-568-2246 or Sara.Berges@ia.nacdnet.net.

CHANGES
Following her presentation on the watershed, Friest asked attendees what kind of changes they had seen regarding the river in the last 13 years. Answers included more bald eagles, more birds in general, more people in the water, more beer drinking, more recreation, more canoes, more access to the river, clearer water, more large rain events and an increase in population.
When Friest asked landowners to list their concerns, one of the most common answers was the high cost of riverbank restoration.
One participant said he feels one way to stop erosion would be for the State to have more flexible standards with regard to the restoration. “With their requirements, it costs too much to change. You have to use a certain size rock or grade of rock as dictated by the State, when you could go out to the hillsides and do a good job for 10 cents on the dollar, compared to how they want it done,” he said.
Other concerns expressed by the landowners included threats from hog facilities, the possible impact on water quality from proposed frac sand mining, people building hillside homes which cause erosion, and new EPA rules on threatened and endangered species.
Friest said during the series of meetings, she has appreciated the “good, healthy discussion” being had by the landowners. “Anything that we do to move forward really is going to better serve us if the people in the watershed understand us and want this to happen,” said Friest.

IOWA WATER TRAILS
Friest next explained the Iowa Water Trails program is to rivers what the Iowa Scenic Byways program is to roads. “It includes coming up with good signage to enhance safety along the route,” said Friest.
Nate Hoogeveen, river programs coordinator for the Iowa DNR, next addressed the crowd, saying, “We’re here to listen to what you have to say.” Hoogeveen said being designated an Iowa Water Trail can provide counties with increased technical and financial support for things like protected water areas programs, canoe schools for naturalists, livery classes, dam mitigation, river clean-ups, channel design/river restoration, training and education.
Hoogeveen explained Iowa currently has 917 miles of designated water trails and there are 567 miles under development.
“There are baseline standards we require, including a local plan. A water trail helps Iowans find water adventures, family fun and a remote sense of solitude. It creates economic development and quality-of-life opportunities with modest investment. It connects agencies, towns and people along the waterways – from vision to agreement to designations. It helps local citizens get involve in improving their river in ways they believe are important,” said Hoogeveen.
Hoogeveen explained that Iowa Water Trail priorities vary on a county-by-county basis. “It is not a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said.

COMPONENTS
Hoogeveen said some of the added benefits which could result from being a designated water trail include increased signage, for example, to indicate the presence of dams, hazard warning signage and maps and brochures. “That way, people all across the state are using the same system,” he said.
He added that emerging river management issues include underage drinking, public nudity and assaults. “The environment can quickly become something other than the experience visitors sought,” he said.

DISCUSSION
During the discussion that followed, Hoogeveen was asked what the goal of the program is and how it would affect the landowners in the room. “It’s a locally driven program,” he said, adding that while the State designates the river as a water trail, the County Conservation Board is often the driving force to help develop it. “If you’re  County Conservation Board isn’t interested, we have to consider that,” he said.
He added the goals of the program can be pretty broad. “The actual goals are yours and it’s what you make of it. If you decide, for example, you want stream bank restoration to be a component and you want some focus on that, we’re open to that … We dial it as to what we’re hearing from you guys. We listen to what you’re saying and help you form the goals and help you deal with the issues,” he said.

WHY?
One attendee next asked why landowners would want this to happen. “It depends. If you have no issues maybe you don’t want it,” Hoogeven said.
He added that in other county discussions, it is a common theme that river users aren’t always respectful of private land. “If there are some negative interactions, we can help with education through brochures. So people have a better understanding of what’s theirs and what’s yours,” he said.
“A water trail is a section of river that involves planning, goals and management. In the end you end up with things like increased signage. We want to make sure everybody is talking, not just now, but down the road, so everybody is communicating about what their issues are,” he said. “We also need to make sure there is going to be some maintenance. We can’t just build something and walk away.”
One attendee responded, “You’re taking an entirely different approach than what we’re used to seeing from the State and legal end of this.”
“We want to see people involved," answered Hoogeveen.

MORE ENFORCEMENT
One attendee noted he’d like to see more law enforcement on the river. “I think if the DNR was to go in there once in a while and write a few tickets, underage drinking would stop. If we were all cooperating in that way, word of mouth gets around very fast,” he said.
Hoogeveen agreed: “On the river, a little bit of enforcement goes a long way."
Terry Hainfield, wildlife biologist with the DNR, said he has seen many positives come out of the Iowa Water Trails conversations with the canoe outfitters. “They’d like to have a regulation to keep glass off the river. They’ve discussed supplying people with mesh bags for trash. You pay a dollar, put your trash in them while you float the river, and get your dollar back at the end,” he said.

IDEAS
Attendees were next invited to put forth their ideas for ways to enhance the river experience for landowners and river users. Suggestions included more stream bank restoration, education about leaving gate accesses open, increasing law enforcement to reduce underage drinking, glass bottle restrictions, minimum safety standards for groups floating the river, trash cans at all canoe landings and ongoing river access maintenance plans.
When one attendee asked who would be responsible for maintaining additional river access points (if the group decided that was a priority), Hoogenveen explained the County would likely be in charge of that.
Other ideas include education to reduce exploration of private land along the river. “Someone might own a bull or a guard dog that could hurt someone and then the landowner could be liable,” explained one attendee.
Additional ideas included more discussions of frac sand mining, maintaining rights of landowners to repair their own stream banks, find funding to fix stream banks, promote mutual respect among landowners and river users, address disrespectful and vulgar language.
Attendees also expressed concerns about any State mandates, now or later, that the State might implement as a result of designation as an Iowa Water Trail.

WHAT’S NEXT?
Attendees seemed to have mixed feelings about the benefits of a possible Iowa Water Trail designation, and Hoogeveen said the DNR is just trying to get a feel for what people want.
“We don’t have to decide everything tonight,” he said, adding there will likely be more discussions in the future.
Friest explained that, if there is interest in pursuing an Iowa Water Trail designation, a local steering committee would be formed and subsequent meetings would be conducted.
To learn more about the Iowa River Trails program, visit www.iowadnr.gov/Recreation/CanoeingKayaking/WaterTrails.aspx.