Achievements and Completed Projects
Educational video series about the Clean Water Act
(2023)
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, we produced a weekly video series on YouTube and Instagram, sharing 50 facts about this influential but complicated law. Many videos were filmed at wastewater treatment plants, wetlands, and other locations in Iowa and incorporate music parodies.
Check out the complete playlist.
Movement Infrastructure for Clean Water in Iowa
(2023-2024)
We were able to build relationships with some of the wide range of groups that do water monitoring across Iowa, as well as dive deep into analysis of a statewide dataset, thanks to grant from the Water Foundation which wrapped up in November of 2024.
Relationships between water quality and livestock density
(2023-2024)
We spotted some interesting patterns in a statewide database that reveal some ways in which manure can impact Iowa’s rivers, and some ways it doesn’t. Our findings were presented to the Raccoon River Watershed Association (which helped fund the research) and the 2024 Iowa Water Conference.
Promise Road: A Travelling Exhibit
(2022)
We created a travelling exhibit with both visual and audio elements that continues be displayed in communities on the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway. Promise Road tells the story of how the Lincoln Highway knit together the nation in the early days of the automobile and helps communities grow.
NFWF: Water quality and endangered pollinators
(2019-2021)
Many conservation practices benefit wildlife and water quality! Funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation allowed us to map opportunities to do both, help homeowners to plant pollinator gardens, and continue our conservation work with landowners in the Ioway Creek and South Skunk River watersheds.
Ten-Year Water Monitoring Plan for Story County
(2020)
After Iowa DNR ended their volunteer monitoring program, we facilitated meetings of nine local partners to write a plan for how we could work together to support a long-term, locally-led water monitoring effort that included both volunteer and lab testing of streams and lakes. We also researched and wrote over 70 pages of supporting documentation.
Water Quality Initiative project: Ioway Creek Watershed
(2015-2019)
We organized field days and connected farmers with cost-share, leading to 3,500 acres of cover crops, over 3,700 acres of no-till, and a woodchip bioreactor. This big project (funded by a grant from IDALS) also included water monitoring and community education. A related project focused on small farms and acreages in the watershed.
Watershed and creek signs in Story County
(2018)
We helped Story County Conservation design and order 50 road signs marking watershed boundaries and 105 signs marking creek crossings. Signage is an important part of awareness campaigns around water quality and land stewardship.
Mapped locations for conservation projects
(2017-2019)
Using the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) we mapped suitable locations for conservation practices in 43 small watersheds (HUC12s) to support watershed projects and conservation staff in Story, Boone, Hamilton, Plymouth, and Calhoun counties. We even created an interactive web map to view the Story County results.
Watershed Awareness Month Videos
(2020)
As part of an awareness campaign, we partnered with media services staff at the City of Ames to create a pair of videos on the South Skunk River Watershed and stormwater runoff. We supplied most of the footage and wrote the scripts, they did the editing and production.
Watershed Locator Map
(2017)
Where does you land drain? Click anywhere and Iowa and get your complete “watershed address” with our interactive map. When the resources we wanted for environmental education aren’t available, we make our own!
Soil as Sponges awareness campaign
(2018-2019)
Part of a soil health awareness campaign, we would demonstrate our rainfall simulator and give away these sponges at fairs and community events. The sponge includes a link to a website explaining the many ways a healthy soil can act like a sponge!
Outdoor Learning Environments
(2015-2019)
Watershed Planning for Ioway Creek
(2012-2016)
While watershed projects are a team effort, Prairie Rivers has been the driving force behind a lot of the activity in the Ioway Creek watershed (formerly Squaw Creek), including facilitating meetings, writing several chapters of the watershed plan, and applying for grants to implement the plan.
Watershed Planning for the South Skunk River
(2017-2018)
We laid the groundwork for the Headwaters of the South Skunk River Watershed Management Authority by facilitating planning meetings and using GIS to map suitable locations for conservation practices.