08/22/24: Area Happenings & Accomplishments

Shows winning sheep at Iowa State Fair

A local exhibitor showed top winning sheep during shows at the Iowa State Fair.

Maggie Schoelerman, Spencer FFA, of Everly, showed the White Face champion during the FFA Market Lamb Show on Aug. 8, and also showed the Champion Southdown Ewe and Reserve Champion AOB Ewe during the FFA Breeding Sheep Show on Aug. 9.

Abels are ‘a cut above’ at shearers’ competition

Top sheep shearers from across the Midwest and Canada put their blade bravado to the test in the sheep shearing competition, judged on Aug. 10 at the 2024 Iowa State Fair.

Dave Abel, of Royal, competed in the Golden Age Division and placed first in best pen, second in shearing and third in fastest time. He also placed ninth in shearing in the Senior Division.

Nolan Abel, of Linn Grove, competed in the Senior Division, where he was runner-up in shearing, best pen and fastest time.

Summer graduates honored at NCC

Eighty-one students graduated from Northwest Iowa Community College on Friday, July 19, during commencement ceremonies held in the Northwest Iowa Lifelong Learning and Recreation Center on NCC’s campus in Sheldon.

The following students were among the graduates.

Hartley: Ethan A. Diehm, Production Welding Diploma.

Sanborn: Marcus J. Aaron, Production Welding Diploma.

NWI fishing report

Area ramps and accesses are fully functional and are open for normal use. Area water temperatures are in the 70s. Cooler night temperatures have lowered area lake temperatures a bit, but should come back up again with warmer weather in the forecast.

East Okoboji Lake: Lake level is around five inches over crest.

Black crappie, good. Bluegill, good. Many bluegill have been seen and are easily catchable around functional docks. Largemouth bass, fair. Bass are a little ways off shore; you can still find some around docks and other structures. Yellow perch, good. Many perch have been seen; sorting will most likely be needed.

Ingham Lake: Walleye, fair. Anglers have been successful morning and afternoon.

Silver Lake (Dickinson): Lake level is two inches over crest. The lake is experiencing an algae bloom.

Walleye, good. Bite has been hit-or-miss, but has been very good when the bite is on.

Spirit Lake: Lake level is around two inches over crest.

Black crappie, good: Anglers are finding quality-size crappie; they are biting on almost anything. Bluegill, fair. Walleye, good. Anglers are catching quality-sized walleye. Evening bite is best with leech and bobber from shore or crankbaits and slip bobbers by boat. Yellow perch, good. Sorting may be needed.

West Okoboji Lake: Lake level is about five inches above crest.

Black crappie, fair. Bluegill, good. Pumpkinseed, good. Walleye, fair. Yellow perch, fair. Sorting may be needed.

Annual Iowa State Fair Straw Poll results

Donald Trump received the most votes in the presidential category in Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s 2024 State Fair Straw Poll. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn, and Randy Feenstra won the congressional polls for districts one through four. Throughout the Iowa State Fair, more than 3,200 votes were cast for preferred presidential candidates at the Iowa Secretary of State’s booth.

“The final results of the straw poll are always intriguing because, although unscientific, the State Fair Straw Poll has historically been a fairly accurate predictor of official election outcomes,” Pate said in a news release. “We saw a large number of fairgoers participate in this year’s straw poll, and we hope to see that reflected in upcoming elections.”

Below are percentage totals for presidential and congressional votes cast throughout the 11 days of the 2024 Iowa State Fair.

In the presidential straw poll: Donald Trump won with 57.41 percent of 1,874 votes cast; Kamala Harris (36.03 percent), 1,176 votes; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (3.92 percent), 128 votes; Chase Oliver (2.63%), 86 votes.

In the District 1 congressional straw poll: Mariannette Miller-Meeks won with 60.96 percent of 356 votes cast; Christina Bohannan (32.88 percent), 192 votes; Nicholas Gluba (6.16 percent), 36 votes.

In the District 2 congressional straw poll: Ashley Hinson won with 66.74 percent of 303 votes cast; Sarah Corkery (33.26 percent), 151 votes.

In the District 3 congressional straw poll: Zach Nunn won with 58.63 percent of 910 votes cast; Lanon Baccam (37.18 percent), 577 votes; Marco Battaglia (4.19 percent), 65 votes

In the District 4 congressional straw poll: Randy Feenstra won with 63.67 percent of 382 votes cast; Ryan Melton (30.17 percent), 181 votes; Charles Aldrich (6.17 percent), 37 votes.

Pate also polled fairgoers on their favorite Iowa State Fair memory. Fun with family and friends led the pack with 45.00 percent of the vote, followed closely by the food (33.52 percent), and seeing the animals (13.95 percent).

All results are unscientific and unofficial. Fairgoers who visited the booth could also register to vote for the upcoming election and learn about various programs from the Secretary’s Elections and Business Services Divisions.

Four-year project to improve Silver Lake entering final phase

A four-year shoreline restoration project at Silver Lake, in Dickinson County, is entering its final phase, where contractors will continue clearing the honeysuckle, Chinese elm and autumn olive understory next to the lake, then replace it with native prairie to keep the soil in place.

Shoreline erosion had been identified as contributing soil and an estimated 1,600 pounds of phosphorus to the lake each year that have been assisting with Silver Lake’s declining water quality. The understory had choked out any ground cover leaving bare soil vulnerable to erosion during heavy rains.

High quality oaks and walnuts will remain to provide food and habitat for deer and turkey. Reestablishing the prairie will help to hold soil in place, creating an oak savanna along the shore.

With the overhanging branches gone, sunlight can again hit the lakeshore, which will support the growth of aquatic plants. These aquatic plants help stabilize the lake bottom, use nutrients in the water that help prevent algae blooms, protect the shore and provide habitat for fish and wildlife.

The $1.75 million project is a partnership between the Silver lake Protective Association, City of Lake Park, Dickinson County Water Quality Commission, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Lake Restoration Program. It began in 2021.

Standing at the boat ramp on the west side of the lake, progress is easy to see – the reclaimed oak savanna with native prairie and newly rip rapped shoreline stretches from the northeast part of the lake 4,000 feet to the west, where work will soon begin on the final 3,500 feet.

The 1,032-acre natural lake has a maximum depth of less than 10 feet and nearly the entire lake is ringed with a narrow, 90-acre wildlife area. Trappers Bay State Park is located on the north shore and on the lake’s southeast corner, is a small, heavily used Silver Lake campground with limited facilities. It’s a popular place with area residents and fishermen.

On the southwest corner of the lake, a parking lot off 110th Avenue is near arguably the most unique feature of the area – three fens located in Silver Lake Fen State Preserve.

“To have all of that, plus three fens, including arguably the most dynamic fen in the state, in one place, is special,” said Chris LaRue, wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR, in a news release.

Fens are unique landforms that develop over thousands of years when rainfall percolates through soil and gravel layers, stopping at the clay layer, then flowing horizontally until reaching a hillside where it reappears at the surface as a spring.

At just the right flow rate, this spring will create and support a wetland plant community but not cause erosion. Over centuries, as plants die, the organic matter grows into mounds of peat as the spring continues to seep. Water seeping through the surface is calcium rich and the sedge mats have little veins of calcium that hardened and became little dams – called strings – that resemble contour lines on a map, and behind those little dams are small pools of water, called flarks.

Pushing through the tall, dew-covered vegetation, hands held high overhead, LaRue was making his way to the largest and most accessible of the three Silver Lake fens.

“It’s a one of the most visited fens in the state because of its proximity to the parking lot and its diversity of plant life,” LaRue said.

The head high prairie vegetation gives way to the sedge mat zone of the fen where the plant community changes to a more wetland variety, and the plant height goes from head high to below knee level.

LaRue said 108 different plant species have been identified on the fen, including small white lady slipper, grass of Parnassus, common arrowgrass and prairie blazing star.

Silver Lake Fen was designated a state preserve in 1972.