Saturday, 31 July 2010
Prairies of Red Rock Ridge-Cottonwood Co. MN

Come explore with us the 23 mile long Red Rock Ridge of Cottonwood County, Minnesota and experience firsthand one of the most unique tallgrass prairie sites in North America. The Red Rock Ridge is part of an exposure of 1.2 billion year old Sioux quartzite which extends from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to New Ulm, Minnesota. While excellent prairie sites can be found all along this exposure, some of the best are to be found along the ridge in Cottonwood County, Minnesota. Located at the southern edge of the “Coteau de Prairies” region, this tour will travel through the center of the recovery area for the federally threatened prairie bush clover. On this tour we will visit numerous sites including the Jeffers Petroglyphs State Historical Site which provides an opportunity to experience not only the botanical wonder of this area but also to observe the pre-settlement human interface that took place on the prairie. Few places in the prairie region of North America offer such opportunities for one to make such a meaningful connection with the prairie and its earliest human inhabitants. This tour will begin at noon on Saturday and extend into the early evening. We will meet in Windom, Minnesota and travel a short distance north to the Jeffers Petroglyphs where our outing will begin. The rally point for this tour will be the parking lot of the Windom Municipal Swimming Pool which is located just south of the intersection of Highway 71 and 6th Street. The swimming pool is located on the west side of Highway 71.

Please contact Gary Phillips for more information.

Sunday, 01 August 2010
Glacial Moraine Prairies of NW Iowa

Come explore with us the glacial moraine topography of Dickinson and Emmet Counties in northwest Iowa and its tall grass prairies. Located on a landscape created by the Altamont and Algona moraines, this area possesses several of Iowa’s best prairie sites. During this tour we will visit Cayler Prairie State Preserve and the Freda Haffner Kettlehole State Preserve in Dickinson County and Anderson Prairie State Preserve in Emmet County. All three of these sites offer an excellent opportunity to see both a diversity of glacial landforms as well as the rich botanical communities which thrive on these sites. This tour will begin Sunday morning at 8:00 and conclude shortly after noon, allowing ample time to travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the conference. The rally point for this tour will be the parking lot of O’Shucks Bait Shop located north of Milford, Iowa on Highway 86. O’Shucks is located on the right side of the highway.

Please contact Gary Phillips for more information.

Sunday, 01 August 2010
Cedar Bend Savanna – Cedar Falls, Iowa

Mary Cox, a Professional Science Masters in Ecosystem Management graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa, will be leading this pre-conference field trip. Feel free to contact her for further information about the field trip.

Email: mkcox1@gmail.com

Phone: 515-770-7012 (personal); 319-464-7196 (during the field trip)

Join Mary Cox for a tour of Cedar Bend Savanna, a 55 acre degraded sand oak savanna located in the north section of the Black Hawk Park Complex in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Throughout the 2010 spring and summer, she has been implementing restoration of the site to enhance the prairie species and wolf oak trees. Species of particular interest are Amorpha canescens, Anemone cylindrica, Delphinium carolinianum, Gentiana puberulenta, and Pulsatilla patens. The field trip will include a look at the restoration efforts that have been conducted, test plots for various restoration techniques, photo point monitoring, and GIS/GPS data used to guide the restoration strategy. Mary would also appreciate help from attendees to conduct a mini-bioblitz to increase the species list for Cedar Bend Savanna. The field trip will run from 2:00 to 4:30 (end-time is flexible) on Sunday, August 1st. To carpool, please meet at the northeast corner of the CVS parking lot located at 2302 West 1st Street, Cedar Falls at 2:00 pm. CVS is on the south side of West 1st Street about ½ a mile west of Hudson Road which T-intersects with West 1st Street. Please be prepared for poison ivy (a footpath will be mowed for the tour, but PI will line the edges), heat, and mosquitos! This field trip is being sponsored by the Iowa Native Plant Society and the Black Hawk County Conservation Board.

Sunday, 01 August 2010
Wolter’s Prairie Preserve + Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area – Butler and Bremer County, Iowa

Mark J. Leoschke, botanist for the Wildlife Bureau of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Des Moines, will be the field trip leader. Feel free to contact him for additional information.

Email: mark.leoschke@dnr.iowa.gov

Phone: (515) 281-5951 (work), (515) 238-7126 (cell)

We will meet at Wolter’s Prairie Preserve in Butler County (northwest of Cedar Falls) at 10 a.m. After stopping for lunch at a local park (bring a lunch), we will drive to the prairie at the Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Bremer County(east of Butler County, north of Cedar Falls).

Wolter’s Prairie Preserve was purchased in 1984 by the Butler County Conservation Board. This beautiful 10+ acre mesic to wet prairie and sedge meadow complex was managed as a hay prairie prior to 1985 (it was also grazed as recently as about 1964). This high quality remnant is home to dozens of species of prairie and wetland plants including an impressive display of shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia) in late May. In early August prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya) puts on a show.
Directions: From the intersection of State Highway 14 South and State Highway 3 in Allison, Butler County (there is a Casey’s convenience store on the northeast corner of this intersection if you need to stop for food or gasoline) drive 4 miles east to Quail Avenue. Turn left (north) and drive about 1.7 miles (past 195th Street) to the prairie on your left (west. If you cross railroad tracks you have gone too far north. The Iowa Sportman’s Atlas shows the prairie as north of the railroad tracks, but it is actually south of the railroad tracks). Park on the gravel road. We will cross a foot bridge onto the prairie.

Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area in Bremer County is owned by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. It has an approximately 6 acre mesic to wet prairie and sedge meadow north of an artificial marsh. The prairie has a large number of native prairie plants including tall nutrush (Scleria triglomerata). Prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya) is in bloom in early August along with Joe-pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum).
Directions: From the intersection of State Highway 93 and County Road V56 (west of Sumner in northeast Bremer County) drive 5 miles west to Quail Avenue. Turn left (south— you can only go south, as Quail Avenue does not go north here) and drive about 0.7 mile. You will pass the wildlife unit headquarters on the right (west). Park at the first parking lot south of the headquarters (next to planted pines) which is just east of the prairie.

This web link has a map of the Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area with road names:
http://www.iowadnr.gov/wildlife/wmamaps/maps/sweet_marsh.pdf