Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Iowa DNR logo
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1986 |
| Headquarters | 502 East 9th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0034 |
| Employees | 1,170 |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | http://www.iowadnr.gov/ |
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR or IA DNR) is a department/agency of the U.S. state of Iowa formed in 1986, charged with maintaining state parks and forests, protecting the environment of Iowa, and managing energy, fish, wildlife, land resources, and water resources of Iowa.
The DNR was created by the 71st General Assembly in 1986 under Terry E. Branstad, member of the Republican Party of Iowa, by combining four previous state agencies: Water, Air, and Waste Management; parts of the Iowa Energy Policy Council; the Iowa Conservation Commission; and the Iowa Geological Survey Organization.
Commissioners of the DNR since its formation in 1986 were
The DNR has 1,170 full-time equivalent employees. It is headed by a governor-appointed director, which as of May 2012 has been Chuck Gipp. The DNR has three service divisions: Conservation and Recreation, Environmental Services and Management Services.
There are two governor-appointed citizen commissions that decide on policies and administrative rules: the Natural Resource Commission that oversees fish, wildlife, parks and forestry issues; and the nine-member Environmental Protection Commission that oversees water, land and air quality issues.
The Commission consists of nine commissioners. Of these at least 5 members have been identified in 2014 based on public records, to have a conflict of interest when it comes to stricter environmental protections, particularly the enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
As of 2013 it consisted of five bureaus: Water Quality, Air Quality, Land Quality, Field Services and Compliance, and Iowa Geological and Water Survey. Field Services staff inspect permitted facilities, annually reviewing permits for more than 200 confined animal facilities, approximately 5,500 manure management plans, permitting more than 450 solid waste facilities and writing more than 2,000 air permits.
Iowa water quality assessments have been developed only since 1992. In 2013, the Iowa Geological and Water Survey published a "Survey of Iowa Groundwater and Evaluation of Public Well Vulnerability Classifications for Contaminants of Emerging Concern". The most commonly found contaminant was pesticides in 41% of samples, with as many as 6 pesticide compounds together, and mostly chloroacetanilide degradates. Glyphosate was not detected, and its metabolite was only detected in two of 60 wells (3%) at the detection limit of 0.02 μg/L. In 35% of 63 samples pharmaceutical compounds were found. Of the 14 drugs, six were above the method reporting limit, the highest of which was acetaminophen. One in five of the wells contained microorganisms, most frequently pepper mild mottle virus (PMMV), GII norovirus, both human and bovine polyomavirus, and Campylobacter.
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