Chuck Gipp enjoying job as head of Division of Soil Conservation

Chuck Gipp says "I really wasn't looking for a job" when he left the state legislature almost two years ago. But the telephone rang and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey asked Gipp to become the Director of the Division of Soil Conservation.

On Tuesday Gipp told members of the Decorah Rotary Club that he had become disenchanted with the growing partisanship of the state legislature. But the position with the Department of Agriculture allows him to work on issues close to his heart, such as soil and water conservation.

Gipp says the flooding of last year brought a new focus to the department. State and federal officials are pushing programs to improve water retention upstream from large cities. That means encouraging farmers to do less tilling and it also means constructing new wetlands, which also help improve water quality.

Gipp is still commuting to Des Moines, as he did in his 18 years representing Decorah in the state legislature. He leaves Sunday evening and returns to Decorah Friday night. It's a daunting schedule, but Gipp says he's enjoying working at an agency that cooperates with so many other agencies, including the federal government's NRCS, the Iowa DNR and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts.