SWCD Internship Available (Boone County)

2017 Boone Soil and Water Conservation District Summer Internships

Duration: 10-12 weeks, 40 hours per week

Locations available: Boone, Iowa (Boone County)

Pay: $12.00 per hour

Qualifications: Open to any students currently enrolled in college or recent graduate majoring in a field of study related to agriculture, conservation, engineering, construction trades, GIS, communications, public relations, urban planning, or environmental sciences.

Duties: The Intern will assist the Boone Soil and Water Conservation District and Natural Resources Conservation Service with duties including, but not limited to:

  • Working with local landowners and partners to develop interest in and commitment to implementation of conservation programs and activities
  • Water quality monitoring through the collection of water quality samples
  • Assist field office staff with the development of conservation plans and implementation of conservation practices
  • Working with Palmer Amaranth in CRP plantings.

Work environment: This position includes both office and field work.  Successful candidates will work as part of a local team as well as independently, be able to traverse rough terrain on foot, spend time outdoors in the summer months, be able to work with the public including landowners and customers, use GPS/GIS tools, work in extreme temperature or inclement weather as required, work around large equipment, and complete work in a timely manner.  A valid driver’s license is required.

Reporting:  The Intern will report to the District Conservationist on a day-to-day basis. A background check of the student will be required. The student Intern will also make a formal presentation at the end of their internship to report on their experience and work completed over the summer. The student is expected to coordinate the planning of this meeting and present findings to interested conservation partners.

 Deadline to apply

Applications must be received (not postmarked) by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 8th, 2017

Application Process

Submit a Cover letter and Resume or 2017 Boone SWCD Summer Intern Application to:

Boone Soil and Water Conservation District, 1602 Snedden Drive, Boone, Iowa 50036

For more information about a specific position, contact:

Boone, Iowa (Boone County) – Jayne Smith, Conservation Assistant, 515-432-2316 Ext. 3

People are asking about the 2017 Iowa Water Conference…

… and we have answers!

Written by Melissa Miller, Associate Director of the Iowa Water Center

It’s that time of year again. Everywhere I go, I get questions about the Iowa Water Conference. Here are a few of the recurring questions:

What’s the theme this year?

Watershed Management: Partnerships for Progress

 Is the agenda filled up?

You bet – chock full. We’re going to release it as soon as we’ve fine-tuned the last few details.

 Can I still submit abstracts?

We do have ONE track that we’ve left unfilled on purpose. The Current Research track will have an open call this January. We plan for this track to have nine 30-minute spots available. Keep an eye open for that call – it won’t last very long, as we’ve had a lot of interest! If you don’t get selected, we certainly encourage you to submit a poster.

And my favorite question to answer: What’s new for 2017?

 Last year is going to be hard to top, but we’re trying. The conference committee carefully considers your comments and evaluations each year and makes little tweaks here and there. Some highlights from 2017 to look forward to:

-The addition of the Iowa Chapter of the American Fisheries Society to the conference. We have several fisheries related talks that will appear in the main conference program, as well as a special track that will serve as their regular spring conference.

-Bringing back the evening reception. We will host a networking social hour on Wednesday evening in Scheman featuring an exhibit titled, “River Stories: Views from a Watershed.” This is a photo exhibit detailing stories created by women farmland owners in the Raccoon and Des Moines River valleys.

-A time for panel presentations. To cap off the first day breakout sessions, we will have a full hour for four concurrent panel presentations to encourage discussion and collaborative thinking.

-Optional workshop: Prairie STRIPS. The STRIPS team is working on developing a two-hour workshop on implementing this beautiful and effective water management practice.

–Spirit of the Water Essay Contest. With thanks to a generous donor, the Iowa Water Center is holding a writing contest for students in the state of Iowa in high school, college, or graduate school. Entries are being accepted through February 1; visit our website for more details.

This is all in addition to the perennial block of excellent plenaries, breakouts, award presentations, photo contest, networking, Scheman sticky buns, posters, exhibitors, and more! Look for the full agenda to be released next week and registration to open in January (we’ll announce the date on social media and email our subscribers).

IWConf17 presentation applications are due (really) soon

If you’ve been putting off submitting an application to present at the 2017 Iowa Water Conference, put it off no longer – applications are due Sunday night (Aug 14) at 11:59 p.m. The IWConf17 planning committee will review in the weeks following as the “first cut” for determining the 2017 conference agenda.

(It’s okay if you wait until Sunday to submit. It’s not procrastination. You’re busy. It’s prioritization.)

Wondering if you should submit an application? Do you answer yes to any of the following questions?

-Do you have a story to tell about watershed successes?

-Are you looking for partners for a current or new project?

-Do you have the latest tool in your water management field with proven results?

-Have you figured out a way to engage new sectors of populations in water-related activities or conversations?

From the call for applications:

This year’s theme, “Watershed Management: Partnerships for Progress,” promotes water resource management from a watershed perspective, with a particular emphasis on the partnerships necessary to accomplish goals. Improving water management on a watershed scale is a complex undertaking due to the variety and sheer number of stakeholders. Watersheds do not adhere to political jurisdictions; they often cross borders of different cities of town, counties, and in some cases, states. The 11th Annual Iowa
Water Conference looks for presentations to tell stories of successes and lessons learned through forged partnerships while providing updates on the latest technical approaches to water management from a variety of perspectives.
One final thing to note – conference goers have requested to hear more stories of successful implementation- a translation of research/development into practice. They want to come away with an idea of how your presentation’s focus fits into their lives. The committee will be looking at applications through that lens this year.
Instructions for submitting are in the call for applications. As usual, if you have questions – let us know.

Mixing entrepreneurs with H2O for a solution

Earlier this year, IWC Director Rick Cruse and Associate Director Melissa Miller met with staff from the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative (AEI) at Iowa State University about an exciting new event idea. AEI team members have spent the last several months working tirelessly to organize Water Innovation Challenge 2016, an open community creative event that will join students, industry experts, scientists, entrepreneurs and YOU to collaborate and co-create new ideas that change the way we think about, manage, and use water in our state.

Details:

Waterpalooza 2016
Sept 1 & 2 (must be present both days)
Scheman Building, Iowa State University campus, Ames
$50 registration (FREE for current students)
Over $15,000 awarded in prizes

The event is facilitated by Dr. Jeffrey Stamp, a professional creative and concept developer who was the inventor of the Frito-Lay Baked! Lays® Potato Crisps. Dr. Stamp is a native of Sheldon, Iowa and leads creative innovation sessions worldwide for corporations, universities, and start-ups.

We at IWC are delighted to promote this event that will equip a variety of stakeholder with entrepreneurial skills all while thinking big and sharing ideas that will creatively address water quality issues in Iowa.

For guidelines, event schedule, and registration information, please visit the event’s webpage. Questions can be directed to Amanda Blair at acblair@iastate.edu or 515.294.4945. This event is sponsored by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

Introducing a new intern by reflecting on #iowah2o

Marianne Murchison joined the Iowa Water Center as an intern from University of Missouri Columbia Masters of Public Health Policy and Promotion program in June 2016.  Her background is in Political Science, Nonprofit Management and Public Health Policy.  Since 2013, she has been supporting conservation efforts of the USDA NRCS in Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma.  She hopes to merge her education and experience to positively impact how the public views water quality and conservation as a public health issue.

“Drinking water supply is multidisciplinary.” – P. Barry Butler. These were the opening remarks for University of Iowa Public Policy Drinking Water Symposium titled Iowa’s Drinking Water: Could Flint Happen Here? held on June 17th 2016 in Des Moines.  Throughout the day, speakers elaborated on their areas of expertise concerning Iowa’s drinking water concerns.  Topics covered included: supply and demand (mainly making sure we price the commodity accurately), Lessons that Iowa can learn from the Flint, Michigan water crisis, exploration of the technology and innovation that are poised to revolutionize the drinking water industry, Iowa’s agricultural and natural threats to its drinking water supply and the best way to use policy to protect Iowa’s Drinking Water.  Each topic further elaborated on how complex an issue access to safe water resources is in the state and beyond.

The overarching message was that Iowa’s drinking water concerns are environmental and public health problems.  Framing safe drinking water as a public health necessity brings everyone together around this issue.  While there were various opinions of how to protect and improve Iowa’s water resources were discussed, what was not up for debate was that if nothing is done, Flint-like problems could hit vulnerable water resources and aging infrastructure in Iowa and beyond.  Everyone is part of the problem we all must be part of the solution.  Iowans and water quality experts need to own their responsibility to solve and prevent water quality issues and, in Gandhi’s words, “be the change we want to see in the world” . . . of water.

Comment below and tell us what part you play in a sustainable future for Iowa’s drinking water.