Iowa Master Conservationist Program

A county-level Master Conservationist Program educated many Iowans about conservation and sustainability in exchange for the participants volunteering both time and expertise to their communities

Attitudes and behaviors of Iowa farmers toward wildlife

This research examines the attitudes and behaviors of Iowa farmers toward wildlife. Based on a 1991 statewide mailed survey of 822 farmers, it divides Iowa farmers into wildlife-oriented and non-wildlife-oriented groups for sampling and analysis. It identifies demographic and personal factors that are correlated with a wildlife orientation. Wildlife-oriented farmers in Iowa tend to be farmers with smaller acreages overall, with smaller gross farm incomes, with fewer acres devoted to row-crops, and with more diverse landscapes that more often include trees, streams, Conservation Reserve Program acres or other non-agricultural land than farmers who are not wildlife-oriented. Wildlife-oriented farmers also engage in more wildlife-related activities, seek wildlife information from locally-available sources, and are significantly more likely to seek assistance of conservation professionals than are their non-wildlife-oriented counterparts. Wildlife-oriented farmers also hold opinions and have attitudes that accord more value to wildlife for aesthetic and recreational purposes. Regression analysis reveals the association of these variables with management practices the farmers use on their land;Since both wildlife-oriented and non-wildlife-oriented farmer groups had substantial portions (65% and 44%, respectively) of hunters, another analysis was conducted, dividing farmers by whether or not they hunted;Farmer-hunters farm smaller acreages, engage more in other wildlife-associated activities, and are more likely to have hunted as children than non-hunting farmers. Their hunting activity is correlated with practices on their farms that are specifically favorable to wildlife. Farmer-hunters accord significantly higher value to wildlife for both aesthetic and recreational purposes. Non-hunting farmers are more likely than farmer-hunters to favor lease-hunting, though farmer-hunters are evenly split on the issue. Regression analyses reveals that hunting, some attitudinal variables, youth activity variables, and contact with conservation professionals are significantly related to farmers\u27 attitudes toward hunting and to the wildlife habitat practices they put on their land;The implications of these findings for wildlife management are discussed

Rotationally Grazed Pastures as Bird Habitat

Little is known about the use of rotationally grazed pastures by wild bird species, particularly in Midwestern landscapes. What is known is that continuously grazed pastures tend to have low bird production and use due to the lack of sufficient vegetative structure and to trampling of ground nests by cattle. Long-term rotational grazing (where livestock are shifted between several pastures every few days or weeks, as opposed to intensive rotational grazing where they are shifted every day) has the potential to produce high-quality cattle grazing and grasslands for wildlife. Early in the grazing season, farmers could use cool-season grass and forb (CSG) pastures for rotational grazing, leaving warm-season grass and forb (WSG) pastures to produce wildlife, especially birds. At the end of June or early July, cattle could be shifted to the WSG pastures for rotational grazing. Not only does this allow the WSG to grow to excellent grazing height, it also allows ground-nesting birds to potentially complete a nesting cycle. Further, as CSG are left to grow (although slowly) until fall, late-nesting birds and re-nesters may utilize the CSG, as well. Depending on the length of time between rotations, early nesters may also use the CSG early in the nesting season

Everything you wanted to know about wildlife and fisheries: A field day for agriculturists

Previous wildlife-related field days sponsored by the Leopold Center and ISU Extension in 1989 and 1992 were successful, but mainly attracted traditional members of the sustain­ able agriculture and wildlife interest groups. This project sought to move beyond the con­ ventional, environmentally conscious bound­ aries to reach agribusiness and commodity groups that might not ordinarily be the recipi­ ents of an environmentally focused message

ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF NUTRIENT LOSS REDUCTIONS ON DAIRY AND DAIRY/POULTRY FARMS

Livestock Production/Industries,

Integrating hunting and grazing: Loess Hills and south central Iowa on-farm management experiences

The project intended to monitor bird use of rotationally grazed pastures over two summer growing seasons

Mental Health Outcomes of First Generation College Students: Is Generational Status Associated with Increased Risk for Depression and Anxiety?

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were differences in mental health outcomes between first generation college students and non-first generation college students. The sample (n = 6,449) consisted of undergraduate students, aged 18-22, in bachelor\u27s degree programs, and was drawn from 15 colleges and universities throughout the United States. Acculturative stress was used as a theoretical framework for why first generation college students (pioneers) may screen higher in prevalence and severity of mental health outcomes. The particular mental health outcomes examined in this study were the prevalence and severity of depression and anxiety. The results revealed that pioneers did not screen higher in prevalence or severity of depression or anxiety than non-first generation students (legacy students). However, students who had at least one parent who attended college, but did not graduate (partial legacy students), screened higher for prevalence of anxiety, severity of anxiety, and prevalence of minor depression than legacy students. These results were also significant when partial legacy students were combined with pioneers. The findings suggest that there may be risk factors for depression and anxiety that are unique to partial legacy students. Implications of these findings are that colleges and universities should be aware that partial legacy students may be at risk for mental health problems-a group that has not been previously identified as at risk. Further implications point to the possibility that pioneers who attend college may represent a more resilient group of students. Limitations include the lack of stratification of generational status by year in school, the limitations of the outcome measures, the subjective measure of financial situation, and restricting the sample age range from 18-22. Future research could include measures of resiliency and acculturative stress when examining mental health outcomes by generational status

A Heated Tube Facility for Rocket Coolant Channel Research

The capabilities of a heated tube facility used for testing rocket engine coolant channels at the NASA Lewis Research Center are presented. The facility uses high current, low voltage power supplies to resistively heat a test section to outer wall temperatures as high as 730 C (1350 F). Liquid or gaseous nitrogen, gaseous helium, or combustible liquids can be used as the test section coolant. The test section is enclosed in a vacuum chamber to minimize heat loss to the surrounding system. Test section geometry, size, and material; coolant properties; and heating levels can be varied to generate heat transfer and coolant performance data bases

Action research and democracy

This contribution explores the relationship between research and learning democracy. Action research is seen as being compatible with the orientation of educational and social work research towards social justice and democracy. Nevertheless, the history of action research is characterized by a tension between democracy and social engineering. In the social-engineering approach, action research is conceptualized as a process of innovation aimed at a specific Bildungsideal. In a democratic approach action research is seen as research based on cooperation between research and practice. However, the notion of democratic action research as opposed to social engineering action research needs to be theorized. So called democratic action research involving the implementation by the researcher of democracy as a model and as a preset goal, reduces cooperation and participation into instruments to reach this goal, and becomes a type of social engineering in itself. We argue that the relationship between action research and democracy is in the acknowledgment of the political dimension of participation: ‘a democratic relationship in which both sides exercise power and shared control over decision-making as well as interpretation’. This implies an open research design and methodology able to understand democracy as a learning process and an ongoing experiment