It may come as a surprise to many Iowa State students and faculty, but Iowa ranks dead last among all the states in spending per capita on environmental conservation.

According to an editorial that appeared in the Oct. 6 Des Moines Register, Iowa ranks in the top ten of great places to live based on the following issues: education, governmental efficiency and low crime rates. How can one of the most beautiful states in the United States rank last on environmental issues? This is a question that many Iowa residents are asking.

When many ISU students were told that Iowa ranks last, they said that Iowa is full of land, trees and plants, but they wondered how Iowa is preserving it.

Money

Cecelia Burnett serves on the Story County Conservation Board and is a state legislator of the 61st district, which covers the northern half of Ames. Burnett said she’s in a business, and money is needed to improve the environment.

“The county system is struggling on how they’re going to pay bills.” Burnett said. “The state needs to pick up more of the bill.”

According to the Council of State Governments, Iowa spends $4 per person per year on environment conservation, dead last of all states. Half of the states spend twice that amount to preserve their natural resources.

There have been concerns by the state that we have too much public land, however, Burnett said, we can never have too much public land.

The REAP program (Resource Enhancement and Protection) promised $30 million would be spent annually to save more of Iowa for its future. Since the 1980’s the Iowa legislature’s spending has never matched the promised value.

“In terms of real dollars and percentages we have not kept up with other programs,” Burnett said.

The environment’s condition now

Iowa is the major hog producer in the United States, but it has fewer employees monitoring livestock waste management than the state of Missouri.

“We need more inspectors for hog lots,” Burnett said. Iowa has funded a greater number of inspectors. By year’s end Iowa will supply four new livestock management employees to its staff. “It has progressed, but it’s not perfect.”

Water pollution is also a major environmental concern. Many of Iowa’s water-quality permits are falling behind, which allows many possible pollution violations to go unchecked.

Instead of gaining land, Iowa is losing more and more land everyday, Burnett said.

The economics

One reason why economists believe Iowa spends less money on environmental concerns, is because we have fewer environmental problems than other states. Another reason given was political forces may not permit the investing of money in environmental conservation.

“One important class that is relevant is environmental preservation of wetlands,” Catherine Kling, environmental economic professor, said. She added that the state should increase its spending on wetlands and purchase of land.

Reactions

Deanne Davis, a sophomore in pre-business, comes from a farming family and believes the Iowa government should spend more money on environmental concerns.

Davis’s family farm has many animals including hogs, which livestock-waste management is a major environmental concern affecting air-quality.

“On our farm we recycle hog wastes, and spread them on our fields,” Davis said.

Stacie Hayes, a sophomore in exercise sport science, said on her family’s Iowa farm they don’t have a problem with livestock-waste management.

“For the amount of hogs that we have, we have enough land to recycle the waste back to the environment.”

The REAP survey

Lulu Rodriguez, Olan Farnall, Joel Geske and Jane W. Peterson, professors in the department of journalism and mass communications, put together a proposal to make Iowans more aware of the REAP program. Before doing the proposal and survey, research had to be done.

A mail survey was sent to 1,100 Iowa adults at random and to all Iowa legislators.

REAP started out as a 10-year program, with $30 million dollars to be spent on Iowa’s environment. The program is now in the end of its sixth year, and its $30 million budget has not been met yet.

The survey found that Iowans consider water pollution, waste management, indiscriminate fertilizer and pesticide use the top three environmental problems in the state that require state, local or federal government attention.

But almost half (46%) of Iowans that were assessed, said they think the state government spends too much on environmental enhancement. This is a strong opinion since environmental protection is perceived as the most important problem facing the country.

“We are continuing in the resource enhancement program,” Farnall said. “We’re happy with the feedback and responses we’ve received.”

Governor Terry Branstad has knocked off an average of $20 million since the programs start and has used the money for other state issues. The funding has gone as low as $8 million in 1994, and the high was $21 million in 1991.

Branstad wants to make REAP into a 30-year program, with a projected $10 million a year budget, Farnall said.

He said they found 90 percent of students at ISU do not know about the REAP program.

REAP was originally founded by 13 environmentally concerned eight-year-olds.