DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today introduced five new Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship employees focused on urban conservation at an event at the Iowa Capitol.  The new field staff are based in Polk, Pottawattamie, Johnson and Dickinson Counties.

Northey also recognized the Dickinson County Soil and Water Conservation District for receiving the Urban, Community and Coastal Resources Excellence Award from the National Association Conservation Districts for their urban conservation work.

“Unfortunately, in the past management of storm water in our urban areas have only focused on preventing flooding, not protecting water quality,” Northey said.  “New technologies and strategies allow us to do both.  These new employees will help communities install new systems and retrofit existing infrastructure in a way that will move the water off our streets while keeping soil and pollutants out of our waterways.”

The urban conservationists will provide information and technical assistance on soil and water conservation methods in towns and cities to land development professionals, city officials, government agencies and private landowners.

While located in rapidly developing communities, the conservationists will provide expertise to communities across the state.  And, should any new funds become available, additional staff could be hired to focus on additional communities.

“Our goal is to have urban and rural areas working together to protect our soil and improve water quality in the state,” Northey said.  “The Department has years of experience working with farmers and believe this is just the beginning of efforts to assist urban areas.”

Wayne Petersen will be based out of the Wallace Building in Des Moines to help oversee the Department’s Urban Conservation efforts.  In particular, he will help develop a comprehensive statewide program that incorporates water quality protection into traditional storm water management strategies that have only addressed flood control in the past.

Previously Petersen worked for the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) for nearly 32 years, including eleven years as the Urban Conservationist for Iowa.  He has a Bachelors Degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University and is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control.

Richard Maaske is the new Urban Conservationist in Pottawattamie County.  From 1999 to 2007 Maaske worked as an urban conservation specialist in the Loess Hills area of the state.  In this capacity he worked with local governments, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, NRCS, Iowa Department of Agriculture’s Division of Soil Conservation and private citizens.

He has held numerous workshops for developers, acreage owners, real estate agents, architects, planners and engineers to make them aware of the benefits of using conservation measures in development plans.  He has worked with county officials in Pottawattamie and Mills County helping them to develop land use plans, adopting zoning ordinances that allow for low impact development infrastructure.

Amy Bouska is based in Johnson County and will serve Eastern Iowa.  She has sixteen years of experience working with the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District, most recently working as a Project Coordinator for the Lake Macbride Watershed project, which is a 940 acre lake project in the Iowa City area.

Previously she was the Project Coordinator for the Johnson County Urban Water Quality Project. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Geography and a Masters of Science in Urban and Regional Planning, both from the University of Iowa.

Jennifer Welch is the new Urban Conservationist for central Iowa and is based in Polk County.  Previously, she worked for seven years as an Urban Conservationist with Urban Resources & Borderland Alliance Network (URBAN), serving four Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Central Iowa.  In that position she worked to improve water quality and natural resource conservation in urban and developing areas by providing education, information and technical assistance to governmental units, the development community and citizens in central Iowa.

Welch is also the co-founder of the Iowa Storm Water Education Program (ISWEP), which is a membership organization that provides storm water educational resources and leadership to communities across Iowa.  She is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC) and previously worked as a soil conservationist and special projects coordinator for NRCS.  She received her undergraduate degree in agronomy and graduate degree in water resources from Iowa State University.

Steve Anderson is the Urban Conservationist for Dickinson County in Northwest Iowa. Anderson has extensive professional and volunteer experience working in the Iowa Great Lakes area to protect water quality and promote “low-impact development” in the area.

Most recently he was the coordinator of the Dickinson County Clean Water Alliance.  In this position he worked with over 40 conservation groups in Iowa and Minnesota to protect water quality.  He graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in environmental science.

“These new staff members bring to the Department years of urban conservation experience and a deep passion to protecting water quality in the state,” Northey said.

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