Some participants in the Oct. 16 site visit to the Smith Wetland are shown on the wetland’s dam with the overflow area behind them. From left, Chris Bauer and Michael Otten, Shive-Hattery; Maggie Armstrong, Guthrie County Supervisor; Jim Wendl and Andy Randol, Panora Fiber; Mike Naig, Iowa Agriculture Secretary; Carter Nordman, Iowa Representative; John Rutledge, LPA general manager; Doug Hemphill, RIZ trustee; Lane Rumelhart, LPA project manager; Ryan Steffensen, Iowa Corn; David Finneseth, former LPA board president; and Tyler Kinman, Iowa Corn. Not pictured: Sue Thompson, LPA board president; Brian Johnson, Guthrie County Supervisor; and JoAnn Johnson, RIZ trustee.
By Susan Thompson | Times Vedette
The Lake Panorama Rural Improvement Zone (RIZ) hosted Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig, Representative Carter Nordman, local officials and guests for a wetland site visit Oct. 16. The event was held at the Smith Wetland, located on 180th Street north of Burchfield Cove.
John Rutledge, Lake Panorama Association (LPA) general manager, welcomed attendees to the event and offered opening comments.
“I am grateful for the relationship we have with both Secretary Naig and Representative Nordman,” he said. “Secretary Naig has provided solid leadership on wetlands and recently navigated some longstanding federal permitting challenges that plagued wetland development for the last decade. Overcoming these permitting barriers has been a heavy lift, and we owe a great deal of thanks to the secretary and his team.
“Additionally, Representative Nordman has been a champion for Lake Panorama RIZ’s efforts to improve water quality and incentivize sustainable agriculture practices in our watershed,” Rutledge said. “We could not do this work without the support of these two men.”
Lane Rumelhart, Lake Panorama Association (LPA) project manager, talked about the Smith wetland and other RIZ-funded wetlands already in place or in planning stages.
“Since 1998, Lake Panorama RIZ has made it possible to improve and protect Lake Panorama’s water quality,” he said. “In the beginning, most of the funding available went to dredging and silt basins. In 2015, some attention turned to preventing silt and excess nutrients from reaching the lake.”
The Smith wetland was built in 2019. It has a water pool of nine acres and is positioned on a 35-acre site of native plants. It captures water from 2,200 acres upstream and protects water quality in Burchfield Cove.
Wetlands reduce the movement of nitrogen and also have a positive impact on sediment and phosphorus, which fuels the blue green algae blooms that sometimes occur in summer.
There now are four wetlands on streams that lead into Lake Panorama, and Shive-Hattery has been involved in the development of all four.
Michael Otten, a Shive-Hattery engineer, showed a map of the entire Lake Panorama watershed, which covers 271,900 acres. He said a new program offered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) is making it possible for Shive-Hattery and Lake Panorama RIZ to work together in a new way.
“This program is looking for additional locations for wetlands in the Lake Panorama watershed,” Otten said. “Landowners sometimes are hesitant when approached by an engineer. By partnering with Lake Panorama RIZ, Lane Rumelhart has been effective at talking to landowners about the possibility of adding a wetland on their property.”
Otten said Shive and RIZ have been successful in fulfilling a contract with IDALS to build three new wetlands in Panorama’s watershed. These three are currently under design. One is west of Guthrie Center. Two others are being developed by a single landowner north of Coon Rapids. Officials for both Shive and RIZ said they hope to extend this contract to continue looking for more wetland sites.
Rumelhart said another wetland that will help protect Burchfield Cove is in the works for RIZ-owned property.
“It is in the design phase and will be upstream from where we are now,” he said. “It will capture runoff from 1,400 acres. We anticipate construction in 2027, and the wetland will fill in spring 2028.”
Ag Secretary Naig praised the work of Lake Panorama RIZ for the progress being made in wetland installations and continuing to seek new locations for additional wetlands.
“These are management practices that work,” Naig said. “We need to continue to help fund and promote the use of wetlands, buffer strips, cover crops and other practices that keep nutrients in place.”
Work is wrapping up this fall on the fourth RIZ wetland that will flow into the west fork of Burchfield Cove. About 600 acres of agricultural ground will drain through this wetland.
RIZ entered into 28E agreements with IDALS on the Smith and West Fork of Burchfield wetlands. These agreements have RIZ pay all initial costs, then IDALS reimburses RIZ once complete for about half of the total project costs, which include land acquisition, engineering services and construction.
The Helen’s Cove wetland was the first for RIZ. Built in 2016, it is on the east side of Sage Trail, northeast of the LPA east campground. Overflow from this wetland makes its way into Helen’s Cove.
The Hughes Cove wetland is north of 200th Road, near the Fin and Feather building. It was constructed in 2017 to protect water quality in Hughes Cove.
From left, Carter Nordman, Iowa Representative; Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture; and Doug Hemphill, chair of the Lake Panorama RIZ trustees, look at the Smith wetland overflow area. RIZ hosted a wetland site visit here Oct. 16.
Lane Rumelhart, LPA project manager, talked about successes Lake Panorama RIZ is having by installing wetlands to help protect the lake’s water quality.
Mike Naig, Iowa Agriculture Secretary, talked about the need to continue to help fund and promote the use of wetlands, buffer strips, cover crops and other practices that keep nutrients in place.
The Smith wetland was built in 2019. It has a water pool of nine acres, is positioned on a 35-acre site of native plants and protects water quality in Burchfield Cove.