Iowa's Everglades

June 25, 2008

Hold the Raindrop Where it Falls
Des Moines Register joined the chorus of thoughtful Iowans who are calling for Greenbelts, Greenways, and other water and soil conservation approaches to flood control. Yesterday Florida Governor Charlie Crist announced a $1.7 billion purchase of 187,000 acres of sugar fields. We have a lot to learn from the Florida Everglades preservation efforts -- and the Register.

The Register notes that today's emphasis on turning floodplains into parks that can withstand flooding, rather than condo and business developments that cannot, is . . .

a reminder of the simple advice shared many years ago by former Register cartoonist Ding Darling, a renowned conservationist: "Hold the raindrop where it falls."

Beyond battling Mother Nature with man-made structures to control her rivers and streams, Iowa must work with Mother Nature to help her keep the raindrops where they fall.

That will require a change in how Iowans collectively view our water, not as a hindrance - to be drained off fields and parking lots as quickly as possible, often carrying animal waste, fertilizer and street runoff downstream - but as a natural resource to soak up and savor.

It also will require a collective commitment from everyone in a watershed, everywhere the raindrop falls.

Commit to conservation

That means stepping up farm conservation efforts. If Iowa's rolling hills include more trees and swamps, excess water is more likely to be sponged up and slowed.

Curbing flooding downstream means working upstream to restore wetlands, prairies and natural barriers to control water.

Editorial, "Embrace a New Water Ethic for Iowa," Des Moines Register, June 22, 2008.

Imagine Iowa 1000 years ago, with its prairies and river systems. Look at a map of Iowa that highlights our vast network of rivers. And then look at, and learn about, the Florida Everglades -- the so-called "River of Grass."

No, I'm not suggesting what Iowa tourism needs is more alligators.

What I am suggesting is that we have some problems, and opportunities, in common with Florida.

Here's a brief excerpt from Wikipedia's detailed entry on the Everglades:

The Everglades are a subtropical wetland located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The entire system begins in the vicinity of Orlando with the Kissimmee River. The Everglades includes the region that spans from Lake Okeechobee south to Florida Bay, as well as the interconnected ecosystems within the boundary. The Kissimmee River discharges into Lake Okeechobee, a vast shallow fresh water lake. Water leaving Lake Okeechobee in the wet season forms the Everglades, a slow-moving river 60 miles (97 km) wide and over 100 miles (160 km) long, flowing southward across a slightly angled limestone shelf to Florida Bay at the southern end of the state. It is such a unique convergence of land, water, and climate that the use of singular and plural to refer to the Everglades is appropriate.[1] Characteristics of the climate of South Florida include annual wet and dry seasons, and the region has a history of recurring flooding and drought that has shaped the natural environment.

"Everglades," Wikipedia. The piece goes on to provide details about the variety and extent of water plans and projects from the past and for the future.

The Everglades is one very wide River of Grass, covering much of the state. The Iowa rivers system is one vast river system covering all of the "State of Grass" -- or what once was a prairie state.

The Everglades has become polluted from, among other things, fertilizer. Development is encroaching. That creates rapid runoff and flooding.

Sound familiar?

Iowa ranks near the bottom of all states in terms of public lands, park and forest lands, wetlands and prairies. Some of our rivers are the most polluted in the country.

What is Florida doing about its problems? Read on.

Two sides that rarely agree on anything celebrated Tuesday a "monumental" but still tentative $1.7 billion buyout that would put the nation's largest sugar grower out of business in six years but fill a gaping hole in Florida's long-stalled Everglades restoration.

The deal, expected to be final by Nov. 30, is good for the environment -- the nearly 300 square miles of sugar land is "the holy grail," one Everglades advocate said. And it's good for U.S. Sugar Corp., which will get $1.7 billion and six years of rent-free operations with the state as its landlord.

In return, Florida gets a chance to reinvigorate the stalled restoration of the Everglades, end years of bickering over pollution by "Big Sugar" and -- years from now -- get more much-needed clean water flowing into the River of Grass.

"I can envision no better gift to the Everglades, or the people of Florida, than to place in public ownership this missing link that represents the key to true restoration," Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday, likening the announcement to the creation of America's first national park, Yellowstone. . . .

No one has drawn up specific plans yet, but a likely scenario involves massively expanding reservoirs and the 44,000 acres of treatment marshes that the state is building, at a cost of more than $1.2 billion.

The marshes scrub farm runoff to the pristine water quality level needed to protect the sensitive Everglades system. . . .

Michael Sole, the secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, . . . said the deal would have the added benefit of easing pressure to pump polluted water out of Lake Okeechobee to protect its deteriorating dike, discharges that have choked estuaries on both coasts in the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers with repeated, damaging algae blooms.

Curtis Morgan and Scott Hiaasen, "Sugar buyout hailed as Glades `gift,'" Miami Herald, June 25, 2008.

There is no shortage of ideas that simultaneously eliminate or reduce flooding, purify our rivers and streams, encourage wildlife, reduce greenhouse gases, minimize the pollution from runoff, increase recreational opportunities, promote tourism, and stimulate economic growth.

Florida has just invested $1.7 billion in one such effort. Johnson County residents will be given the opportunity to provide roughly 1% of that amount to produce similar benefits here.

If we continue to re-build in floodplains, if we refuse to change our water runoff practices where we can, and fail to build Greenbelts and Greenways where we can't, if we fail to demonstrate the political courage to put in place the solutions that have already been worked out by others, we will deserve what we get in future flood losses -- and don't get in future benefits.

Its our grandchildren and great grandchildren who don't deserve the former, and do deserve the latter.

# # #

Gazette's Flood Plan, Floodplains & Greenbelts

June 21, 2008, 7:45 a.m., 12:40 p.m.

Gazette Increases Volume of Chorus
This morning, June 21, The Gazette adds its powerful editorial voice to the growing chorus of support for flood prevention methods that work with, rather than against, Mother Nature. See blog entries, comments, quotes and links in, Nicholas Johnson, "Greenbelts, Greenways and Flood Prevention," June 16, 2008; Nicholas Johnson, "Floods and Football," June 17, 2008; Nicholas Johnson, "Flooding, Greenbelts & Catching Up With State29," June 18, 2008; Nicholas Johnson, "Greenbelts and Floodplains," June 20, 2008.

While Iowa’s catastrophic flooding has been widely blamed on the deluge that fell from the sky, hydrologists, conservationists and government officials told the Washington Post this week they believe man is to blame, too, possibly even more than Mother Nature.

From farm drainage tiling, to parking lots that smother once permeable pasture or wetlands, no one denies that man’s development activities have changed the pace of storm water runoff, sending it shooting toward waterways instead of slowly meandering as nature intended it to, into the ground.

The bottom line: Mother Nature’s wet wrath is something largely out of our control. But our landscape is ours to shape.

Our lessons should have been learned in 1993. But we’re wiser now, a nation that is getting more comfortable with living “green.” So from this flood forward, we can and should be better stewards of our land, doing everything within our control to mitigate the chance of future catastrophic flooding. In the coming months, officials from the national level to the local need to take objective looks at just how much humans played a role in intensifying the floods so that we can know best where to make changes in policies and educate the public about ways to they can help. . . .

Within urban areas, the storm water runoff practices of both residential and commercial development should be looked at from the perspective of a flood-devastated community . . ..

With flood-recovery estimates now in the multi-billions, ponder the financial burden of such shortsightedness. Our river has no more patience for it.

Editorial, "Our Role in Lessening Nature's Wrath," The Gazette, June 21, 2008, p. A6.

The Press-Citizen, which has run a number of op ed columns endorsing Mother Nature's Flood Control Plan (see links at the top of this entry), has yet to clearly editorialize in support of such an approach. Although its editorial this morning was at least consistent with it:

Other residents now recognize how the [Normandy Drive] neighborhood has been in a state of danger for decades -- ever since it was built within the floodplain.

That's one of the reasons why some of the Normandy Drive residents themselves may be asking the city to buy out such endangered residential areas. And that's why the city -- especially if FEMA funds are made available -- should give that offer serious consideration.

Editorial, "Residents Had Enough Warning for Evacuation," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 21, 2008, p. A18.

It also ran an additional op ed supporting a much more direct analysis and proposal regarding such things as Greenbelts and wetlands:

Iowa is experiencing flooding yet again and Iowans will be taking actions to reduce and mitigate flooding in the future. Among those options should be the reconstruction of wetlands and -- when cellulosic biofuel production becomes feasible -- the conversion of croplands to certain energy crops that help reduce flooding. . . .

Farmers have lined up to enter land into voluntary wetland creation programs but most are turned away because of a lack of funding. These wetlands benefit society by providing wildlife habitat, cleaning the water and helping to control floods. One acre of wetland can prevent between 1 million and 1.5 million gallons of water from entering a flooded waterway by acting like a sponge. . . .

[O]ne acre of wetland can also filter out most of the nitrogen and sediment from up to 100 acres of adjacent cropland. When the water is slowly released it is far cleaner. . . .

[F]undamental changes in cropping patterns enabled by cellulosic biofuel production, if carefully implemented, could dramatically reduce Iowa's flooding. . . .

Growing prairie would dramatically reduce Iowa's flooding and soil erosion problem. Prairies, like wetlands, reduce flooding because they soak up tremendous amounts of water and release it slowly. Under matching soil types, slopes, saturation and weather conditions, a prairie will retain a far greater portion of rain than a corn or bean field. Prairie protects the land and water far better than conventional corn or soybeans.

Cleaner, more stable streams benefit society in other ways as well. With prairie, streams that dry up and die in the dry season are more likely to continue flowing. More desirable game fish would repopulate Iowa's steams and migratory waterfowl could head north out of Iowa healthy rather than malnourished, and our waterways would be more pleasant and safer for recreation.

Flooding is a problem of small impacts spread over many acres. Solutions therefore can come in the form of many small changes spread over many acres. Shifting a significant number of acres of corn and beans to prairie energy crops would dramatically reduce the amount of floodwater flowing off our fields. . . .

Andrew Hug, "Reducing Iowa's Recurrent Floods," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 21, 2008, p. A18.

State29 has a couple more blog entries well worth reading, State29, "Rebuilding It As Greenspace," June 20, 2008, and State29, "The 500 Year Flood Plain Myth + Stupid Spending," June 21, 2008 (with a sensible and serious proposal for where the new federal building in Cedar Rapids should be located).

John Barleykorn commented on yesterday's blog entry, "I think that many of us are looking at issues like storm water runoff and conservation design. We have to re-think conventional curb and gutter urban design standards." He goes on to mention and link to an intriguing commercial firm that I intend to check out.

And for those who consider themselves friends of or stakeholders in the University -- or would just like to help out -- here's a word from UI President Sally Mason that speaks for itself and requires no commentary from me:

To University of Iowa Alumni, Friends, Contributors, and Hawkeye Fans across the world:

Your University is facing what may be the greatest challenge in its 160-year history.

Many people have contacted us asking us how they can help, and in response we're offering a way to do so from wherever you may be.

Unprecedented flooding throughout Eastern Iowa has already impacted our entire arts campus and much more -- including beloved landmarks such as the Iowa Memorial Union, the UI Museum of Art, our music and theatre buildings, and Hancher Auditorium.

Although it appears the flooding on campus has crested, the high water will still inflict significant damage to the more than 16 UI buildings that took on water. The Iowa River is slowly receding, but it will take months and years for the campus to fully recover.

You can help by making a gift online today to the UI Flood Relief Fund. Please go online to http://www.givetoiowa.org/floodfund to lend your support. Gifts of all sizes are needed and appreciated, and our first priority is to assist UI students and employees who have been displaced from their homes by the flooding. After addressing these most immediate human concerns, we will use contributions to the fund (as available) at my discretion to address other areas of flood-related need throughout the campus.

I encourage the UI community and Iowans generally to help –- whether through volunteering or other sharing of resources –- as they can with the relief efforts for those parts of the state most affected by the flooding. A good place to start in assisting our friends in Johnson and Linn Counties is by visiting www.corridorrecovery.org.

The University of Iowa community has always been far larger than our physical campus, and the Hawkeye spirit has overcome many challenges in the past. I am confident this University will emerge stronger than ever before. UI students, faculty, staff, and community members showed tremendous teamwork and resolve in last week's massive sandbagging efforts. If you'd like to join them in helping us rise above this crisis, please visit http://www.givetoiowa.org/floodfund.

Our heartfelt thanks for all of your encouragement, and for your ongoing generosity.
ON IOWA!

Sally Mason
President
The University of Iowa

P.S. For the most up-to-date information on the UI and the Flood of 2008, and for a large gallery of photos, visit the University's flood information web site at http://uiflood.blogspot.com/.

# # #

Greenbelts and Floodplains

June 20, 2008, 8:15 a.m.

Attitudes Are Shifting
On June 16 I wrote of "Greenbelts, Greenways and Flood Prevention." While I suffer no illusion about the impact of that little blog entry, the fact is that since then there has been a growing chorus of new attitudes about Greenbelts, conservation, and smart use of floodplains.

When I was clerking for a Fifth Circuit judge in Houston and complained about the air quality I was informed, "You smell that, Boy? That's the smell of money." It's still the smell of money in Houston. But Houstonians' attitudes are changing -- even about oil.

Houston, Texas, is one of the largest, most spread out and sprawling, unplanned and unzoned cities in America. But this morning NPR had a feature on how $4.00 gas is causing even Houstonians to rethink the desirability of exchanging a little planning for their "Texas freedom." "Houston Mayor Gauges Impact of Traffic," Morning Edition/National Public Radio, June 20, 2008.

And so it is that the flooding that's caused the State to declare over 80 of Iowa's 99 counties to be disaster areas has finally captured our attention, and got us thinking that maybe some of the environmentalists' ideas about Greenbelts, Greenways, planting "filters" along rivers -- and devoting floodplains to parks, forests and wetlands (rather than regularly flooded homes and businesses) -- may have been pretty smart ideas after all.

How else can you explain this morning's Press-Citizen's op ed page with columns by Bob Elliott and Karen Kubby both singing in harmony?

Karen Kubby writes:

I've heard some conversation in the community about changing our floodplain ordinances to prevent residential rebuilding or new construction, even if built one foot above the 100-year flood plain. Some communities across the nation have taken this step and turned their floodplains into recreation areas. This allows the floodplain to maintain its function of absorbing and holding water during flood events, creates public spaces around waterways and provides recreation and transportation paths.

Tragedy was turned into an economic boon in these cases.

When Idyllwild was built in the 1990s, Susan Horowitz and I voted "no" because of this issue. We wanted to discuss the cost and benefits of revising the floodplain ordinance. The majority ruled. Idyllwild was built, and the floodplain ordinance was not reviewed.

Karen Kubby, "Affordable Housing and Floodplain Management," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 20, 2008, p. 15A.

Bob Elliott confesses:

In addition to being a disaster, this devastating flood is a learning experience. So I hope our battle with the Iowa River is teaching us a lesson.

In recent years, I paid attention to environmental activists about the importance of such things as floodplains. But I was listening with something of a jaundiced ear.

Well, I'm not yet a born-again environmentalist, and probably not eligible to wear an official tree hugger badge. But my eyes and ears are being opened.

For one thing, I'm more aware of problems with building on a floodplain or doing anything with it other than leaving it as nature intended. . . .

After the painfully disturbing reality of the past few weeks, clearly we need to be really careful when messing with Mother Nature. . . . [W]e get the short end of the stick when we attempt to do battle with tornadoes and floodwaters.

So given the benefit of hindsight, it appears Iowa City shouldn't have allowed development of homes and churches in the northside Idyllwild and Normandy Drive areas.

Bob Elliott, "Learn Lessons From the Flood," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 20, 2008, p. A15.

Gregory Johnson commented in an email:

I'm encouraged to see that others are thinking about widening the green areas around the Iowa River.

When I was in Chicago, we had wonderfully pleasant weather on Monday and walked in the water on the beach. The next day it was cold and dangerous to even be near the lake. Waves were crashing against the shore furiously. The beach was closed. Fortunately no property was damaged. No businesses were closed down. No residents were displaced. Why? Because Chicago has established beautiful parks, beaches, and trails along the lake shore.

I think Iowa City and other communities should do the same. Putting parks and trails in an area subject to flooding doesn't mean that parks and trails aren't as important as businesses. The point is that they are easier to clean up after flooding. Parks aren't "mission critical." It wasn't until this flood that I realized how many of this city's critical resources are in flood areas:

* The entire office complex for the Johnson County Administration Building
* The pure water processing plant
* The waste water processing plant
* The central University of Iowa Computing Center
* The Power Plant
* The Hydraulics Lab
* The entire source for steam (heating and cooling system) for the entire campus

If the above resources are knocked out, the entire city would need to be evacuated. . . .

Some sports require large amounts of open space (and open green space) such as tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, football practice, and other such things. Why not have these in the low lying areas. Instead, the football practice field was high and dry while the critical infrastructure of Iowa City and the University of Iowa was under water.

(And see his "Proactive Flood Containment and Disaster Planning - Responding to the Iowa Flood of 2008.") Nor are the advantages of Greenbelts and Greenways limited to their ability to reduce or eliminate flood damage through wiser use of floodplains.

They also contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gases and the size of our "carbon footprint." Here are excerpts from the latest science on the relationship between the flood damage we've just suffered and "global warming":

If you think the weather is getting more extreme, you're right — and global warming caused by human activity probably is the reason, according to a report released Thursday by a panel of government scientists.

The report comes as the Midwest copes with record rainfall and catastrophic flooding.

There is strong evidence the increasing frequency of extreme rain, heat, drought and tropical storms is caused by global climate change, according to the report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

Larry Wheeler, "Scientists: Weather extremes consistent with global warming," USA Today, June 19, 2008. The hard copy Press-Citizen had a brief version this morning as "We May Be Cause of Weather Woes," p. 7A. A full, early version of report is U.S. Climate Change Science Program, "Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate," August 16, 2007.

When even Bob Elliott and scientific reports that make it through the Bush Administration agree there's a problem -- and, more important, a solution -- it's time for all of us to abandon levies, rebuilding in floodplains, and sandbagging and get behind Mother Nature's flood control plan.

Where to start? (1) Find out more about Greenbelts at GO IOWA!, http://resourcesforlife.com/goiowa, and (2) work to pass the conservation bond issue on the November 4, 2008, ballot.

# # #

Flooding, Greenbelts & Catching Up With State29

June 18, 2008, 4:45 p.m.

Greenbelts and Flooding

Two days ago I wrote,

Even if we had never suffered the losses from flooding in the past, and would never have another flood in the future, we should promote the idea of a Greenbelt around the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Coridor, and Greenways and filters along Iowa's Rivers.

There are hundreds of ways of setting aside land for conservation besides purchase or gifts -- and no need to recite them all now. Uses such as golf courses and farming can continue -- along with forests, prairies and wetlands. The benefits include recreational uses, hunting and fishing, wildlife habitats, "smart growth" for urban areas, with increased real estate values.

But the values also include cleaner water, less soil erosion -- and reduced impact, or elimination of damage from, flooding."

Nicholas Johnson, "Greenbelts, Greenways and Flood Prevention," June 16, 2008.

This morning I was pleased to see Jim Throgmorton -- who knows more about this stuff than I do -- hit a similar theme. Jim Throgmorton, "Looking for Sound Flood Alternatives," Iowa City Press-Citizen, June 18, 2008, p. A15 ("eliminate existing structures in the floodplain and . . . use the land only in ways that can accommodate future flooding. As parkland, for example. . . . [T]he long-term conversion of tall grass prairie and wetlands into corn and soybean fields has (when coupled with increased coverage of land with concrete and asphalt) had the effect of reducing the soil's ability to absorb rainfall and slow runoff.")

Catching Up With State29

The past six weeks has involved a variety of semester's-end tasks, along with meeting a goal of creating another book. The former is completed; the latter nearly so.

Not only was I not blogging much during that time, I was also not tracking State29's blog as closely as usual. It turns out that I missed a lot of what he self-describes as "insightfully vulgar" commentary on events and issues we both care about -- even though he often takes me to task for my positions on one of the many matters about which we disagree. Here are a very few selections from the dozens of blog entries he's provided during May and this much of June.

Flooding

State29, "Why Do We Encourage Development in Flood Zones?" June 15, 2008.

UI Athletic Program

State29, "You'd Think The University Of Iowa Would Have Learned Something From The Pierre Pierce Case," June 17, 2008.

The Stories Project

State29, "Feedback Wanted About The Stories Project in Coralville," June 7, 2008.

State29, "Pulp Fiction: The Stories Project Scam in Coralville," June 6, 2008.

K-12 Education

State29, "Des Moines, The Dropout Factory," June 3, 2008.

And perhaps our most closely shared sense of outrage -- Corporate Welfare -- and its commonly linked relationship to campaign "contributions"

State29, "The Roosevelt Corporate Welfare Hotel in Cedar Rapids," May 28, 2008; State29, "Cedar Rapids Approves $775,000 Corporate Welfare Loan," May 30, 2008 ("Sherman Associates owns and manages nearly 5000 rental units, yet somehow they had to ask the taxpayers of Cedar Rapids for a $775,000 loan [to buy the Roosevelt Hotel]. Why can't they go to a bank? Or, better yet, why can't they self-finance that loan? Also questionable are the nearly $4 million in Federal and State tax breaks that Sherman will get for supposedly fixing up the joint, . . ..").

State29, "Tom 'Electric Bus' Harkin," May 29, 2008 ("I'm surprised that absolutely nobody has picked up the story of Tom Harkin's $10 million+ electric bus program for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which was recently scrapped and sold at auction for a grand total of $30,000.").

State29, "Congratulations, Bettendorf!" May 28, 2008 ("This [Bettendorf revising TIF policy] is good news. Business owners need to get wise about what sort of politicians are in charge of their own city. . . . Would they allow tax credits for a direct competitor? You business owners really should be asking these questions of your local elected flunkies and trumpeting the results far and wide.").

State29, "Well Well Wells," May 21, 2008 ("Several years ago, the State of Iowa funded the Iowa Agricultural Finance Corp, which was supposed to be this venture capital-like fund exclusively for Iowa businesses that had ties to agricultural-related businesses. It should have been a hit, right? It has been a disaster. Take a look at this PDF and see what it "invested" in:

* Rudi's Organic Bakery. $13 million. Failed and moved to Colorado.

* Wildwood Harvest. $7.1 million. The company has never generated a profit.

* ProdiGene. $6 million. No employees in Iowa. "Struggled" and was fined by the USDA.

* Sioux-Preme Packing Company. $5 million. Profitable. Acquired in 2006 by Hilco Equity, a company out of Chicago, Illinois.

* Iowa Quality Beef. $3 million. Shut down in 2004 and 540 employees laid off.

* Ag Waste Recovery Systems. $150,000. No sales, no employees, and is considered an "idle corporation".)

State29, "Iowa Republicans Took The Rubashkin's Slave Labor-Tainted Money," May 12, 2008 ("A search on OpenSecrets.org details the campaign contributions from the execs of alleged slave laborers and illegal alien-exploiters Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa."); State29, "Iowa Lt Governor Patty Judge Should Resign For Taking $10,000 In Slave Labor-Tainted Campaign Donations," May 12, 2008.

State29, "Local Option Sales Tax Money To Be Diverted To Corporate Welfare?" May 12, 2008.

State29, "Why Does Iowa Have A Brain Drain? Let Me Count Thee Ways," May 8, 2008 ("'Businesses must be willing to pay more competitive salaries, too. A January report from the Generation Iowa Commission blamed lagging wages as a key reason young professionals leave. Even adjusted for cost of living, Iowa salaries often compare poorly, such as management occupations paying last in the region, the commission reported.' [From a Register editorial. And a suggestion from State29:] . . . End taxpayer-financed corporate welfare. Quit subsidizing politically-connected companies and people at the expense of competition that's already here in Iowa. The State has a bad track record at doing this.").

Iowa Constitution

Although I don't mean to make a legal argument that the Iowa Constitution forbids corporate welfare being provided by the state or its cities, it does seem to me that the following provisions (kindly brought to my attention by Jeff Cox) do rather suggest a general anti-fascist, anti-corporatism spirit of the drafters:

"STATE DEBTS. Credit not to be loaned. SECTION 1. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to, or in aid of, any individual, association, or corporation; and the state shall never assume, or become responsible for, the debts or liabilities of any individual, association, or corporation, unless incurred in time of war for the benefit of the state." Iowa Constitution, Art. VII, Sec. 1.

"State not to be a stockholder. SECTION 3. The state shall not become a stockholder in any corporation, nor shall it assume or pay the debt or liability of any corporation, unless incurred in time of war for the benefit of the state." Iowa Constitution, Art. VIII, Sec. 3.

And finally . . .

My thanks to State29 for carrying the entire burden of taxpayer protection during my absence, and making it possible to take a break for other tasks knowing that he would more than adequately do so.

# # #

Greenbelts, Greenways and Flood Prevention

June 16, 2008, 10:20 a.m.

Flood Prevention with Greenbelts
Now that the flood waters appear to be receding, we, like the River itself, are going through a number of stages. At some point there will be a time for reflection, looking to the future, and proactive planning.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described what has come to be known as the "Five Stages of Grief," On Death and Dying (1969): denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

There are another kind of "stages" to a flood: "flood stage," "crest stage," and "receding stage."

But a variation on Kübler-Ross' stages of grief are also present.

There's the hope that what seems probable maybe won't happen. The initial shock that it is happening. The kumbaya stage of coming together, sand bagging, volunteers and heros. Then what Cedar Rapids is going through now, when hard-working, tired, public officials of good will, trying to provide for the safety of life and property, confront the frustrated citizens who want and need to get to their homes and are prevented from doing so. The stage of waiting, patience and frustration, and hardship that comes when the water is no longer rising each day, but it's not going away, either. The stage when the River finally returns to stay inside its banks, but what it has left in fields, neighborhoods and business districts remains. Finally, there is the clean-up stage when the elected officials, mass media, volunteers and kumbaya has long since vanished, leaving victims to fend for themselves with the muck and the bureaucracy of insurance companies, contractors, and FEMA.

But then comes the stage of reflection and proactive planning.

And when that time comes we need to think long and hard about Greenbelts, Greenways and the conservation bond issue on the ballot this November 4th.

See, Nicholas Johnson, "Preserving for Our Grandchildren," Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 20, 2008, p. A13, reproduced in Nicholas Johnson, "Greenbelts for Grandchildren," February 15 and 20, 2008; Nicholas Johnson, "GO Iowa! - The G-reat O-utdoors of Iowa," May 5, 2008, a reference to the Web site GO Iowa! at http://resourcesforlife.com/goiowa; and the bond support group, "Our Land, Our Water, Our Future," at http://landwaterfuture.org.

Even if we had never suffered the losses from flooding in the past, and would never have another flood in the future, we should promote the idea of a Greenbelt around the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Coridor, and Greenways and filters along Iowa's Rivers.

There are hundreds of ways of setting aside land for conservation besides purchase or gifts -- and no need to recite them all now. Uses such as golf courses and farming can continue -- along with forests, prairies and wetlands. The benefits include recreational uses, hunting and fishing, wildlife habitats, "smart growth" for urban areas, with increased real estate values.

But the values also include cleaner water, less soil erosion -- and reduced impact, or elimination of damage from, flooding.

Why is this? For starters, Greenbelts contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gases and our carbon footprint. But even those who don't believe we're getting climate changes from global warming can appreciate the reduction in water runoff.

The streets of suburbia, and parking lots of shopping malls, don't absorb much rainfall. Forests, prairies and wetlands do. Planting the right "filters" along rivers can slow runoff, prevent erosion of our farm land, and minimize flash floods and rapid rise in our rivers.

Are Greenbelts the total answer to flooding? Of course not. But they are a major part of the answer.

There are plenty of reasons to support Greenbelts and Greenways besides flood control. But while we're trying to figure out how we're going to pay for recovery from our recent multi-billion-dollar losses in Iowa from flooded rivers, we might want to start thinking about that $20 million bond issue as a mighty small down payment toward reducing losses like that in the years to come.

# # #

Voting for Our Great-Grandchildren

March 7, 2008, 8:25 a.m.

This morning there's a lot more at stake on the forthcoming November 4, 2008, election day -- less than eight months from now -- than there was yesterday morning.

No, I'm not talking about the three senators, Obama, McCain and Clinton.

I'm talking about something that is going to have a lot longer-lasting impact on eastern Iowans than the good (or harm) caused by a one or two-term U.S. president.

Yesterday morning the Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pursue the preparation of a ballot proposition that would authorize a $20 million bond issue to be used for the acquisition of additional land for natural resource preservation.

To pass, it will require not just a 50% approval, but a 60% approval.

So that means that those who care about what they will be leaving their great-grandchildren have very little time to get organized and begin the process of community education and dialog regarding what's at stake.

Fortunately, that process has begun.

Here are links to this morning's [March 7] stories about yesterday's Board action, and early stirrings of organized support: Rachel Gallegos, "Supes OK $20 million bond issue," Iowa City Press-Citizen, March 7, 2008, p. A3; Gregg Hennigan, "Johnson sends $20 million bond to voters; Funds would be used to buy undeveloped land for preservation," The Gazette, March 7, 2008, p. B1.

In a recent Press-Citizen op ed column I wrote:

Is it too late? Is our land already too expensive to save?

That was the question confronting some New York legislators in 1853. New York City's population had nearly quadrupled since 1821. It was a terrible time to buy land with prices at an all-time high. The 700 acres they wanted would cost $5 million -- then an extraordinary amount of public money. But in a triumph of foresight over political fear they did it. Today we call it "Central Park," and this gem of Manhattan has increased 100,000 times in value to something over $500 billion -- a half-trillion dollars!

The opportunities confronting Johnson and Linn Counties today are no less politically challenging --and potentially rewarding.

Nicholas Johnson, "Preserving for Our Grandchildren," Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 20, 2008, p. A13, reproduced in the blog entry, Nicholas Johnson, "Greenbelts for Grandchildren," February 15/20, 2008.

In an age in which corporate progress is measured in quarterly profit statements and daily stock prices, and members of Congress are forced to focus on re-elections never more than two years into the future, it's difficult to get folks to think 20 or 50 years ahead -- never mind feeling concern for the generations living 150 years from now (such as those New Yorkers now benefiting from the political courage of the New York legislators who gambled $5 million on what has become today's $500 billion Central Park).

But it's that kind of forward thinking that has given us our system of National Parks and Forests, and the few state, county and city parks we have in Iowa. It's those kinds of selfless efforts that benefit today's Britishers, living in a country in which 12% of the land is devoted to "Greenbelts" surrounding the major cities.

To learn more about these issues and opportunities, to find links to the resources provided by dozens of organizations and agencies, excerpts from the local media stories about preservation of our natural resources, news regarding the proposed bond issue, and background information about the Greenbelt movement, we've created the GO IOWA! (for "Great Outdoors of Iowa") Web site for you:

http://www.resourcesforlife.com/goiowa

Check it out!

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