Different take on Iowa Floods
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I would say that at least up here in the northwest urban sprawl hurts the wildlife more than farming. you can drive any of the fields up here and even if you wanted too you couldn't chase all of the wildlife out of a field especially in the winters. Now when spring comes you can usually expect to see and not exaggerating 1000 plus ducks along with a lot of geese in multiple fields.
Is it different in the mid west?
Not at all. Another big thing about farmlands is that if left along they will revert back to natural landscape for the most part, while subdivisions will take a lot longer.
H
water can't soak into concrete and asphalt,
just my .02
just my .02
D
Have any of you ever attempted to subdivide ground? Maybe it is different in the mid-west, but here the watershed restrictions are numerous and onerous. I know several different land owners that have had to spend many thousands of dollars, in some case hundreds of thousands, in litigation to protect their own property rights from watershed restrictions.
That is why they build holding ponds for most subdivisions nowadays, but you do bring up a valid point.
It is much much easier in the midwest. You get your property annexed into a city and you can shrink the parcel down to whatever you want.... just have to pay for half assed road improvements.
Won't you will have a hard time doing though is dividing an 80 plot into 8 tens for hobby farms. Seems if there isn't a big developer throwing money around you can't get things done..
I hate sprawl. grumble grumble.
S
Hey Ruffy, is that the reason there were devastating floods in southwest washington this last year since it was not tiled farmland. Sometimes large storms happen and the levees don't always hold. People have been living in those areas for hundreds of years and living with the floods. I have seen extremely devastating floods in the Snohomish river valley over the years and it is not tiled land.Swampy:beer;
:beer;
Hey Ruffy, is that the reason there were devastating floods in southwest washington this last year since it was not tiled farmland. Sometimes large storms happen and the levees don't always hold. People have been living in those areas for hundreds of years and living with the floods. I have seen extremely devastating floods in the Snohomish river valley over the years and it is not tiled land.Swampy
If you have ever lived in the midwest, you would have noticed that flooding rivers is a regular ocurance... Then take a look at farmers fields that have disced up the tile and see how it is the one that holds water regularly....
True big storms happen, but in the midwest they have been happening for a long long time, and they have been screwing with the land for a long long time too. There is a cause and effect going on. Once you see just how much land was tiled in the midwest, I think you would be amazed.
Oh, and holding my statements to be always true and usable in every circumstance or example gives me great satisfaction.
Once you see just how much land was tiled in the midwest, I think you would be amazed. he's right, the midwest is a league all it's own. From the article if you didn't read it,
"Like Minnesota, Iowa has been almost completely transformed since settlement. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 95 percent of that state's wetlands have been drained or filled. About 75 percent of its forests have been cleared and more than 99 percent of its prairies have fallen to the plow.
Additionally, most natural vegetation -- typically called buffers -- along rivers and streams has been removed, lowlands have been tiled and streams channelized, or straightened, to provide more tillable land."
It's insane the amount of wetlands, etc we have lost in MN and yet we still complain about low duck numbers, etc, yet we still have a 6 bag duck limit. And guys still shoot 6! MN is home of complaining and pointing the perverbial 1 finger forward and 4 back(just ignoring those 4).
"Like Minnesota, Iowa has been almost completely transformed since settlement. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 95 percent of that state's wetlands have been drained or filled. About 75 percent of its forests have been cleared and more than 99 percent of its prairies have fallen to the plow.
Additionally, most natural vegetation -- typically called buffers -- along rivers and streams has been removed, lowlands have been tiled and streams channelized, or straightened, to provide more tillable land."
It's insane the amount of wetlands, etc we have lost in MN and yet we still complain about low duck numbers, etc, yet we still have a 6 bag duck limit. And guys still shoot 6! MN is home of complaining and pointing the perverbial 1 finger forward and 4 back(just ignoring those 4).
M
Average June rainfall -- a little over 3" We will most likely top out over 16" by the end of the month. I don't care what the landscape is, the soil will not handle it.
As for the bird population, it actually went down with the increase amount of set a side acres. It provided better cover for the predators and pheasent and quail chicks can not run in tangled weeds.
As for the bird population, it actually went down with the increase amount of set a side acres. It provided better cover for the predators and pheasent and quail chicks can not run in tangled weeds.
G
lets just make this easy and all agree to blame it on global warming.
i dont care how much, or how big of a tile system you have, if you get that much rain at once, that is surface run-off. look at the farm land in the areas, the tile still hasnt caught up and dumped all the water in the rivers.
anyone who doesnt believe there is wild life in the farm fields, feel free to come ride in the combine with me in the fall, especially when we get down to the last few rows of a field. birds and critters runnin every which direction.
i dont care how much, or how big of a tile system you have, if you get that much rain at once, that is surface run-off. look at the farm land in the areas, the tile still hasnt caught up and dumped all the water in the rivers.
anyone who doesnt believe there is wild life in the farm fields, feel free to come ride in the combine with me in the fall, especially when we get down to the last few rows of a field. birds and critters runnin every which direction.
B
It's always easy to stand back and offer expert opinions after the fact. The change in Iowa farm land has been market driven. America wants a cheap, steady supply of food yet most have no idea what it takes to get that food to their plate. Most of Iowa's farmers are very protective of the land. This is their livelihood and it is in their best interest to protect it. If you farm in Iowa or the Midwest for that matter, you live with drought, tornadoes, and you live with floods and you don't blame the government because the river overflowed it's banks. You don't wait for Hollywood to throw a fund raiser because it will never happen. You roll up you sleeves, check if your neighbor's OK, and start cleaning up. Complaint all you want about Iowa farmers, but if you're a stock broker in New York City enjoying a big juicy steak or a tofu eating tree hugger in Washington State, you might be having dinner complements of an Iowa farmer.
I don't prejudice against just Iowa farmers...I think farming in general needs overhuals everywhere. But then again I think most everything needs overhauls.
Who all read the article before responding?
Who all read the article before responding?
Not many....
that's kinda what I'm thinking...
B
To me the article sounded like if you took out the word "farmland" and substituted the words "forest land" you'd be talking to the same group of people.
S
If you have ever lived in the midwest, you would have noticed that flooding rivers is a regular ocurance... Then take a look at farmers fields that have disced up the tile and see how it is the one that holds water regularly....
True big storms happen, but in the midwest they have been happening for a long long time, and they have been screwing with the land for a long long time too. There is a cause and effect going on. Once you see just how much land was tiled in the midwest, I think you would be amazed.
Oh, and holding my statements to be always true and usable in every circumstance or example gives me great satisfaction.
__________________
Bender: I was God once.
God: Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everyone died.
Ruffy: I don't know haw long you have lived in western Washington but I have been here since 1950 and I can tell you floods are a regular occurance here also, Several years ago they had to close the US 2 trestle out of Everett because the river was running over it, the trestle is at a height to handle a 100 year flood. Floods occur everywhere there are storms dropping excess rain that is 3 to 4 times the normal, with or without tiles. Swampy
True big storms happen, but in the midwest they have been happening for a long long time, and they have been screwing with the land for a long long time too. There is a cause and effect going on. Once you see just how much land was tiled in the midwest, I think you would be amazed.
Oh, and holding my statements to be always true and usable in every circumstance or example gives me great satisfaction.
__________________
Bender: I was God once.
God: Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everyone died.
Ruffy: I don't know haw long you have lived in western Washington but I have been here since 1950 and I can tell you floods are a regular occurance here also, Several years ago they had to close the US 2 trestle out of Everett because the river was running over it, the trestle is at a height to handle a 100 year flood. Floods occur everywhere there are storms dropping excess rain that is 3 to 4 times the normal, with or without tiles. Swampy
Very true, I guess the issue is not that tiling causes flooding, because as you said floods will happen regardless. The issue in the midwest with tiling is that it
1) Allows for development of the land in areas that couldn't be before,
2) Removes a means of short term water storage
So what you get is instead of floods breaking into there flood planes, you get bigger floods breaking over dikes and going into homes and cities.
Sounds like you didn't read the article either....
I wonder if this is how most people on here discuss topics.
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just read the article. looks like they are just lookin for a fight thats all. 2 major floods in 15 years oh god we're all gonna die. Big frickin deal we man up and fix it. Read some comments to 'we need less corn and more clean water' please...stfu. 'Prarie land that has fallen to the plow' what will we ever do, less prarie land more food.
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