Project AWARE

Exciting News!

Project Aware will be coming to Northeast Iowa next July.  Project AWARE stands for (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) last year the group removed over 9 tons of trash from the Nishnabotna Rivers in Southwest Iowa.  Project Aware is funded by the IDNR and their are objects are to increase awareness about water quality issues, engage Iowa's citizen volunteers in a river cleanup and empower them to give something back to Iowa's watersheds.  There will be  many ways to get involved both through sponsorship and with the actual river cleanup next July. More details about the event will be presented next spring.



http://www.iowadnr.gov/volunteer/aware/files/aware_faq.pdf
http://www.iowadnr.gov/volunteer/aware/seeforyourself.html

Outdoor Classroom

Work has begun on the Outdoor Classroom at Clayton Ridge Middle School in Garnavillo, Iowa.  The science teacher had expressed interest in starting something where the students could be outside and he could have fires. I took this as a warm invitation to get the ball rolling.  After having several consultants tour the site, we decided to seek some information from the students themselves.

The 6th grade class was spread out in the proposed classroom area and asked to write/draw what they would want the area to look like, based upon their information and other conservationists; we decided to thin the area and restore it back into native prairie.

The next step was to spray a few patches of broomegrass and locate funding sources for the seeds.  The local Clayton County Pheasants Forever chapter said they would be glad to help with seed purchase.  After the area was sprayed and browned up, Clayton County Conservation staff burned the selected patches.

Today, the 6th grade students spent an hour of their class clearing the prairire area of trees/brush.  The tree logs are being used as outdoor seating and the honeysuckle bushes were made into a brush pile for wildlife cover.  In a few weeks, the same 6th grade class will do a fall prairie seeding. This will be achieved through having the students handseed the burned area and letting the frost/snow work the seed down into the ground.  By growing prairie plants in their classrooms, the students will continue the work of this project throughout the winter.  We are all hopefull some results may come to light next year!!!

Native Trout in Iowa

Most people laugh when I tell them we have one species of Native Trout in Iowa: the Brook Trout.  This trout was orginally found in spring-fed streams of Northeast Iowa.  Early settlers of Iowa refered to this species as the "stream trout" or "mountain trout" with few descriptions of its physical characteristics.  Today, the trout can be found in several streams in Northeast Iowa, native reproduction still occurs in three of Iowa's 100  fishable trout streams in Northeast Iowa. In these three trout steams, the Brook Trout has enough consistent natural reproduction to maintain a viable population without any stocking.

Binoculars

We are currently looking for available binoculars or funding sources to help with the purchase of binoculars. Currently, the naturalists present over 350 classroom programs a year to local clayton county students, and facilitate nearly 50 field trips a year. The binoculars would be used often in these two settings to provide students with life and observation skills and give each student the enjoyment of seeing wildlife upclose. If you or anyone you know could help, please contact the Osborne Nature Center.

Iowa Water and Land Legacy

On November 2, you will have a chance to give something back to Natural Resoruces in Iowa.

Question 1. on the ballet will ask you to vote on Iowa's Water and Land Legacy.  Iowa's Water and Land Legacy is an "outdoor recreation trust fund, created with the purpose of protecting and enhancing water quality, natural areas in the state including parks, trails, fish and wildlife habitat, and conserving agricultural soils in the state."  This is NOT a tax increase, the revenue from this fund will come from allocating 3/8 of a one cent from sales tax revenue the next time Iowa Legislature approves a sales tax.

 "53% of Iowa’s waters rate “poor.” In addition, while agriculture is the backbone of Iowa’s economy, Iowa loses an average of 5 tons of soil per acre each year due to erosion. Currently, Iowa ranks 47th out of 50 states in conservation spending, Iowa ranks 48th out of 50 states in public hunting/fishing property" quoted from from Iowa Water and Land Legacy
For more information please visit:  http://www.iowaswaterandlandlegacy.org 

Fall colors update

Just got back from picking up several brilliant sugar maple leaves-each one brought a different feeling to me. 

The fall colors in Northeast Iowa are nearing peak-most of the early trees (cottonwoods, walnuts basswoods, maples, ash, hickory) are showing of their finest colors of the year.  Some trees have been affected by a fungus called Anthracnose-which makes parts of the leaves dead or blotched. Anthracnose varies on the impact it has on hardwood trees, typically white oaks and walnuts are effected the most. 

Popular places to get outside and view the leaves in Northeast Iowa are Osborne Nature Center, Pikes Peak State Park, Backbone State Park, Yellow River State Forest.  Three of my hidden gems are Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve, Mossy Glenn State Preserve and White Pine Hollow State Preserve. None of  these 3 have designated trails, but they do have some of the most spectacular trees and scenes in the midwest.

If you can not get out and hike (I know you can!) tour the Great River Road or any hilly back country gravel road this next week to see the fall colors in their prime. 

Share some pictures/experiences!