Ioway Creek Watershed Management Authority
Note: The name “Squaw Creek” was officially changed to “Ioway Creek” in February of 2021, to be more respectful to indigenous people.
Background
Created in 2012, the mission of the Ioway Creek Watershed Management Authority (IWMA) is to engage, educate, and encourage all citizens to improve the health, stewardship, and resiliency of our watershed resources.
The Ioway Creek Watershed Management Authority was formed by a 28E agreement between the cities (Ames, Gilbert, Stratford, & Stanhope), counties (Story, Boone, Hamilton, and Webster), and soil and water conservation districts in the watershed. This group has no taxing or regulatory authority; they are simply a coalition of government entities working to promote voluntary conservation in the watershed to improve water quality in the creek.
Planning and Implementation
A Watershed Management Plan was adopted in December 2014, which addresses water quality, recreation, habitat and community engagement. The plan was created with help from the water resource-based engineering and environmental consulting firm EOR of Oakdale, MN. You can view the plan here.
Prairie Rivers of Iowa secured Water Quality Initiative Grant from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in 2015 to hire a watershed coordinator and begin working with farmers in the watershed. The project concluded in 2019 and resulted in seeding of 3,532 acres of cover crops, transition 3,719 acres to no-till or strip-till, and a denitrifying bioreactor.
Meetings and Minutes
Since 2024, meetings have been held jointly with the Headwaters of the South Skunk River WMA. Story County posts the current agenda and recent minutes here. Minutes from earlier meetings are archived below.
We will no longer be posting a list of WMA representatives on this page, as it has been difficult to keep up to date.