Re: Ethanol the cause of the severity of Iowa flooding?? | |
Part of the reason Iowa's soils are so rich to farm in is because of the wetlands that used to be here. One of my soils profs gave a statistic that said something like 99% of Iowa's wetlands have been drained in the last 75 years to make way for farming. The north central to central part of the state is an area where the last glaciers (the Des Moines Lobe, for you geology buffs) extended into Iowa. That area was full of wetlands/marshes until man figured out that he could drain them and have access to very fertile land. So, naturally, our state would probably flood quite often, but we have changed all that in lew of farming/development.
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