Republicans in the Iowa Senate have approved a budget plan for the Departments of Natural Resources and Agriculture that includes more money to prepare for a potential outbreak of a foreign animal disease, like African Swine Fever.
Senator Eric Giddens, a Democrat from Cedar Falls, said the bill falls short in other areas. “Year after year, there’s been status quo budgets for DNR operations, forestry management and state park operations,” Gidden said during Senate debate Tuesday. “Our state parks are important to attracting and retaining residents in this state.”
Senator Dan Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, said he met with the DNR’s director to discuss shifting money within the agency’s budget, to focus on priorities. “I don’t think there’s anything more enjoyable to drive through Backbone State Park and see it mowed and see the benches fixed and see the shelters in good shape for they’re much more usable for us,” Zumbach said.
The 16 Democrats in the Senate voted against the budget plan. Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the bill cuts funding for the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University and likely ends its collaboration with the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa. Weiner said it’s University of Iowa staff who’ve been measuring whether water quality projects are working.
“We know that water quality is a problem,” Weiner said. “We know that Iowans deserve better, but without data it will be easy to say: ‘There’s no problem’ or ‘We don’t know how to measure the problem’ — so problem solved.”
Zumbach, in closing remarks on the bill, said the water quality funds shifted to the Iowa Department of Agriculture will be spent on science-based initiatives. “What we do know is practices on the land and in our towns is what makes cleaner water,” Zumbach says, “and so when we made the decisions on how to appropriate dollars, it was all about let’s put practices that help clean our water.”
Democrats like Senator Sarah Trone- arriott of Waukee also objected to language in the bill that would repeal a law that says the State of Iowa should aim to have 10 percent of Iowa land be parks, wilderness areas and other property available for public use. “To sneak this into our budget work really robs our public from the opportunity to speak out against it,” Trone Garriott said
Zumbach replied: “We have a lot of land in public use that’s not being taken care of the way it should be..”
The State of Iowa currently owns about 390,000 acres of land that is to be maintained by the DNR. That’s about 1% of the 36 million acres in Iowa according to a DNR land inventory.