SHELL ROCK, Iowa -- Scorching temperatures with little rain might not prompt public fears about flooding, but that isn't stopping leaders in northeastern Iowa from preparing for the next deluge.

More than 1.6 million Iowans currently live in drought areas, but given the region's previous battles with floods, 16 county, city and other governmental agencies have formed a coalition to address concerns along the Shell Rock River.

Larry Young, mayor of Shell Rock, said his city has taken on mitigation efforts such as removing homes from the flood plain, but it's not always effective if surrounding agencies aren't on the same page. Young feels the coalition deals with the problem.

"You got everybody knowing what everybody else is doing, and that's a real plus in a situation like a flood," Young remarked.

He pointed out the river is a vital asset to surrounding communities, and keeping the waters from overflowing serves everyone's best interests. The coalition becomes Iowa's 27th group of local governments and agencies coming together to strategize about flood prevention. Advocates in the legislature pushed for more state funding this session to enhance such local efforts, but the request fell short.

Those helping to create these coalitions say if enough of them are established, it will build a strong line of defense against widespread flooding.

Cody Smith, policy associate at the Center for Rural Affairs, said that means you might not see images of catastrophic flooding like that in western Iowa in 2019, when the Missouri River spilled over its banks.

"If something they can do at the top part of a watershed can help reduce the amount of water being lost rapidly in a rain event to that river's system, then they could really advantage communities that are below them," Smith explained.

In a summer when drought concerns are prevalent, Smith noted flood management efforts are just as important. Those involved aren't just planning for the next flood, they're looking at a range of scenarios.

"They look at water quantity as well as water quality," Smith pointed out. "And that doesn't always mean flooding. Sometimes, it means how do we manage our soil moisture better in times of drought. "

He added coalitions strive to make waterways less polluted. With Shell Rock listed as an impaired river, he expects the coalition to consider ways to improve the quality of the water, and not just manage its levels.

Minnesotans are preparing for another winter, and a new global study raises questions about how colder climates might see fewer days of ice cover on lakes.

The findings in the journal Nature Communications showed lakes in the Northern Hemisphere have seen ice melts happen sooner by an average of eight days, and the authors pointed to climate change.

Jerry Grundtner, president of the Forest Lake Lake Association, said recent ice-outs have varied, with some stretching into early May. But he added it is fair to think about the possibility of future issues.

"Earlier ice out means that vegetation has a more robust opportunity to grow more thick during the summer months," Grundtner explained. "It also allows, I think, the water temperature to increase to a higher temperature, which causes more algae."

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have also been sounding the alarm about the links between a warming climate and the conditions of northern lakes. A study from last year found oxygen levels in the world's freshwater lakes are declining at rates faster than in the oceans. And conservation groups say dry summers have fueled harmful algae growth on northern lakes.

As for earlier ice melts and the potential impact on lake recreation, Grundtner feels there is a double-edged sword. While fewer days of a frozen surface might shorten the ice-fishing season, he pointed out a longer ice-free season creates other concerns.

"There'll be a lot more recreational boat use on any lake if ice goes off earlier," Grundtner noted. "As more people use the lake, obviously, there's more of a detriment to the lake by heavy use. So, you know, I think there's an impact from a recreational standpoint also, on the water quality."

Groups like Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates have called attention to the growing prevalence of larger watercraft and the powerful waves they create, impacting shorelines. Meanwhile, a separate, new study from a University of Arkansas researcher predicts a dramatic increase in fish kills as lakes experience rising temperatures.

Wildfires in Wyoming and across the West are creating bigger impacts on snowpack supplying farms, energy production and drinking water for millions of downstream users, according to a new study.

Steven Fassnacht, professor of snow hydrology at Colorado State University and the report's co-author, said the 2020 Mullen Fire in southern Wyoming and Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado were both very large fires destroying forests in places which have historically not seen fires spark or spread.

"They were burning at this high elevation where the snowpack is deep," Fassnacht observed. "They burned up there not because of a lack of snow; they burned because of a lack of rain in the summer."

Researchers found snow in wildfire-burned locations is now melting roughly three weeks earlier than normal, and Fassnacht explained as climate change expands fire zones into more snow areas, water managers and others may need to make adjustments. Increasing storage capacity can help capture melting snowpack, and managers can also re-time water releases from reservoirs to be in sync with time-sensitive users including farms.

Instead of less-than-precise tools such as snow courses and SNOTEL stations to estimate annual water supplies, Fassnacht urged managers to tap technologies including LIDAR, which works like radar using light instead of radio waves to measure snowpack, and new modeling, which can better calculate actual water volumes.

"We need to use multiple tools from our toolbox to better manage the water," Fassnacht emphasized. "One is the storage, and two is the information of how much is there, and how much is actually coming into the system?"

After the Cameron Peak fire, the city of Fort Collins was forced to cut off water coming down the mountain because it was filled with ash and soot. Wildfires also can increase landslides in watersheds, which Fassnacht pointed out can harm fish habitat and water quality for downstream users.

"Especially municipalities, especially for residential water use downstream of any of these fires," Fassnacht asserted. "The ash is very difficult to treat in water treatment plants."

A new film is documenting efforts to prevent invasive carp species from entering the Great Lakes.

"Against the Current 2: Keeping Invasive Carp Out of the Great Lakes" is a sequel to 2020's "Against the Current," which detailed work on the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project near Chicago.

Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, said although the effort has been centered on Illinois and Lake Michigan, it has wide-reaching implications. He cautioned any of the Great Lakes could be vulnerable to invasive species of any kind, not just carp.

Smith described how carp could affect waterways such as Lake Erie.

"Carp would eat a lot of the forage food that a lot of the prey fish rely upon," Smith explained. "In some instances, perch can be impacted and that not only means for the fishery. But, the fishery has multiple impacts on the economy of Lake Erie and the quality of life."

Smith noted lawmakers in Congress have been coming together across the political divide to support the project. Congress will be funding 80% of the work at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, while the state of Illinois is backing the project as well. He is grateful to see people taking the issue seriously and realizing how invasive species could pose a detriment to the numerous industries of the Great Lakes.

While the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project is a short-term project, it will have long-term effects on keeping invasive carp at bay. Prior to the Brandon Road project, Smith acknowledged some projects were contentious.

"A lot of the solutions and proposals to keep carp out of the Great Lakes were met with serious challenges," Smith recounted. "Not only just financial, but how much it would cost to, essentially, fill in and block the transfer of water so that you would stop carp from getting into Lake Michigan through the Chicago Sanitary and Wastewater Canal."

Given how many states border the Great Lakes, Smith knows invasive carp could pose a serious risk to the environments of the surrounding states as well as neighboring Canada. As technologies for keeping invasive species out of the Great Lakes have developed through time, Smith emphasized education must continue, so people understand why the Great Lakes are the wrong ecosystem for invasive carp.