(Spirit Lake)– The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is giving local residents opporunities to sound off on two different environmental issues at public hearings this week in the lakes area. The only problem is the hearings will be held nearly simultaneously. Both are scheduled for Thursday evening. The first, scheduled for 6:00 p.m., is on sovereign lands in the state. It will be held via video hook-up at the Spirit Lake High School distance learning center.
The other, a hearing on anti-degradation, is set for 7:00 p.m. Thursday in the Waitt Building at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory on the west side of West Lake Okoboji.
Under the sovereign lands proposal the DNR is proposing stronger rules to better protect public owned land and water.
The anti-degradation issue would consist of new strategies to protect the state’s streams, rivers and lakes from further degradation.
