What are your concerns about where you live? Having diverse transportation options? Protecting natural resources and agricultural lands? Sources for alternative and renewable energy? Jobs? If you live in Linn County, you have a say in whatever cause you choose. The county is updating its Rural Land Use plan, with an open house scheduled for […]
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Category: Environment
Air pollution warnings issued for Linn a...
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources released this today: (Feb. 25, 2013) – Elevated fine particle pollution levels were recorded across eastern Iowa this morning. Fine particle levels above EPA health standards are likely to persist in Black Hawk and Linn Counties until early Tuesday morning, when northeast winds are expected to clear the air.
Fracking, climate change and other energ...
I’m adding these to the events calendar, but wanted to provide this overview of Coe College’s upcoming Thursday Forum classes. The focus of the March lecture series will be on contemporary energy issues, including topics such as solar and wind energy, fracking, climate change and oil reserves.
How do you squirrel-proof a bird feeder?
My late grandmother – an avid birdwatcher – had a somewhat elaborate system rigged up to deter squirrels from her bird feeders. She could pull a wire strung through her kitchen window that attached a line to the feeder. The pulled wire would shake the bird feeder and scare off the little critters, at least […]
Iowa apple losses detailed in new USDA r...
Remember last spring’s wacky weather? Iowa apple growers would probably rather not. Warm weather early in the spring that prompted trees to bud was followed by frost and a summer drought that devastated many orchards. Proof of the losses came in this report just issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The statistics show the […]
Iowa’s Endangered Species
Friend and fellow gardener, Orlan Love, put together a list of Endangered Species in Iowa, with the status of the stately Northern Monkshood, pink-lipped Indiana bat, pretty Piping Plover and more. If you missed it in today’s Gazette, find it here.
Making (mystery) tracks in Cedar Rapids,...
Squirrels and rabbits are common visitors in my neighborhood in northeast Cedar Rapids, along with the occasional raccoon or opossum. But these tracks through the snow earlier this week surprised me. They seemed quite deep, so I wondered if it could have been a heavier animal, such as a deer. In more than 15 years […]