Iowa
Bill would limit Iowa DNR’s ability to buy land at auction. But will it advance?
What is Iowa’s legislative ‘funnel’ and how does it work? (2025)
A look at how the Iowa Legislature uses the “funnel” during its legislative session.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources would be barred from buying land at auction — with some exceptions — under House and Senate bills that are opposed by conservation groups.
The bills, House File 714 and Senate Study Bill 1198, would block the DNR from purchasing land at auction. The department would only be allowed to buy or acquire land from a willing donor or seller.
But the legislation’s future is uncertain ahead of Friday’s “funnel” deadline, which requires most bills to pass a committee by the end of the week in order to remain eligible for consideration this year.
The bill includes an exception that allows the DNR to acquire land at auction or from a nonprofit that acquired the land at auction “if the acquisition is in furtherance of a local or statewide conservation or recreation plan.”
Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, said he considers that exception “one of the more important paragraphs in there” but said he’s open to discussing the language if groups have possible changes in mind.
“My goal is to allow for that circumstance where none of us in this room can foresee that it will be imperative that the state acquire it,” he said. “And I think it’s important that we have that outlet, or relief valve, or whatever you call it.”
A range of conservation groups showed up at House and Senate subcommittees on the bill Tuesday to testify against the legislation, while lobbyists for the Iowa Farm Bureau and Iowa Cattlemen’s Association said they oppose the bill’s exception that would allow the DNR to buy land in some cases.
The House Natural Resources Committee did not bring the bill up during its meeting Tuesday, meaning the bill will will fail to clear the funnel deadline unless it passes a committee in the Senate.
Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway, said he expects to see a proposed amendment to the bill that the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee would consider, but he did not have the language of the amendment as of Tuesday morning.
Legislation introduced last year would have banned the DNR from buying land at auction without exception. That bill failed to advance.
According to the DNR, about 1% of Iowa’s land is public land controlled by the DNR.
Over the last two decades, Iowa has lost nearly 1.8 million acres of farmland to development and other uses, for a 5.5% decline, according to a 2024 U.S. Census of Agriculture. Nearly 586,000 farm acres were lost in the last five years.
Iowa DNR has not bought land at auction for more than 20 years
Todd Coffelt, legislative liaison with the Department of Natural Resources, said the department does not currently buy land at auction and has not done so for the last six years, as long as Director Kayla Lyon has been in charge.
Coffelt told senators it has been 20 years since the DNR directly bid on land at an auction. He said the six-year time period referred to the DNR buying land from a different group that had acquired it at auction.
At the House subcommittee, Rep. Austin Harris, R-Moulton, criticized protests of the bill as “the boy who cried wolf.”
“I mean this is ridiculous, guys,” he said. “This doesn’t change a darn thing.”
Harris called the bill common sense.
“It doesn’t change anything,” he said. “It just locks it in because Director Lyon and this administration will not be there forever. Let’s make sure that we continue this policy.”
Harris asked Coffelt whether the DNR’s current policy is not to acquire land at auction.
“Yes,” Coffelt said. “For the last six years, we have not competed at an auction to acquire land.”
“And if a third-party group, nonprofit group, some of whom are represented here today, acquire it through an auction, would you guys acquire that land?” Harris asked.
“No,” Coffelt said.
Conservation groups say bill is ‘another beat of the drum’ to limit public lands
Joe Jayjack, with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, said the bill is “another beat of the drum” by Iowa lawmakers to limit new public land or limit the DNR’s ability to buy public land.
He pointed to last year’s bill preventing the DNR from buying land at auction, and a Senate measure this year that would repeal Iowa’s constitutionally protected Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund.
“Land has to go to auction for all kinds of reasons, and this is restricting a potential buyer from folks that have to go to auction to sell the land,” Jayjack said.
Fred Long, president of the Iowa Conservation Alliance, said the price of land is unaffordable because large farmers have more money and can pay higher prices.
“That’s what’s keeping the young farmer out,” he said. “It isn’t the little bit of land that the DNR acquires, because if some guy bought most of what they have and tried to start farming, he’d go broke on it.”
Daniel Gibbons with Linn County Conservation said public lands and recreation opportunities are important to attract residents and businesses to Iowa.
“The benefit of public land is growing with a state where our goals are to bring our kids back,” he said. “We want to bring businesses, we want to bring new residents here. And it doesn’t take very long looking at the research that the next generations are really craving that outdoor wildlife and recreation experience.”
Iowa Farm Bureau appreciates limits on DNR land buying but opposes bill’s exception
Matt Groenwald, a lobbyist for the Iowa Farm Bureau, said the organization appreciates lawmakers’ efforts to restrict how much land the DNR can buy.
“We know that every acre owned by government is an acre of lost opportunity for our farmers,” he said. “Many times these acres could be used by farmers, especially young farmers, beginning farmers, cattle farmers, farmers looking to grow their operations so they can thrive in rural Iowa, raise their families in rural Iowa and send their kids to school.”
But the organization is registered as undecided on the bill because of the bill’s exception language.
“The inclusion of paragraph two would codify a currently unused practice by DNR and does not achieve our members’ goal of eliminating taxpayer dollars from competing against our citizens at auction,” Gronewald said.
Jake Swanson, a lobbyist for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, echoed similar points.
“Our farmer members do not want to see government representatives bidding against them at an auction,” he said.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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