The Central Iowa

                        Prairie Network

                        Newsletter                 

REGION 5 OF THE IOWA PRAIRIE NETWORK

 

 

 

This will be the 12^th CIPN Winter meeting and it’s making a move to the new Jester Park Lodge in northwest Polk County.  Last year’s meeting proved there was a need for more space than available at the Ames Library.  The Lodge will provide abundant room and a wonderful view of the outdoors.  Come early so you can look around and explore the area.

 

The building will be open at noon for registration, bidding on silent auction items, coffee and visiting.  The program will start at 1:00 with a number of short informational and update topics of 5 to 10 minutes each, the presenters will be available to talk with people during the breaks. Bill Johnson, DNR Wildlife biologist, will share information about their program to increase native plant diversity in restoration plantings on state wildlife areas.  Bill is responsible for the native seed harvest, nursery plantings, and seed dispersal.  The project has proved beneficial for the DNR and the correctional facility inmates who have been involved helping with the seed harvest and nursery plantings.  We will also have a demonstration and discussion on vouchering plant samples by Deb Lewis, curator of the Ada Hayden Herbarium at ISU.  The meeting will wrap up around 4:00 with a Carl Kurtz slide show titled “Prairie Details”. 

 

There will be breaks during the afternoon to give you time to look at the displays, talk with the presenters, bid on silent auction items, and visit. 

 

Those who would like to stay longer are encouraged to bring a food item (purchased or home made) for a casual meal following the main meeting. Food will be set out around 4:30 and those present can continue to visit while they eat.  Disposable table service will be available.  The Lodge has a full kitchen so hot and cold foods should not be a problem.

 

This will be the third year for our silent auction.  The project to receive the money has not been selected as of this printing.  A number of ideas are being considered.  If you know of a project you’d like to suggest or would like to donate items for the auction see the silent auction article on page 2 for contacts.  The $800 auction proceeds in 2000 went to The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation for the Effigy Mounds Heritage Addition acquisition.  In 2001 the auction raised $2200 to help The Iowa Nature Conservancy purchase the Gray-Hart Memorial Preserve. 

 

If you have a display or information you’d like to share with the group contact Lloyd Crim at 515-432-5026 or lcrim@willinet.net to reserve a table.

 

If the meeting needs to be canceled due to bad weather we will try to make the decision by 10:30 am.  Call Trish at 515-382-2802 if you want to check.

 

Directions to Jester Park Lodge:

#1 - From I-35 and I-80 on the northwest corner
of Des Moines take the Grimes/Highway 141 exit north - after Hwy 141 turns west after crossing Beaver Creek turn right or north on NW 121 St. till it T's into NW 118 Ave. - go east or to the right staying to the left of the native grass planting at the triangle.   At the stop sign, proceed straight ahead down the hill toward the reservoir. The lodge is at the end of the road.
#2 - If coming from the north on Highway 17 you can go south to highway 141 then east and follow previous directions or north of Granger turn east on NW 122 Ave. till you T into NW 128 St. There will be a planted prairie directly in front of you.  Turn right and follow the road around a curve and past the golf course to the grassy triangle mentioned above.        

#3 - If you are coming from the Ankeny/Polk City side of the reservoir:  Cross the reservoir on the mile-long bridge west of Polk City.  When you reach the stop sign on the west side turn right and follow NW 106th Ave west for 1.5 miles to NW 121 St. then turn right or north until it T's with NW 118 Av and follow the instructions for #1.

 

Speaking of the CIPN Silent Auction, M & M, the Silent Auctioneers, have been busy planning the 2002 Silent Auction to be held at the CIPN winter meeting.  Molly McGovern and Marlene Ehresman request your participation in a couple of ways in order to ensure the continuing success of this great fun(d) raising event. If you would like to donate an item, we would love to include it in the auction. Past auction tables have been lined with items such as prairie seed, art prints, tools, books, honey, wine, gift certificates, bird feeders/houses, etc. and have ranged from expensive to not and used to new. Some of the items have been purchased just for donation to the auction, others are treasures from the home, and others have been donated by local/regional businesses/organizations when solicited by the planning committee members. The more we have to bid on, the more fun it is and the more money we raise!

 

If possible, please contact Molly or Marlene at least a few days prior to January 19th so they can create a bidding sheet for your donated item. Otherwise, just bring your item to the CIPN Winter Meeting by noon on Saturday the 19th. The other way you can participate is to come to the meeting and help continue a great tradition by bidding on the items of your choice. It’s fun and the proceeds always go to a good cause! Contact Molly McGovern at 515/957-9335 or Marlene Ehresman at 515/288-1846 (w) or 296-2995 or mehresman@inhf.org.

 

 

 

Two years ago Mary Jane Hatfield led the effort to hold the first Central Iowa Prairie Network silent auction. The $800 raised at that auction went toward the acquisition of the Heritage Addition (aka Kistler or Ferguson Tract) to Effigy Mounds National Monument (EFMO) and on December 15, 2000, the 1,045-acre addition expanded the existing EFMO by 60 percent. More significantly, it connected EFMO and a unit of the Yellow River State Forest, putting more than 4,000 contiguous acres under public protection, including 7.8 miles of Yellow River.

 

On June 9, INHF and Effigy Mounds National Monument hosted a dedication of the addition. The event coincided with EFMO’s Native American Weekend and included American Indian dances, presentations, and guided hikes and boat tours through the Heritage Addition. Several hundred people attended the dedication. The 150 people that signed up for the hikes were entranced as they wandered beside the river, paused beside the bear effigy, caught sight of an eagle, bent over for a closer look at the prostrate juniper spreading beside the big bluestem, marveled at the view from the goat prairie, and listened to the guides talk about the past, present and future of the land. With the right management, the prairie, savanna and woodland species will now have the opportunity to thrive. As Mark Ackelson mentioned in his dedication speech, the Spirits were smiling on all of us that day. (For more information about this project, visit www.inhf.org and find the archives page.)

 

 

 

Al and Mary Razor of Collins recently donated their native prairie to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) to ensure its protection. There has been a long-term relationship between Razors and the conservation community, and various people have donated their time over the past couple of decades to conduct management activities at Hominy Ridge Prairie. Some have said that their volunteer activities were just a way to get to know the delightful couple, both of whom are in their 80s. The Razors have long been interested in protecting their property and Al has voiced his wish that young Iowans come to understand and enjoy prairies. They decided this fall to donate 24 acres of their property to INHF. The property, located in the Northwest corner of Jasper County and adjacent to Highway 330, includes eight acres of remnant prairie and at one time was on The Nature Conservancy’s registry. Under the supervision of Joe McGovern, INHF Land Stewardship Director, the Foundation will continue to own and manage the property, restoring more of the prairie and using the site for seed collection.

 

 

 

To help you get to know the IPN Board members we are going to be including short articles about them in our newsletters.  If there are issues you’d like to have addressed by the State Organization contact one of the board members.  The Iowa Prairie Network is strictly a volunteer organization.  The people who serve on the IPN Board do so because of their dedication to our Prairie Heritage and receive no monetary compensation.   The Board is comprised of 14 regional members and up to 6 at-large members (4 of the at-large positions are currently filled).   We owe all of the IPN Board members a big thank you for the time and effort they give on the behalf of prairies.

 

Contact information for Region 5 IPN Board members is on page 6 of this newsletter.

 

 

 

Inger was elected to be one of the Region 5 representatives last year at the CIPN Winter meeting.  At the IPN Annual meeting in October she was elected President of the IPN Board.  She has lots of good ideas and this should be an exciting year for the State organization.

 

The following is edited from last April’s newsletter:

- I moved (with my husband and son) to the Ankeny/Saylorville Lake area in Nov. 1999 after 5 years in St. Louis and before that Ohio, Virginia, California and Michigan (where I was born and raised).

-My mother grew up on a farm in Monona County and as a child my family always traveled twice a year to Sloan, Iowa, to visit her family. 

- I have a BS and MS in Botany from San Diego State University, studying mycorrhizal associations in the chaparral.  My Ph.D. is from the Agronomy Dept. at Ohio State, where I studied legume nodule sugar metabolism.

- While in St. Louis I volunteered once a week for 3 years at Shaw Nature Reserve, a 2400-acre branch of the Missouri Botanical Garden.  I worked planting, transplanting, weeding and harvesting prairie plants.  I also had a glorious time doing a photographic insect survey during the summer of 1999.

- Now that I am here in Iowa (the true center of the universe as far as I’m concerned) I have a DOT prairie in my front yard and also find myself in charge of a small (approx. 2 acre) prairie at my son’s school in Ankeny, Westwood Elementary.  I conduct class tours and maintain a “What’s blooming now” display in the Westwood library.                    

                                                     

 Inger –

 

 

 

I grew up near Detroit, and read about "prairies" in the Laura Ingalls LITTLE HOUSE series.   But I never saw a real prairie until I moved to Ames in 1977 and took a guided tour of Doolittle Prairie in full July bloom.   Wow!   It was love at first sight, but I didn't know what I was seeing.   Then I met some generous Iowa prairie enthusiasts, and they started taking me to prairie remnants and showing me around.   I learned enough to become a fanatic.   

 

Now my husband and I own a few remnant and reconstructed prairie areas.   They have plenty of exotics and invading woodies to work on, but also beautiful prairie species that make the work worth doing.   We harvest and donate some local-ecotype prairie seed for other plantings.   I also work on (and sometimes rant and rave about) public policies that affect prairies.   The Iowa Prairie Network has made prairie work a lot more fun and effective, and I'm grateful to all the other Iowans who are helping in varied ways to protect our prairie heritage.  

 

Cindy -

grantridge@aol.com

57439 250th St.

Ames, IA  50010

515-232-3807

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indian paintbrush or painted cup (Castilleja coccinea) is a member of the snapdragon family, Scrophulariaceae.  It is an annual or biennial and hemiparasitic (dependent for some of its nutritional needs on other plants), but it does have green stems and leaves.  Indian paintbrush is an infrequent species in Iowa prairies, blooming in May and June.  It has red and yellow forms, but the red or yellow (sometimes orange) parts of the plant are actually bracts, enclosing the small green-yellow corolla.  The red form is more common in the eastern 1/3 of Iowa, while yellow is more common in the rest of the state.  There are herbarium records for this species from across much of Iowa.  However, most of the recent herbarium records that I am familiar with are from the northeast and east-central portions of the state.  I am interested in sites with extant populations of this species on private or public land anywhere in Iowa, but especially from the southern or western portions of the state.  You can send me your leads (please include owner name and a mailing address if possible) via mail (Mark J. Leoschke, Wildlife Bureau, DNR, Wallace State Office Building, Des Moines, Iowa 50319 or e-mail (mark.leoschke@dnr.state.ia.us).  Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

Start planning your trip to the 18^th North American Prairie Conference June 23-27, 2002 being held in Kirksville, Missouri.  “Promoting Prairie” is the theme for the conference.  The goal is to gather prairie experts, enthusiasts and advocates to share knowledge and ideas, reach new constituencies, and build new partnerships.  The conference should challenge attendees to educate communities and advance our knowledge about and commitment to the conservation, restoration, and reconstruction of prairie in North America.  The meeting will include symposia, contributed papers, posters, workshops, and regional field trips.  Visit the prairie conference web site at  http://www.napc2002.org for more information or contact the conference coordinator at the Kirksville Area Chamber of Commerce, 304 S. Franklin, Kirksville, MO  63501, phone (660) 665-3766, fax (660) 665-3767.  See you there!

 

 

 

 

A symposium and field trip for Midwest Savannas and Woodlands will be held on February 18-19 in conjunction with the annual conference of the Society for Range Management in Kansas City, Missouri schedule for February 13-19, 2002.  The website containing detailed information is:http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/SRM2002/.

 

 

 

--------------------------------cut here and make corrections on the other side--------------------------------------------

 

 

 

There are no membership dues to participate in the Central Iowa Prairie Network (CIPN).  The CIPN sponsors activities for the public related to education and appreciation of our prairie heritage.  If you would like to contribute to help cover the cost of the CIPN Newsletter and events, a $5 annual mailing fee/donation can be made.  If you have contributed for 2002 or beyond it should be noted on your mailing label with “Pd 2002” in the corner.

           

Send to:  Trish Patrick, 57540 270^th St., Ames, Iowa 50010-9347

 

 If you have a new rural 911 address or other address correction, please clip off your mailing label and send to the above address.  Thanks for your help and support.

 

 

The state organization, The Iowa Prairie Network (IPN), divides the state into 7 regions.  The Central Iowa Prairie Network (CIPN) is Region 5 of the IPN.  Each region has 2 representatives on the IPN Board.  Jim Nedtwig and Inger Lamb are the IPN Board members for Region 5.  If you have any concerns, ideas or information you'd like to share with the State IPN, contact one of the Board members. 

           

Jim Nedtwig                                               Inger Lamb

443 Tonawanda Dr.                               9188 NW Polk City Dr.

            Des Moines, IA  50312              Polk City, IA  50226

            (515) 277-2427                                 (515) 963-7681

            prairiedogs@earthlink.net                  ingerlamb3@home.com

 

 

Check the IPN web site at  www.iowaprairienetwork.org

 

At Large IPN Board Members

 

Jon Judson
25494 320th Street
Dedham, IA 51440
(712) 683-5555
dfarms@pionet.net

 

Cindy Hildibrand
57439 250th St.
Ames, IA 50010
(515) 232-3807
grantridge@aol.com

 

James Devig
406 West 1st
Huxley, IA 50124
(515) 597-3194
jdevig@storycounty.com

 

 

Erma Selser,

Newsletter Editor
3214 Wright Street
Des Moines, IA 50316
(515) 299-3986
eselser@gvc.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Central Iowa Prairie Network

57540 270^th St.

Ames, Iowa  50010-9347