RAGBRAI Learn about the Land; Day 7, July 2008

Iowa’s land was mapped long before it was declared a state. Since Lewis and Clark published their journey across the North American west in 1814, many different uses for maps have been found. Today there are maps of Iowa’s roads, waterways, landscape features, geology, and land use. One of the more recent mapping efforts has involved using a technology called LiDAR. This technology creates a topographic map of Iowa’s elevation that is accurate to within eight inches, ten times higher resolution than in previous elevation maps.

Fact Sheet: Hazards Materials Accidents, 2009

A hazardous materials accident can occur anywhere. Communities located near chemical manufacturing plants are particularly at risk. However, hazardous materials are transported on our roadways, railways and waterways daily, so any area is considered vulnerable to an accident.

Iowa Canoe Trips, 1971.

Describes several canoe trips available in Iowa on streams and rivers classed as non-meandered waterways, meaning the stream bed and all adjacent lands to these waterways are the property of landowners whose land the water flows.

Fact Sheet: Hazardous Martials Accidents, 2011

A hazardous materials accident can occur anywhere. Communities located near chemical manufacturing plants are particularly at risk. However, hazardous materials are transported on our roadways, railways and waterways daily, so any area is considered vulnerable to an accident.

2009 Iowa’s Rail System Background Prepared by the Office of Systems Planning December 2010

Iowa’s Rail Environment Iowa’s rail transportation system provides both freight and passenger service. Rail serves a variety of trips, including those within Iowa and those to other states as well as to foreign markets. While rail competes with other modes, it also cooperates with those modes to provide intermodal services to Iowans. In 2009 Iowa’s rail transportation system could be described as follows: Freight Iowa’s 130,000-mile freight transportation system includes an extensive railroad network, a well-developed highway system, two bordering navigable waterways, and a pipeline network as well as air cargo facilities. While rail accounts for only 3 percent of the freight network, it carries 43 percent of Iowa’s freight tonnage. A great variety of commodities ranging from fresh fish to textiles to optical products are moved by rail. However, most of the Iowa rail shipments consist of bulk commodities, including grain, grain products, coal, ethanol, and fertilizers. The railroad network performs an important role in moving bulk commodities produced and consumed in the state to local processors, livestock feeders, river terminals and ports for foreign export. The railroad’s ability to haul large volumes, long distances at low costs will continue to be a major factor in moving freight and improving the economy of Iowa. Key 2008 Facts • 3,945 miles of track • 18 railroads • 49.5 million tons shipped • 39.7 million tons received • 2 Amtrak routes • 6 Amtrak stations • 66,286 rail passenger rides Key Rail Trends • slightly fewer miles being operated; • railroads serving Iowa has remained the same; • more rail freight traffic; • more tons hauled per car; • higher average rail rates per ton-mile since 2002; • more car and tons hauled per locomotive; and • more ton miles per gallon of fuel consumed. Iowa’s rail system and service has been evolving over time relative to its size, financial conditions, and competition from other modes.

Iowa 2014 Transportation Map, 2014

Transportation map of Iowa, updated march 1, 2014. map focuses on interstate highways, primary and secondary state roads, county roads, and scenic byways. Also includes railroad lines, airports, waterways, and locks and dams. All 99 counties are represented, as well as approximately 1,000 cities and towns. Points of interest are also marked.

Hazardous Materials, December 31, 2013

Nearly all households use products that contain hazardous materials, and hazardous materials are transported on our roadways, railways and waterways daily. Although the risk of a chemical accident is slight, knowing how to handle these products and how to react during an emergency can reduce the risk of injury.

08004-001 Summit Lake Final Report

The Summit Lake Watershed Improvement Project is a watershed-based sediment control project designed to greatly reduce to nearly eliminate sedimentation of an existing lake that is being renovated for use as a water source in southern Iowa. Summit Lake is owned by the City of Creston and was once a water source lake until around 1984. The watershed improvements will include lakeshore stabilization and erosion control practices as a precursor for related improvements to the lake and overall 4,900-acre watershed. Best practices included in this phase are the implementation of riprap, a rain garden, grade stabilization structures, grassed waterways, terraces, basins, water use and access ordinances, education and outreach, water monitoring, and other stream bank improvements. These improvements, along with leveraged work to be done by strategic partners, will enable the lake to be used for local and regional water supplies by sustaining the lake for many years to come. Without the lake rehabilitation, the lake will likely be filled with sedimentation to the point that it will have no recreational value. Key partners are the City of Creston, IDNR, Southern Iowa Rural Water Association, Union County, the Union County NRCS office, Southwestern Community College, and the Summit Lake Association, which is a non-profit group of landowners working to protect the lake. The project will address WIRB targets: a) streambank stabilization, b) livestock runoff, c) agricultural runoff and drainage, d) stormwater runoff, and e) a section of inadequately sewered community.

Iowa Transportation Map 2015-2016, March 2015

Transportation map of Iowa, updated march 1, 2014. map focuses on interstate highways, primary and secondary state roads, county roads, and scenic byways. Also includes railroad lines, airports, waterways, and locks and dams. All 99 counties are represented, as well as approximately 1,000 cities and towns. Points of interest are also marked. This record contains images of both the front and the back of the map.

1016-010 Iowa Great Lakes Watershed Final Report

Part of a phased approach, an intensive information and education program, construction of erosion control practices, and sediment control on construction sites is proposed. These proposed practices will manage sediment runoff and nutrient runoff on agricultural and urban areas. Sediment control “structures” such as waterways, wetlands, modified terraces, grade stabilization structures, sediment basins, and rain gardens is proposed and will be combined with nutrient and pesticide management and reduced tillage to reduce non-point source pollution. A reduction of 15% of the sediment and phosphorus delivered to a water body from priority areas will be looked at as a success in this short-term project focused primarily at education within the project area which is also, for the most part, the top 25% sediment load producing sub-watersheds. In addition, four urban areas have been identified as part of this project as needing immediate assistance. A combination of urban and agricultural conservation practices, shoreline revegetation, and education of landowners will be used to achieve these results on both the urban and the agricultural arena.

09006-003 Bear Creek Watershed Final Report

Bear Creek is an impaired warm water fishery designated as class B(LR) by the Iowa DNR and is on 303 impaired waters list for fish kills and ammonia. Bear Creek is located in eastern Delaware County. This project is designed to improve the water quality of Bear Creek by educating the landowners, operators and watershed community about the importance of this water resource. The goal of the Bear Creek Watershed Project is to improve the water quality of Bear Creek by reducing the amounts of ammoniated manure discharge, fecal coliform bacteria, sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorous. The Bear Creek Watershed Project has been a watershed project since July 2004, first as a Demo project FY 2004-2005 and then full time WSPF/319 project FY06-09. Fish kills have not occurred in 2008-2009. Sediment delivery has decreased in the Bear Creek Watershed by 5,328 tons per year. The objectives of this watershed project will be to improve Livestock Waste Storage, to improve Livestock Waste Usage, to decrease Sediment Losses, and to improve Education & Area Outreach. This project will install 2 manure storage structures (EQIP/project funded), 19 ac of CRP waterways, 12 ac of project waterways, 17 ac of CRP filter strips along stream, 12 water and sediment control basins, 18,000 ft of terraces, 350 ac of new notill planting, and 3,700 ft of streambank protection.

07021-008 Sand Creek Watershed Final Report

Sand Creek is the most significant recreational fishery in Delaware County because of its location to Manchester and Lake Delhi. It is a feeder stream for game fish to the main stem of the Maquoketa River which is limited by the dams at Manchester and Lake Delhi. Sand Creek encompasses 16,045 acres and is dominated by row crop agriculture. It is being impacted by sediment, nutrients and E coli bacteria. Sand Creek will be a good example for habitat impaired watershed. The purpose of this project is to decrease the amount of sediment and nutrients reaching Sand Creek and to increase the habitat in Sand Creek to make it a better spawning and growing area for the fish and the food chain for the fish. The objectives of this project are to reduce sediment delivery by 40%, to improve in-stream habitat on 40% of identified critical areas and implement an information/education program. The project will install 3,800 acres of new no-till planting, 6 water and sediment control basins, 4,000 feet of terraces, 20,000 feet of improved or new waterways, 3,200 feet of streambank/ habitat enhancement, 4,500 feet of livestock exclusion fencing and 6 acres of wetlands.

06027-013 Leisure Lake Watershed Final Report

Leisure Lake is approximately a 67 acre water body located in northwest Jackson County with a 2,681 acre drainage area. The watershed including the lake is a tributary to Lytle Creek which drains into the North Fork of the Maquoketa River. Portions of the Lytle Creek and North Fork Maquoketa River are on the 303(d) impaired waterbodies list. The project area includes a community of 370 residential properties and one business that currently has no central wastewater collection and treatment system. The purpose of this project is to construct a wastewater collection and treatment facility to improve water quality in the creek and river. The project will eliminate the non-permitted septic systems and construct a new wastewater system to properly treat wastewater prior to its discharge into the waterways.

05017-006 Lake Storm Lake Watershed Final Report

This project will include the construction of four separate drainage and retention facilities to handle urban runoff that currently flows directly into Lake Storm Lake. These facilities will filter storm water from approximately 503 acres of urban land including two large industrial users Tyson Fresh Meats and Sara Lee Turkey Processing as well as other commercial and residential sections that currently go directly to the lake without filtration. Specifically the project involves the construction of a two cell dry bottomed detention pond system, construction of two rain gardens/bio retention areas, construction of rain gardens along storm water intakes on Highway 7, and construction of a porous rock detention area. The completed project will provide for cleaner water outleting to the fake in an area that has the largest potential for pollutants to enter the lake. This project is being done in conjunction with other watershed improvements including two additional rain gardens already in place and a multi-year dredging effort of Lake Storm Lake that will be starting its fifth year in 2006. Improvements in the rural water shed are also taking place with the help of a watershed coordinator. Some of these projects include buffer strips and filter slips along the waterways in the watershed.

Transportation and Iowa's Economic Future, 1993

This is a study of how transportation policy can be fashioned to improve Iowa's long-term economic prospects. The research focuses on the state level and covers pricing, resource allocation, investment, and other issues that directly affect the performance of public facilities that support transportation of goods and people to and from points in Iowa. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 begins with an assessment of how Iowa's economy is changing, both functionally and spatially. Commuting patterns and methods of goods movement are then discussed. The purpose of this analysis is to provide a context for the exploration of transportation policy issues in subsequent chapters. In Chapter 3 a framework is established for evaluating changes in transportation policies. A working definition of economic development is given and the role of government policies in making an area more attractive to economic activity is considered. Chapter 4 analyzes public policy options for Iowa's roads and highways. These policy options are intended to help the state compete for economic activity. Chapter 5 assesses alternative investment strategies for major navigational facilities on the upper Mississippi River. Chapter 6 examines major transportation policy issues in Iowa's agricultural sector. The current magnitude of agricultural shipments and the roles of several modes are presented. After focusing on issues related to railroad competitiveness, the analysis turns to how Iowa's rural roads should be financed. The need for joint investment and pricing decisions affecting waterways, railroads, and rural roads is stressed. Chapter 7 examines the current status of freight transportation in Iowa. An assessment is made of issues related to trucking and of intermodal transportation and its potential for cost-effective shipping to and from businesses in Iowa. Chapter 8 summarizes the key findings of this study, offering ten recommendations. These recommendations relate to transportation as a means of facilitating economic development.