[pheasants]

I hope everyone has heard about the massive flooding around the Ames to Des Moines area!! Just makes me sick!! Now before I continue I just want to say that I realize that with this much rain it is going to flood but I GAURENTEE you it would not be as severe as this! I have been harping for years that the federal and state government need to implement MASS scale wetland restorations across NC/NW Iowa and Southern Minnesota and Dakotas!! Once again look at the billions of dollars the governments and insurances will pay out for damages caused by this flooding when that money could be used to prevent this and restore wetlands. There is a lot of good farm ground in NC and NW Iowa & yes that should be farmed but in pretty much every section of land there probably could be at least 20-40 acres that could be a wetland and holding water!! Wetlands offer so much more than hunting opportunities!!

 

[EntropyFx]

Then I guess you and I and anyone else who is fed up with this problem had best vote yes on Question #1 come November then, eh? Maybe the state can finally learn something from all of the major floods we have had in the last 20 years....

 

[Richard Hedd]

It doesn't help that every tillable acre in Iowa in tiled. Rather than the ground absorbing this rain as nature intended, it's a straight shot to the nearest creek or river.

 

[SNOTS]

It doesn't help that every tillable acre in Iowa in tiled. Rather than the ground absorbing this rain as nature intended, it's a straight shot to the nearest creek or river.

Now add a gazillion miles of tile lines in there as well!!!! :shock:

 

[chipper140]

Yeah in Iowa I think it is about 95% of the land is tiled. That number is not going to change any time soon.

 

[pheasants]

Back in 2001 my dad and I put in about 200 acres or WRP/CRP acres in and we had to plug the tile in all but one of those wetlands and that was becuase the county tile went underneath it and to be honest it wouldnt hold water anyways!! We have 5 seperate peices of ground and 2 of them have water in them all year unless it is really dry and the other one has water in it only when it rains a ton and in early spring. A lot of farmers in our area have done similar restorations. Some hold water and some dont but they at least do when it rains a lot! Heck there was one farmer who put in a whole 240 acres or so and than sold it off to the Iowa hertiage foundation or whatever its called and now that is public hunting. Within a 5 mile radius of my parents place there is probaly oh around 2000 acres give or take in the WRP/CRP program. I know of a few more farmers who wanted to participate or add more acres but the funding ran out. This is in NC Iowa and we are in the PPR and that is what the whole area was before settlement. Everyone has benefited from all this and yet funding has ran out. Yet there was funding for a stimulus package that failed. Granted that is a national and everyone type thing but still. There is funding for subsidies for ethanol and windfarms which is a joke. If something is a truley viable option it wouldnt need a government subsidy!!! Things that are for real make money on their own!! Those are just a few examples of many!! Massive wetland restoration in iowa, minnestoa and the dakotas would benefit about 1/4 of the country. Ask people all over Iowa and the Mississippi river most years if they would like the flooding to be non existent or at least less severe!!