SEVENTH IOWA PRAIRIE CONFERENCE

"Persistence of the Prairie"

Saturday June 19, 1999

McCollum Science Hall, University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

Fee includes lunch

Early Registration After June 7

Regular $40 $50 Student $20 $30

Presenter (1/paper)$25 due with abstract

Exhibitors:

Commercial $70 $80 Noncommercial $20 $30

Mail registration to: Iowa Prairie Conference

Continuing Education, Non Credit H 15

University of N.Iowa Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0225

A brochure with additional information is available from the above address

or email request to linda.love@uni.edu

Additional questions may be addressed to daryl.smith@uni.edu

IPN ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE

by Jim Nedtwig

Mark your calendar! Our annual meeting will be held September 10, 11, 12,

1999 at Lakeside Laboratory. This year's event will be a unique annual

meeting

"festival", as our friends from The Nature Conservancy and The Native Plant

Society will be convening their annual meetings simultaneously at Lakeside.

A joint planning committee is currently scheming and plotting. What we know

for

sure is:

Friday evening - gather (rumors of a jam session

persist)

Saturday AM - field trips to be announced

Saturday PM - field trip to Freda Haffner Kettle Hole

Saturday dinner - keynote address by Paul Christiansen

Saturday evening - business meetings for all three

organizations

Sunday AM - field trip to Fen Valley

Registration forms will be mailed this summer.

IOWA ECOTYPE SEED SUPPLIERS

by Cincy Hildebrand

Due to a space shortage, the list of Iowa Ecotype prairie seed suppliers,

which is still being compiled, will be carried in a future issue of the IPN

NEWS. Please contact Cindy Hildebrand (back page or grantridge@aol.com) if

you

meet the criteria listed in the 1999 Spring Edition and wish to be included.

Thanks!

THE LOESS HILLS ALLIANCE

by Glenn Pollock

The Loess Hills Alliance bill was passed and signed by the Governor. About

$500,000 was approbated for the first year of operation. The first meeting

was

held May 7 and 70 people attended. David Zahrt and Glenn Pollock of the IPN

board will serve on the stewardship committee.

ARASCO AND THE LOESS HILLS

by Glenn Pollock - President Iowa Prairie Network

ARASCO of Omaha is closing it old lead refining plant in Omaha. The plant

will be tore down and covered with soil. It will require from 180,000 to

250,000 cubic yards of soil. In other terms that is 5000 to 9000 truck loads

of

dirt. The nearest and least expensive place to get this soil is from the front

range of the Loess Hills. Virgin Prairie makes the best fill dirt.

ARASCO has told the Loess Hills Preservation Society they will make a

decision within a month were the dirt will come from. Since there is no legal

action that can be taken to protect the Hills it would be good if ARASCO

received letters asking that they not choose a site on the front range of the

Hills. Also state the site they pick should be properly restored after the

dirt

is removed. The removal and the capping of the old lead refinery has created

considerable controversies in Omaha. Ask ARASCO to do the right thing and not

damage our Loess Hills. Send letters to:

Linda Larson

Heller, Erman, White, McAuliffe

6100 Columbia Center

701 5th Avenue

Seattle, Washington 98104

(206) 447-0900

(Ms Larson works for the Law firm that represents

ENGELDINGER MARSH UPDATE

(Information compiled and edited by Joyce Hornstein)

The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) public hearing for the

Environmental Assessment concerning the two proposed avoidance alternative

routes for US Highway 65/330 around Engeldinger Marsh was held April 13.

The hearing was supposed to be about the two avoidance alternatives. The

route through the marsh was effectively set aside last year because the marsh

was granted 4F status by the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). People

supporting the routes around the marsh did not come to the hearing prepared to

debate the worth of the marsh versus the farmland and social impacts.

Landowners from the area proposed that the IDOT again consider expanding and

routing the road through the marsh, as they felt that the marsh's 4F status

was

not legitimate. Because marsh advocates failed to voice an opinion at the

hearing, the marsh's 4F status may be reconsidered along with the road through

the marsh.

Both avoidance alternatives that the IDOT presented have drawbacks but each

appears to be a feasible alternative to a route directly through Engeldinger

Marsh. Although this issue is understandably a concern of nearby landowners,

Engeldinger Marsh is of statewide ecological significance and it belongs to

all

Iowans. It is imperative that this marsh be preserved for students and for

others who enjoy and learn from Iowa's few remaining natural areas.

It is not too late to send comments!! Those comments that were sent by

April

30th will be included in the transcript of the public hearing. All

correspondence

received after this date will be included in the project file and reviewed as

the project is developed. Engeldinger Marsh needs your support and letters

NOW

if it is to be preserved!!

Comments regarding the Engeldinger Marsh public hearing (project number

NHS-65-4(76)- -19-77) should be mailed to: Harry Budd, Office of Project

Planning, IDOT,

800 Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50010-9902.

Copies should be mailed to: Bobby W. Blackmon, Division Administrator,

Federal Highway Administration, 105 Sixth Street, Ames, IA 50010 and to:

Paul Johnson, Director, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Wallace State

Office Building,

Des Moines, IA 50319-0034.

(Addendum from Cindy Hildebrand): Unfortunately, many of the comments at the

public hearing were so openly and robustly hostile toward concern for

endangered species and the environment that some hearing attendees felt

intimidated. This makes written comments on behalf of the marsh even more

important. C.H.)

IOWA PRAIRIE NETWORK Grant Application Form

The Iowa Prairie Network is a statewide, non-profit, volunteer

organization.

Our mission is to learn about, teach about, enjoy and protect Iowa’s native

prairies.

IPN sponsors grants up to the amount of $250.00. Grant applications are due

June 15. Award notifications will be made by July 30. For each project

awarded, an IPN Board member will act as a liaison to assist with a public

education facet of the project, and report the project’s outcome to IPN’s

membership.

Preservation and/or appropriate management of native prairie remnants will

be

given priority over prairie reconstructions, with public education, outreach,

and research also given consideration over other types of projects.

Applicant name, address, phone, (e-mail): if group or organization,

please

provide this information for the contact person or representative for your

proposal.

Describe your proposal. Please address the following questions on an

attached piece of paper. Feel free to include any additional information you

consider pertinent to an understanding of what you intend to do and how you

intend to do it, but descriptions may be simple and to the point:

1. What is your project’s purpose or goals?

2. How and when will your project be accomplished?

3. How will you evaluate your project’s success?

4. Please include amount requested (up to $250.00) and line item budget.

Please direct any inquiries to: Glenn Pollock or an IPN Board member for

your

geographical region (map and addresses on backside of this form).

IOWA DNR ADDING PRAIRIES TO FOREST DIVISION

Hello to all Iowa Prairie Network News readers:

I could have submitted a news release, but thought I'd start with something

more personal since there's nothing official yet I can say about the new Iowa

Department of Natural Resources Forests and Prairies Division except that I've

accepted a one year appointment as a Prairie Specialist to assist them with

the

largely educational task of making this change. I will be full-time starting

June 1, but am making the transition in part-time

increments in the interim. I'm very optimistic about where we're going to be

able to go with this program. I have been a quiet prairie enthusiast in

recent

years.

However, I've been into prairies for a long time!! I got hooked on

prairies

as a high school sophomore, and I decided a Botany degree would be an

interesting pursuit as long as prairies were involved! Near Webster City,

my

husband, Chad, and I have our own 2 acre prairie creation started in 1984 from

corn field, hand-collecting only local ecotypes. I have more experience with

hand gathering and scattering, pretty low tech, and have a wonderful example

of

what children alone have accomplished over the years in one of our county

conservation board areas.

Chad and I have also, for the last 6 years at least, taken vacation time

and

worked at cutting trees in the prairies of the Loess Hills - we call it

G.R.A.S.S. (Great Race Against Shrubs and Shade). We extended that into a

week

long effort, by ourselves, while I worked for Trees Forever for a couple years

-

we laughed that it was my penance for promoting tree planting in a prairie

state. We are Loess Hills Seminar regulars.

I've forgotten some Latin names over time as I've worked hard to become an

effective educator with the folks who NEED to know about prairies. I'm

willing

to accommodate the learner's needs in order to win them over to the prairies

--

so I'm more of a compulsive educator than strict scientist. I respect the

science, but have chosen to specialize in reaching the "unconverted"!

My first order of business, besides linking the foresters with the

appropriate prairie folks in their areas (if they don't already know them) is

to

make the round of the existing prairie "turf". We want to add value to the

prairie scene, not replace the good work that has been going on in all kinds

of

places. We will try to encourage and develop partnerships, collaboration,

networking, and cooperation.

Another order of business is to debunk some of the myths about what the

district foresters really do in their work. Their first question of

landowners

has always been - "what are YOUR goals for your woodland" and

they're happy to suggest management that fits those needs, even if they don't

include a timber harvest - ever. Many have a good background in prairies

already, and savannas are not totally new territory either. Most are pretty

fair botanists, too - after all these are people who have to know trees

without

leaves!! I'm still learning and assessing what they need to know so I can put

each in the best possible learning situations (connecting them

with who or what they need to learn) as fast as possible, and in the ways each

of them prefers to learn.

I'm looking forward to renewing old acquaintances and meeting new prairie

enthusiasts. Jean Eells, 2550 Stagecoach Road, Webster City, Iowa 50595-7375

(515)-832-1771 and jceells@ncn.net

POSSIBLE DVD FOR PRESCRIBED BURNS

Historically, periodic burning was an important part of midwestern prairie

and woodland ecology. Because few individuals are qualified to safely conduct

prescribed burns it has been proposed a interactive DVD be created. Each burn

scenario will include pre- and post-burn interviews with the burn master, burn

sequences illustrating proper and improper conduct, environmental data, aerial

images. contour maps, ground cover and vegetation maps, etc. The video will

also include basic classroom and laboratory instruction in burn theory and

techniques. For additional information or to volunteer your time and

expertise,

contact Glenn Pollock from the Iowa Prairie Network. He will pass the

information on to Lon Crosby who has initiated this project.

NEW SPECIES FOR IOWA ECOTYPE PROJECT FOR 1999

This year we would appreciate Iowa seed of mountain mint (Pycnanthemum

virginianum), bluejoint grass

(Calamogrostis canadensis), and prairie sage (Artemisia ludoviciana). Also,

we

are still accepting seed statewide of Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) and

New England aster (Aster novae-angliae). Much needed from

southern Iowa only are collections of Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), Great

blue

lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), and native switchgrass (Panicum virgatum).

Many

thanks for seed collections sent in last year. For more information contact

UNI

Roadside Program, 113 Ceee, Cedar Falls, Ia 50614-0293.

Erma Selser

Grand View College

1200 Grandview Ave.

Des Moines, IA 50316

515-263-2905