Leopold Center, Watersheds and Wetlands

Our first guest was Mark Rasmussen, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, with an encouraging report of how the Center has been promoting projects of all kinds for Food, Farming and Agriculture.  Topics included benefits of ruminants for the soil, productive uses of lands too wet to cultivate, carbon sequestration in soil, the Farm to Schools group, and increasing markets for small local farms producing foods for local consumption.  They also support various speakers and Water Rocks, a dynamic educational program in Iowa schools.  Dan Haug, watershed educator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa, described the varied ways landowners can learn about and improve the water adjacent to their land.  Ava Auen-Ruan, a staff member from Farm andEnvironment Team at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), which is suing the state of Iowa on the basis of the  Public Trust Doctrine, which argues that citizens have a right to clean water, which is not being met by the voluntary nutrient reduction strategy now in place.