The Iowa Water and Land Legacy (IWiLL) — a proposed amendment on the upcoming election ballot dedicated to clean Iowa lakes, rivers and streams — sparked a responsibility with student organizations, including the Sustainable Agricultural Student Association.

“We used our time there at the National Campus Sustainability Day as kind of a way to promote IWiLL,” said Drake Larsen, graduate student in natural resource ecology and management and president of SASA. “Individuals that are in our organization have been trying to help with that coalition.”

“We’ve tried to go to groups that we think this is really relevant to and being in the natural resource and ecology management department,” said Anna MacDonald, graduate in natural resource ecology and management. “This is relevant to a lot of people who are majoring in that, it’s a natural resource trust fund so it’s something that they should at least know about.” 

The amendment, if voted yes, will create a trust fund “protecting and enhancing water quality and natural areas in the State including parks, trails, fish and wildlife habitat, and conserving agricultural soils,” according to IWiLL’s website. 

“The trust fund will provide permanent and dedicated funding for Iowa’s natural resources that will be constitutionally protected, meaning legislatures could not reallocate or divert funds for any other purposes than what was intended by the legislation outlining how the money should be spent,” said Rosalyn Lehman, campaign field director for IWiLL.

When voters flip to the backside of their ballot Tuesday, the first question will be about IWiLL.

“Students need to know that the question is on there and to find it they’re going to have to flip their ballot over and what does it mean if they vote yes,” MacDonald said. “People aren’t voting for tax increase, they’re just voting that if there is a tax increase, three-eighths of a cent will go directly towards the fund.”

Lehman urges voters to take initiative now.

“If we don’t pass it, it could be at easily another 20 or 30 years before we even have a funding opportunity like this to work on these projects,” Lehman said. “Natural resources are a priority and often they are underfunded.”

If passed, Iowa farmers may also benefit. Iowa loses five tons of soil per acre each year from farm land which is then washed into the rivers.

“Two immediate and really focused goals of the legislation, which we work on, is water quality issues and issues of soil conversation,” Larsen said. “We’re pretty much mainly an agricultural state and so soil fertility is at the heart of our economy; so we need to be in tune with issues of soil erosion and maintaining soil fertility.”

Recreational purpose, such as preserving wildlife habitats, is another emphasis that would ideally be utilized if IWiLL is approved.

“The trust fund will provide a lot of flood mitigation opportunities and it would just provide money to increase the number of wetlands across the state, which would help reduce flooding in a lot of communities especially along rivers,” Lehman said. “It can bring in recreational opportunities to attract tourists to the state which would enhance our tourism revenue.”

MacDonald and Larsen, who have been participating with the amendment, are urging everyone to get involved.

“I’m excited about the potential to do the things that we know should be done and we know how to do them, it’s just that we can’t if we don’t have funding for them,” MacDonald said. “It’s just a matter of making it possible, people want to do it, we know how to do it, now we’re just waiting for the key piece that’s going to allow us to.”