This highly erodible land is one of the reasons critics are putting up a fight. If it's chemicals, any kind of contaminants.” 'It's going to pick up whatever's on that surface. “The water coming out of that spring might look pure and beautiful, but it's actually water that was on the surface, sometimes hours ago, sometimes days ago,” Peterson said. She says water moves beneath the surface completely different here. Laura Peterson is an associate professor of environmental studies at Luther College in Decorah, which is the Driftless Region. This region is known for its karst topography, sinkholes and cool-water streams. It wasn’t glaciated in the last ice age and includes parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. The Sierra Club Iowa Chapter is currently considering a court appeal to stop this open feedlot from being built near one of Iowa’s outstanding waters.īloody Run Creek is in a part of northeast Iowa known as the Driftless Region. “If we can't protect one of our outstanding Iowa waters, the very best that we have, then we all have to take a step back and say we really can't protect anything in Iowa if we can't protect Bloody Run,” Veysey said. “That uses up oxygen that's in these clear, cool spring-fed creeks that support trout and other sensitive, cool water species.”īloody Run creek is among 34 waterways designated as outstanding Iowa Waters by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). All that organic material that's in manure will start to decay,” Veysey said. “But that large organic content, if when they spread manure, it rains and the manure makes its way into the stream.

Manure has a very high organic content and is a great fertilizer when used correctly, Veysey said. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two components of manure that cause the most water quality concerns. It would not be fair to them,” she said.Steve Veysey is a retired Iowa State University chemist and is among a group of environmentalists trying to stop Supreme Beef LLC from moving forward with an 11,600 head open feedlot near the headwaters of Bloody Run Creek in northeast Iowa.Įnvironmentalists and others who oppose the feedlot say Supreme Beef’s nutrient management plans contain inaccuracies that would result in over-application of manure used as fertilizer on crops. 'We don't want to draw the process out too long. Ott said Pattison Sand, as with other big companies, is planning for its future. Given that the zoning change would have minimum impact for many years, several attendees at the Dec. The additional reserves secured through the zoning change 'help us do a better job planning for the future,” he said. Owner Kyle Pattison said the mining company has sand reserves on its existing property that will last more than 15 years. In Clayton County, with Pattison Sand already operating a sand mine, 'it is definitely a different situation,” Ott said. 'We have to have a balance in the county between jobs and the environment, and we all need to work together to figure it out,” Blake said.īoth Allamakee and Winneshiek counties - neither of which has an operating sand mine - have enacted zoning ordinances that make it difficult to start one. You will begin to receive our Daily News updates. Add your contacts.Īllamakee County Zoning Administrator Tom Blake, a Guttenberg resident, recommended the zoning commission take time to study the issue before acting. Smith of Guttenberg, a former commissioner of the Iowa Great River Road, which runs past the Pattison mine, urged that preservation of scenery be considered in the zoning board's deliberations. Kay Vifian, who lives on 28 acres within a mile of the mine, said expanded mining could compromise the quality of life and aesthetics that first attracted her and her husband to the area. 'Good-paying jobs are important, but you have to consider the long-term effects on tourism, the environment and quality of life,” Loven said. 'The big thing is you need to take a look at the impact of expanded mining for all people concerned,” Guttenberg Mayor Russ Loven said at the Dec. Ott also said Pattison Sand has hired a consultant to examine water and view shed issues. County Zoning Administrator Janet Ott said the supervisors have authorized formation of a five-member committee to gather information from similar pre-existing studies - including information from recent studies conducted by Winneshiek and Allamakee counties - and report back to the zoning commission, which would likely revisit the issue in May.

Clayton county iowa scenery