Flooding Threatens Memorial Weekend and Water Quality

The face of a severe super-cell storm. This storm later ended Iowa's historic tornado-free streak with tornadoes near Adel, Dallas Center and Huxley. 5-19-2013

Well, turkey season ended with a bang in Iowa. For a few I suppose it could have been the familiar report from a shotgun unloading on a tom, and to you I say congrats! For the rest of us it was the sharp crack of thunder from severe storms. Our first storm outbreak of the spring erupted on the last day of turkey season. It also ended a tornado free stretch that lasted a record 360 days long -just another record for an extreme and stormy year!

Wind damage near Dallas Center 5-19-2013.

There's a new storm on the horizon, and it's a siege against conservation and human health. I'm talking nitrates and water pollution. From our own reporters at ABC5 to bloggers reporting to Field and stream and even the Des Moines Register, the problem is coming up to the surface like that floating fish in Big Creek. "Nitrates are at levels we've not seen ever before and we're seeing it right now." Bill Stowe. The nitrate removal system that scrubs the river water clean of pollutants costs $7,000 each day, a tremendous cost to the rate payers and residents of Des Moines that are being slowly polluted. This is a terrible problem, one that has a solution... a solution that has been ignored by the would-be stewards of the land. The problem is a perfect storm where conventional agriculture, high crop prices, and rainwater run-off into streams all meet. The result is higher crop yields in exchange for low water quality. The victims are you, me and the game animals we pursue. And the issue is not new in Iowa, but it is growing into a bigger problem.

So how does it happen? Conventional farming practices are being pushed to the edge of the property lines and limits of productivity. We are taking more out of the ground than we're putting back in, depleting organic matter that decays and supplies next year's crop with more food. To counteract this, farmers inject the ground with fertilizer. Until the plants can access this food, it remains in the soil and leeches into the groundwater. If unfortunate -yet typical- circumstances bring heavy spring rains in over freshly fertilized fields, runoff effectively transports those nutrients straight into the streams, rivers and yes your faucets. That's called Spring in Iowa and this happens every time the rivers rise and the water turns murky. It also feeds algo-blooms later on in the season, but that's another story.

From beaver dams to cattails and wetlands, nature naturally slows water's progress and buffers the rivers and streams. This is the land's built-in a water filtration system. Slowing water allows nutrients to settle into soil to later be used by lucky plants. But instead of slowing water's return to the lakes and eventually the sea, farmers are bulldozing those trees and "weeds" lining either side of that old fence row and the winding creek. Pressured by the economy and world demand for yield, we are now more than ever farming right up to the edge. This destroys habitat for game, it diminishes the land's ability to filter out runoff pollution and it ironically makes water erosion issues even worse.

For farmers who take this path, it is a slippery slope. In spite of expensive efforts to tile and drain the water into the streams and rivers, we are removing the waterways that protect our crops and the future yield. A tiled landscape brings high volumes of water straight to the stream, creek or river with disturbing efficiency. It gives even more power to the next heavy thunderstorm. When the weather pattern's wet, tiling keeps the tractors from getting stuck and the plants from drowning. It also raises the flooding threats as water wastes no time soaking into the ground. Farmers who choose to bulldoze that waterway and make that extra buck will see volumes more of their own property swept down stream every heavy rain. The water will rage, soil in tow, unabated by those "weeds" whose roots once stood as the last defense before the muddy flood water's devastating power. If for some ignorant reason, you don't care about the farm fields, did I mention high concentrations of nitrates can cause substantial health issues?

Source here.

So what's the solution? Well, as much as yelling at me or calling me names may make you feel better, it wont stop the floods. And they will come. We're embarking on an extreme weather pattern for the next 10-20 years. This could spell drought right next to floods, Winter right next to Summer. And we've already set sail into this rough sea. Farmers need to consult with outdoorsmen and conservationists to come up with a solution unique to their property. Perhaps it's channeling excess runoff into a buffered pond deep enough the silt can build for years without ill effect. It could later be pumped back to the land where it once came instead of buying fertilizer. Or perhaps it's leaving that tall-grass buffer along the winding creek. You may not get more income from farming this year, but there'd be no need to tile. And hunting over that little strip of property insurance in the fall is just icing on the cake. There is a balance unique to every landscape that can protect both the land and the yields for the future. Find it- and soon. At least before the next flood dries up into another extreme drought as it may this very summer.

From one happy note to another, our biggest flooding rains of 2013 could potentially begin this Memorial day weekend. A stalled front and a sluggish storm system will all pull into the picture and park with unfortunate coincidence for Iowa. A low-level southerly will transport humidity (atmospheric energy and moisture) and a weak upper jetstream from the northwest will help organized storms dump rounds of heavy rain on the state. The stalled front will focus the potential for flash flooding this weekend right on Iowa, so be sure to take the weather radio and try not to camp right next to the river. If the pattern doesn't break next week, long term and potentially major flooding is possible heading into June.

Sorry this post may be a downer, but water pollution is preventable. Conservation is necessary because pollution kills. It harms our environment and as much as technology may make us feel outside or even above this Earth, people are a part of it. People will become sick from water contaminates. Ecosystems will die from imbalance. Let's fix it, just like you'd pick up that trash next time you're hiking for that last morel mushroom or sitting down to toss in a line by that murky stream. It used to be clearer, and it can be again. Help us fix it.

Mid-May Morels

And just like that, winter melts to summer! Yesterday's extreme heat seared the ground like steak on a hot grill. Perhaps that will "cook" the ground to morel-producing perfection... or will it be too warm, too dry and too fast?

Highs on May 14th soared into the 100s! Not only is this the earliest triple-digit heat in Iowa, but it happened for folks who scraped the frost off their windshields two days earlier! Some even just put up the shovels for the season after record snow. What a wild spring 2013 has brought to Iowa?!

Well, we're leveling off now with lows in the 50s/60s and highs in the 70s/80s. This is perfect weather for morel mushrooms, and they're popping up throughout the state now.  I am finding them on various terrain features and under widely different stages of development. Now is a great time to check out old hot spots to see if they're back this year!

Little greys and yellows are becoming more widespread on gentle west and even north facing slopes. Extreme west and south facing slopes, although dry, are producing baseball-sized Bigfoot morels! I think morels must not require wet topsoil, because some of these spots had powder dry soil. Perhaps subsoil moisture is much more important.

Most of my searching on north facing and east facing slopes has been fruitless. The grass is also becoming a big issue, so be sure to slow down and look twice if you're in a good area that has taller grass. I circled a spot by a large dead elm several times and found 2-3 more on each additional pass.

Changing your point of view often brings a few of those fungi into focus. Their morel-o-flauge makes them tough to spot sometimes ;-)

I'd estimate that the season is about halfway through here in central Iowa. Our extreme heat has seared the ground and caused a surface spike several degrees warmer than previous days. My hope is this launches a bumper crop of the big ones, but the heat was pretty dry. Fortunately April and the beginning of May were abnormally wet, and that should promote more fungi this year than in years past.

Most slopes should fire up within the next 3-5 days, but friends in northern and eastern Iowa may keep finding them into early June! I'll have an update if and when I find that jackpot to let you know where I found them.

Good luck!

Season's First Find

As we approach the middle of May, it's hard to believe spring is just now in full bloom across central Iowa!

After a long winter, spring weather is finally here! The grass is green and the plums are blooming. Violets and dandelions carpet the forest. Best of all- the morels are popping up!

My first morel!

Reports have been coming in over the last week or so of outdoorsmen plucking little greys and as of yesterday (5/9) I'm happy to report my first finds of the season.

4" soil temps.

Soil temps are now becoming favorable for the Little Grey morels (Morchella Deliciosa). These are the season's first and what many consider the tastiest. When ground temps hit the upper 50s and lower 60s for the first time in spring, conditions are right for morels.

Mid May, but early in the season of Spring.

It's still early! Despite being about two weeks behind "normal" shroomin' season, and almost six weeks later than last year, spring is still young. If your on the hunt be sure to focus on south facing slopes. Sometimes, the steeper the better. It also helps to have sparse vegetation and little canopy.

We let this little guy go to grow. If conditions are right morels
will keep growing. Cool/dry weather and species limit the
maximum size.

Most of the morels we found yesterday were on gentle south facing slopes with few mature trees and thin grass. All were found with dead elms within 15 feet. I like to focus on dead elms, because they're easy to spot when the bark just begins to peel.

This one appeared old and likely popped before the snow!

Another good spot was doe bedding areas-easy to spot for the deer hunter's in the crowd. These spots usually "catch" sunlight and offer a break from the wind. For the same reasons deer congregate to these spots, early season morels can be found there. It's a warm micro-climate, or small pocket of terrain with noticeably different weather than the surrounding landscape.

Dead White Elm with the bark peeling.

Early season morels can be rather tough to find. 75% of my spots from last year were vacant so I focused on east to west oriented valleys which will likely produce more than the north to south running creeks and rivers. Like a solar panel, south facing slopes absorb the sunlight more directly and get warmer earlier. Next week I'll be broadening my search to include more terrain.

Brand new "common yellows" likely from this week.

Average temps will cool the ground this weekend with frost in the forecast on Saturday night. Conditions improve next week, and despite the "dry" heat coming in I think it will cause an explosion of mushrooms in central Iowa. The ground is soaking from above average rain and all we need is a good hot stretch to fill that frying pan with the bigger species of delicious morel.

Heather's First Morel of 2013!

So if you have a craving for this delectable annual treat like Heather does, there's good news in the forecast. You can find the little guys this weekend and great morel weather is ahead next week. With all the moisture we've seen this spring  it could prove to be one of the best shroomin' seasons we've seen in years. Now it's up to the temperatures to make it happen.

Good luck!

Record Snow, Improving Turkey Season, Morels in Sight

Incredible! 

An epic May storm system stopped spring in its tracks, surprising Iowans and wildlife alike with historic accumulations of wet snow. From turkeys to bass, morels to mowing the grass this late season snow can’t be a good thing… or can it?

10-13” of record breaking snow fell with record cold May 2nd and 3^rd, 2013. I was concerned that this may be the year I hunted turkeys in the snow in a March post titled “Cold Turkey”. That unlikelihood was confirmed with 6.9” of accumulation in Des Moines. Our once in a lifetime type snow trashed the old all-time May record of 1.2” from a storm back in 1907. It was also a major speed bump for turkey hunters.

A few birds were gorging in the fields on Wednesday in the wind as the storm moved in, but hunting was tough. After the snow stopped and the winds relaxed large numbers of hens and strutters flocked to the fields in the fog on Saturday. Birds are beginning to act more typical for spring hunting season, coming to calls as I found out in my hunt on Sunday. I had a great encounter with a nice Iowa turkey. He responded to my calls and gobbled 300 yards up a hill to 7 yards from my blind. I made a good shot but experienced some really bad luck that led to a 2 hour fruitless search for my first archery tom. 

He ran into a dense grove of cedars leaving only my arrow and a few tracks in the mud and a vivid memory of a good hunt gone awry. I feel sick about the loss, but that's hunting.

Before the storm, our heat wave was warm enough to spark sporadic morel sightings in southern Iowa. Folks around the Albia area have reported this season’s first morels, and I’d expect all along and south of I-80 for few pockets suitable for these tasty little mushrooms. Ground temps were in the 60s, and have since simmered to around 50. The best conditions are in southeast Iowa. I still haven’t found any in central Iowa, but others have! The lilacs in town are now blooming and the time is near!

I don’t think the snow hurt anything, more likely it just delayed our already late spring. All the moisture lately should yield high numbers of morels once the temperatures get warm enough! This could end up being a great year after all.

Expect the first widespread showing of morels this week/weekend, especially in central and southeast Iowa. I expect moderate numbers in limited spots, but temps support mushrooms growing especially Wednesday, Thursday and Friday south of highway 30. I’d expect most to be little greys, but south facing pockets could produce a variety of sizes. We’ll take a break from suitable conditions over the weekend, but 80s are possible next week and that should throw the system into overdrive. Widespread and good numbers of morels seem likely by the 15^th and the good picking should last through the 25^th.

For those spring anglers, the water temps have dipped into the upper 40s and low 50s thanks to the cold. I expect waters to warm into the mid to upper 50s by the end of the week before another cold snap shocks the system Saturday and Sunday. A falling barometer will coincide with warming waters on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday making fishing better those days.

I’ll let you know when and where I find my first morels this season. I hope it’s this week! Good luck in all your outdoors adventures, and may the wind be in your favor!