Donnelle Eller

deller@dmreg.com

Iowa has cleared 97,000 acres of woodlands from 2009 to 2013.

The state has lost 114 million trees between 2015 and 2010.

71 percent of the forest losses — compared with 60 percent of the gains — come from agriculture

Sediment deposits are equal to "dropping 50 dump truck loads of soil into each lake every year."

Iowa's thirst for new farmland helped drive the loss of 97,000 acres of woodlands in just five years, a new federal report shows.

It's the first time in nearly 40 years that the state has seen a net loss of forested land, a disturbing development that experts fear is contributing to Iowa's problems with farm runoff and poor water quality.

Record-high prices for corn and soybeans in 2012 fueled much of Iowa's woodland losses, as farmers put more land into production to reap bigger profits, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service report.

"People are going in and bulldozing trees for farming, leaving behind gigantic piles of walnuts, oaks, elms," said Shannon Ramsay, CEO of Trees Forever, who called the clearing of trees across the state heartbreaking.

Overall, 192,000 acres of trees were felled in Iowa from 2009 to 2013. But the state added 95,000 acres of woodland, the report showed.

Altogether, Iowa forests have more than 1 billion trees. Still, forests make up a small portion of Iowa's total land, similar to other Midwestern states like Nebraska, Illinois, and North and South Dakota.

The report shows that 71 percent of the forest losses, compared with 60 percent of the gains, came from agriculture. The largest losses were to cropland and pasture.

"We were seeing a lot of land-clearing when commodities hit record prices, and corn was over $7 a bushel," said Paul Tauke, the state's forester.

Tauke said trees play an important role in preventing erosion and nitrogen and phosphorus losses that can choke Iowa lakes.

The state closed 25 beaches last summer, a record number, because of toxic algal blooms that can sicken people and kill pets. And Iowa cities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to cut nitrate levels so drinking water is safe for consumers.

A year ago, Des Moines Water Works filed a lawsuit against drainage districts in three north Iowa counties, claiming that underground tiles are acting as conduits, funneling high levels of nitrates into the Raccoon River, a source of drinking water for 500,000 central Iowa residents.

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Bill Northey, Iowa's secretary of agriculture, said it's not surprising that farming is the largest contributor to land-use changes in the state. Iowans grow crops on about 26 million of the state's 36 million acres.

And if high commodity prices "were an incentive to take out a tree, it's gone," Northey said.

Since a drought in 2012 drove prices to records highs, corn and soybean values have sunk up to 50 percent. But Tauke said forest losses have continued to grow, climbing to 103,000 acres, based on an interim report the Forest Service conducted in 2015.

The report shows that Iowa has lost 114 million trees between 2010 and 2015.

"These are old growths that can't be easily replaced," Ramsay said.

The forest and the faucet

Ramsay thumbs to the back of a USDA Forest Service report and points to this quote: "The forest is connected to the faucet."

It's a point she thinks many Iowans have forgotten.

Trees are an important part of riparian buffers that are used to separate corn, soybeans and other crops from rivers and streams. Trees, native grasses and shrubs help stop soil from reaching waterways and soak up water and nutrients that might otherwise escape from farm fields.

"We know buffers are a powerful ally in improving water quality," Ramsay said. "They filter 75 percent of sediment."

That sediment has become a growing issue in Iowa lakes. An Iowa State University study in 2013 showed that sediment deposits were equal to "dropping 50 dump truck loads of soil into each lake every year."

It reduces recreational use, can lead to harmful algae blooms and reduce fish populations.

Ramsay said state and local taxpayers foot large bills each year to remove sediment. The state, for example, spends about $4 million annually dredging Iowa lakes.

"You take out 103,000 acres that had the capacity to absorb the impact of rainfall … and you're going to see more erosion and more sedimentation," Tauke said. "And with that land in crop production, you’re introducing more fertilizer.

"There are more opportunities for more things to run off those acres, along with the soil."

Moreover, clearing woodlands often puts marginal land into production.

"There’s typically a reason the land wasn’t farmed before," he said.

Urban sprawl's small footprint

With home construction booming around the Des Moines metro area, many presume that development and urban sprawl are the leading reasons for woodland losses, Tauke said.

But "that’s not accurate," he said. "We see a lot of housing development, and maybe we magnify that across the state."

In fact, development accounted for only 4 percent of forest losses over the five years studied, he said.

Fifteen percent of Iowa's forest losses were conversion to water such as marshes; 6 percent to rangeland; and 4 percent for rights of way such as highway construction.

The Iowa Department of Transportation said that it replaces the trees removed for road-building, planting them as close as it can to where they were removed.

And developers say they try to minimize tree loss because woodlands attract buyers.

"People definitely see them as an amenity," said Dan Knoup, executive officer of the Home Builder Association of Greater Des Moines.

"If you've got a piece of ground along a creek bed or tree line, they try at all costs to keep those. They're valuable. People want to buy those lots."

In addition, cities often require developers using corn or soybean fields for home lots to plant trees, Knoup said. "We add to trees in Iowa."

The report showed that development added 15 percent of new forested areas in Iowa over five years.

The value of cropland

Northey said agriculture should get credit for the nearly four decades that Iowa increased its trees.

"Iowa's forested acres have climbed dramatically," Northey said.

Since hitting a low in 1974, Iowa has added 1.4 million forest acres. The state has 2.97 million forest acres.

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One reason for that, Tauke said, was a shift in the mid-1980s to feeding cattle in confined lots instead of woodlands, helping them regenerate. But high farmland prices have hurt Iowa forests, he said.

"When land prices are high … it’s very difficult to buy another 5 or 10 acres," Tauke said. "But you can clear 5 acres or 10 acres and farm it."

The average value of an acre of Iowa farmland was $7,633 last year, 12 percent less than the record $8,716 set in 2013. But it's about 2.5 times more than farmland in 2005, an Iowa State University survey shows.

It also means more money when landowners sell.

"High-demand woodland for hunting maybe goes for about $2,000" an acre, Tauke said. "If you had some acres and were thinking about selling them, you would clear the trees and sell it as crop ground.

"Suddenly, it’s worth three, four times as much."

Unless land is enrolled in forest reserve or conservation, farmers and other landowners face no restrictions on clearing trees, Tauke said.

Hunters have noticed the loss of forests, said Jim Wooley, director of field operations for Pheasants Forever.

While grasslands affect populations of quail and pheasants, woodlands affect populations of turkey, deer and other game, Wooley said.

"Woods bring a lot of diversity," he said.

"One of the things I enjoy most when I'm turkey hunting in the spring is sitting in the woods and watching the migration of warblers and other songbirds," Wooley said.

With only 8 percent of Iowa land in woods, "any loss is a significant loss," he said.

Farmers feeling the pressure

Aron Flickinger, manager of Iowa's forest nursery in Ames, has planted much of his family's nearly 150-year-old farm to trees.

His grandfather set aside 7 acres for a pond and woods, and Flickinger has built on that.

He's planting trees on 100 acres of pasture. And he has planted an additional 40 acres in prairie grasses and flowers.

"We do a lot of hunting — there's quail, pheasant and turkey," he said. "And we get a lot of migratory birds that come through — and monarch butterflies — things I did not try to attract, I've attracted."

Flickinger understands the pressures that farmers face. Commodity prices are dropping, while the costs to grow a crop are stubbornly high.

"High land prices don't make those decisions easy," he said. "Farmers want to generate some income to pay off those bank loans. That's part of reality."

Leslie Berckes, a field coordinator with Trees Forever, said the group encourages farmers to consider ways trees can help their bottom line, in particular adding walnuts, hazelnuts, aronia berries and other cash producers.

Trees also can play an important role in attracting more tourists to Iowa, especially rural areas, Ramsay said.

"Iowa really isn't realizing its tourism potential," she said.

Even though it's small, agritourism in Iowa grew 41 percent since 2007, to $4.4 million in 2012, U.S. Census of Agriculture data show. Nationally, it grew 24 percent, to $704 million.

"Sometimes people are looking at the short-term answers instead of long-term solutions," Berckes said.

Ramsay, Trees Forever's CEO, would like to see Iowa follow Minnesota's example and require farmers to build at least 30-foot buffers along streams and rivers. The state, she said, needs to begin making permanent water quality gains. And that mandate undoubtedly would add to the state's wooded lands.

A spirit of rejuvenation

Tauke has been crisscrossing the state, holding public hearings on a proposal to increase the costs of trees sold through the state nursery, which narrowly avoided being closed a year ago because of financial losses.

Prices at the nursery have failed to keep up with the costs to produce the trees. It sells about 1 million seedlings a year.

"That would be doubly bad news — to lose the acres and lose capacity to provide the conservation stock to regain those 103,000 acres," he said.

Flickinger puts in the hard work now to plants trees, so he can enjoy them when he's older.

"That’s where I go to rejuvenate my spirit," he said. "We need places like that for future generations — both on private and public lands."