After a few years of drought, this spring’s rains were a welcome sight to the dry creek beds, low river levels, and shrinking wetlands. However, the continuous rainfall has left water bodies high and sometimes dangerous. As we enter the dog days of summer, it is crucial for people who are looking for fun water recreation to be fully informed about the water conditions and potential weather changes, ensuring their safety. Here is some information to help keep yourself and your family safe while on the water in Marshall County.

Before you go out and do outdoor recreation, you must tell someone where you are going and when you will return. This way, they will know where to go for help if anything goes wrong. Many of us do not necessarily do this type of planning because we rely so heavily on cell phones. However, cell phone service is not great in many of our parks, recreational areas, and along the Iowa River. So let your loved ones know, and they will appreciate it.

Heat and humidity are great at creating powerful thunderstorms and heavy rains. Checking to make sure the weather will be good while you’re outside is also essential to your safety. If there are chances of heavy rains or if there was heavy rain upstream the day before, you will want to stay off the water. Wind can also ruin a day quickly! A headwind can turn a short paddle into a torturous marathon.

Know your water levels before you go! Yes, the river can be too high and too low to paddle. The Iowa River has been hovering near flood stage for the past few months. The river’s rapid rise and slow recession have resulted in high and fast-moving waters, strengthening the river current. This poses a significant challenge for watercraft maneuvering, especially for kayaks and canoes. If you’re not an experienced paddler, now is not the time to learn how to paddle on the river.

High river levels also increase the risk of encountering floating debris, snags, and strainers. As the waters rise, erosion along the banks often causes trees to fall into the river. Sometimes, these trees will lie in the water where they have fallen. This is called a snag, and paddlers have to maneuver around them to paddle safely downstream.

Other times, the fallen tree will float downstream until caught on other snags or bridges. This debris collection is a strainer and is one of the most dangerous aspects of river paddling. The river can still move through the pile of debris, but your boat will not. Unfortunately, currents tend to push boats into strainers, which can cause significant problems. If one becomes trapped in a strainer, your boat can easily tip, and the current tries to pull you under the branches. Avoid this area at all possible costs if you cannot go downstream safely. Please get out and walk your boats around. It is not worth the risk.

Make sure you know where you will take out and the length of the trip. Check out the Marshall County Website under conservation (https://tinyurl.com/fumyuwmn) for a map of the Iowa River in Hardin and Marshall County to see the length of the paddling sections. Most paddlers move at two to three river miles per hour. That means the stretch from Forest Reserve to Timmon Grove, which is 5.9 miles, will take two to three hours of paddling.

If you choose to float and not paddle down the river, the length of time will increase. River levels will also affect the time to complete your float. If river levels are higher, it will be a faster float. If river levels are low, it will take longer. If river levels are too low, you might be walking the river, which takes a lot of energy and time. You can check river levels on the USGS Current Water Data for Iowa website.

Finally, I’d be remiss to remind you to wear a life jacket. We have heard every excuse under the sun about why I don’t want to or don’t need to wear one. If you are on the water often, invest in a comfortable and maybe more expensive life jacket. Once you start wearing it, you get used to it and will forget you are wearing it.

Our goal is to get people outside and to enjoy nature. Our waterways, teeming with wildlife and offering breathtaking vistas, are a treasure trove to explore. Please enjoy these areas wisely and be safe.

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Emily Herring is the director of the

Marshall County Conservation Board.