It is Time.

Iowa is Ready for Cleaner Water &
Stronger Care of our Natural Resources

Richard Leopold – Director, Polk County Conservation

Richard Leopold

The date was August 9th, 2006. A small group of people from across Iowa gathered at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge outside of Prairie City to discuss water quality, agriculture, and natural resources. During the previous Iowa legislative session, John Whitaker, a state representative from Hillsboro with deep ties to Iowa agriculture, had inserted a short provision within the House Appropriations bill. The language established a committee made up of farmers, hunters, a few legislators of each party, and natural resources professionals. Their task was to study and recommend a way to sustainably fund natural resource protection in Iowa.

The path forward seemed long, and fraught with hurdles. How were we to find common ground on agricultural and water quality issues? On a sensible funding method? On how we would “divide the pie” if it ever came to be? On an amount sufficient enough to result in REAL improvement, not just window dressing, while still being efficient and accountable to the citizens of Iowa?

Well, we did it! That first year, Iowa Farm Bureau worked alongside the Iowa Environmental Council; urban folk worked alongside rural folk, hunters worked alongside bird-watchers, Republicans worked alongside Democrats, and we did it! We walked through dozens of funding mechanisms, examined state funding of natural resources from around the United States, spoke with hundreds of Iowans about their “willingness to pay”, shared many laughs and a few frustrations, but we did it!

In 2007 the state legislature approved language that could appear on a statewide ballot to create an Iowa Constitutional Amendment establishing the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. It was passed again in 2009, as required by Iowa to put a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot. Both times, it passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support. In 2010, the statewide ballot measure passed by 62% of Iowans, a previously unheard of strength of support. The ballot measure received more support than any statewide political race that year!

One last hurdle, now 14 years later, is left to clear. The next 3/8 of a cent of sales tax will go to “Fund the Trust”, and this needs to come from legislation and signed by the Governor. In her Condition of the State Address this year, Governor Reynolds revealed the design of the Invest in Iowa Act. She has shown bold leadership, in working with all the same groups that formed the original recommendations, to finally Fund the Trust!

It isn’t a done deal yet, not by a longshot. As they like to say in the Capitol, there are a thousand ways to kill a bill, and only one way to pass it. We must stay vigilant and supportive to our local legislators and the Governor. We must pull together as hunters, farmers, urban professionals, anglers, and outdoor recreation enthusiasts.

This is a public health issue, and there is vast support in the public health community. This is an economic development issue, employers need a high quality of life to attract and retain a well-educated and motivated workforce. This is a clean water issue, Iowans deserve cleaner water for drinking, fishing, and recreation. We have been fighting over the crumbs that fall off the table for too long, and this fund will mean real money for real solutions that are far overdue.

There are detractors, but not many. When we conceived the effort years ago, we set a “formula” for distribution, which has now been changed. That’s ok, to a degree, we knew this would happen to respond to our water and natural resources needs of the changing times. Some existing funding may be compromised. Again, that’s ok, to a degree, the Trust Fund will dwarf past funding efforts within Iowa.

Poll after poll shows strong and widespread support by Iowans. This effort is the single largest thing to improve the water and land in Iowa in the history of the state. The fund is sustainable, accountable, and substantial enough to make a REAL difference.