Iowa’s state park rangers — certified peace officers who safeguard the state’s premier outdoor recreational areas — are having to confront an increasingly endangered species: themselves.
Budget cuts have severely
Early in 2020, a movement picked up pace at the Iowa State Capitol to provide more money to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Gov. Kim Reynolds presented the Invest
Many small Iowa communities no longer can afford to maintain their local dumps when faced with increasing regulation and permitting fees by the EPA and Iowa Department of Natural Resources. That has forced new ways of thinking about waste management.
Distraction appears to be a main focus so far in the race for Iowa governor.
Election Day is two months away. The decision Iowans make on Nov. 6 will be
Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources sampled trash from 10 landfills and five transfer stations across Iowa for a study published in December 2017, looking to answer the question, “What are Iowans landfilling?” Tom Anderson, of the Iowa DNR’s Land Quality Bureau and the study’s project manager, ha
Russ Tell, senior environmental specialist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, points to two main goals when plugging up old wells: protecting the aquifer and safety.
Iowans dumped 2.7 million tons of garbage into landfills last year. One method the Iowa Department of Natural Resources promotes to reduce the negative influence of dumping all that garbage has on the environment is called the Environmental Management System, but many Iowa landfill operators are rel
This year marked a record number of state beach closings due to microcystin, a liver toxin produced by cyanobacteria, more commonly called blue-green algae. What are the risks for people, pets and livestock that come into contact with the toxin? And why are we seeing more of it at Iowa beaches?
IowaWatch assistant editor and data analyst Lauren Mills and Iowa City Press-Citizen reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller were guests on the Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, "Your Town" segment of Jay Capron's morning show on KXIC radio, AM 800, in Iowa City.
That paint-like scum that covers some Iowa lakes every summer isn’t just gross and smelly. People, pets, and livestock coming into contact with or ingesting toxins produced by the algae are at risk to symptoms including skin rashes, gastrointestinal issues and, in high doses, liver failure.
Only certain strains of cyanobacteria can produce toxins, although they don’t always do so. “Scientists generally agree that the cyanobacteria evolved this ability to produce toxin either as a competitive advantage or as some sort of protection,” Mary Skopec, who heads the Iowa Department of Natural
