Okoboji Protective Association

"The OPA is dedicated to improving and enhancing the water quality and ecological health of Lake West Okoboji and the Iowa Great Lakes Watershed."

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Messages from Past Presidents

Late Fall, 2002

President's Message

Dear OPA Members,

Normally things quiet down in the fall after the tourist season, but this year was different when the news hit that a hog confinement was being built in Okoboji Township, approximately 5 miles south and within smelling distance of Lake Okoboji. The neighbors did not find out about it until it was already permitted and under construction. They had two choices, to do nothing or file a law suit. They stuck their necks out and chose the latter, and within days had formed a nonprofit "Save Dickinson County's Environment" and raised $10,000. The OPA donated $2,000 to the cause, and we sent out a fund-raising letter to ask you for additional help. Progress has been made- the DNR, the county supervisors and our governor are listening- but we are still waiting for a final outcome on this situation (check out the Save Dickinson County Environment web site at www.sdce.org)

In the meantime, let's pause for a moment and ask ourselves why in Iowa, a top hog producing state for at least 160 years, is this type of controversy now being fought throughout the state?

Today's industrial-style animal confinements present a completely different scale of water quality, community, property value and environmental impacts than in the past. Ace Cory, during his OPA presidency (1997-8), brought this to light. I video-taped the 1997 annual meeting when Cory invited farmers Jim Braun and Dwight Rutter to speak. Watching that video I was reminded that large, industrial style animal confinement operations were actively recruited to Iowa by our state government with profound impacts to our environment and communities.

In 1995 the state government encouraged this style of operation by passing HF 519, a bill that took away the right for nuisance law suits and local control. Ever since HF 519 we have been struggling to regain local control and community input into siting facilities for safe and proper manure management. That is why these battles are being fought today, not only here but all over the state.

Last spring the Iowa legislature passed SF 2293. This bi-partisan bill makes a number of improvements and a summary of this bill was provided in our spring OPA newsletter. It includes the opportunity for public input on siting procedures. The OPA prepared a public comment letter to be posted on the new website.

OTHER NEWS:

By the time you receive this newsletter, we should have our web site up and running! Check out www.okobojiprotectiveassociation.org!

The 2002 membership survey handed out at our annual meeting asked members to identify the issues that concern them most. The top concerns included membership, water monitoring, invasive species, boating and livestock issues. Because YOU listed these as concerns, we have separate articles about each of these subjects and what we are doing about them in this newsletter.

The article titled "Iowa's Conservation Cuts" details the 2002 legislature's environmental spending cuts. These 2002 spending cuts affected the Iowa Great Lakes region by ending our Clean Water Project, the longest running program of its kind in Iowa, and also dried up ISU's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture as a funding source for the water quality research at Lakeside Lab. The I-CALL article explains how most Iowans would do more to protect the environment if they were more informed, and what you can do to be more informed in restoring environmental programs and tracking other environmental issues by joining "I-CALL".

OPA Candidate Survey on Environmental Issues: For the first time ever the OPA created an Election Education Committee and distributed a questionnaire to all supervisor and state senate and representative candidates. The results were published in a full page spread in the Lake News Shopper. Thanks to publisher John Adams and to OPA vice president Greg Drees for their hard work on this project. The questions and answers of those who won the election are included in this newsletter.

Feel free to contact me or any board members if you have questions or concerns you would like the OPA to address. In the meantime don't forget to keep up with your dues and consider giving an OPA membership to a family member or friend as a holiday gift!

Happy holidays,

Jane Shuttleworth

President, OPA