Prairie Rivers of Iowa Executive Director Penny Brown Huber has established a culture of teamwork, insight, and encouragement for over a decade. “Her leadership as our executive director has helped create a uniquely talented staff who are working together in our important conservation work,” boasts board chair Reed Riskedahl. Huber has announced she will step down from her position as director on December 15, 2023. The announcement was met with a sense of loss among staff, the board of directors, our partners, and many of those we serve as an organization, but we are grateful for her leadership and wish her the best in her new endeavors. We have all benefited from her encouragement, guidance, and compassion. Thank you, Penny, for the thirteen incredible years of dedicated service to Prairie Rivers of Iowa!

I recently interviewed Huber about her tenure at Prairie Rivers. Here is what she had to say:

What drew you to accept the Prairie Rivers of Iowa executive director position? Did you have a particular passion that influenced your decision?

“I was aware of the excellent work the RC&Ds were doing around the state and respected what Prairie Rivers of Iowa was accomplishing. My passion for helping people and educating them on natural resources led me to want to accept the executive director position.”

What are two to three accomplishments accomplished during your tenure that you are the proudest of?

• “Continuing to build quality programs supported by science and employing talented and committed people to lead the way.”
• “Expanding the Prairie Rivers of Iowa brand to serve more people and Iowa’s natural and cultural resources.”

How do you feel your influence and management style have enabled the staff and board members to work at their best? 

“Part of serving as an effective administrator is to work with our people where they are at in building their programs by supporting what they know and helping to move their projects, ideas, and opportunities forward. We cannot do our work alone, so looking for partners and supporters and building effective teams is ultimately how we get things done.”

What kind of shape is the work at Prairie Rivers of Iowa in compared to when you started? 

“The organization has grown a lot both in capacity and resources. In the beginning, it was just our Office Manager Carman Rosburg, and me in the office working with the Board of Directors to lay out a strategic plan to move the organization forward. At that time, there was a group of projects that were not related to each other. Today, we have programs with extremely talented and smart people steering the way on improving water quality, pollinator conservation, and building a vibrant byway program for the Lincoln Highway National Heritage and Iowa Valley Scenic Byways.”

What are the most critical tasks or goals you see for Prairie Rivers as the organization moves forward? 

Building program capacity to address local and statewide projects will open up opportunities for more partners, sponsors, and positive change. Bridging the educational efforts so that citizens become enthusiastic learners and supporters is a pathway to solving the very challenging problems in Iowa.

What would it be if you had to give one piece of advice to your replacement?

Make sure there is time to do strategic thinking both for the overall organization and with the program leaders. Enjoy communicating with a variety of people to really develop a sound understanding of problems and solutions. Creating positive change is about taking one step at a time and, after a period of time, looking back and seeing how you made a difference.

When commenting on moving forward as an organization, Riskedahl adds, “The partnerships that exist throughout Iowa with Prairie Rivers have flourished, and a bevy of supporters continue to give of their time and resources to keep this work progressing.”

“We greatly value the work that Penny has done and want to assure everyone that the Prairie Rivers of Iowa Board of Directors is working diligently to find a new Executive Director to continue this important work,” Riskedahl concludes.

Prairie Rivers of Iowa Pollinator Conservation Specialist Jessica Butters said it best, “The magic of the event was seeing a kid holding an insect, some for the first time, and participating in community science by tagging a monarch and setting it free!”

The ISU Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, ISU Entomology, and Prairie Rivers of Iowa board members were on hand to share their expertise while helping with tagging.

This event would not have been possible without the support of Alliant Energy, the City of Ames, the Outdoor Alliance of Story County, and the Friends of Ada Hayden Heritage Park.

Connecting people with nature and improving natural resources — making Story County a great place to live, work, and recreate. — Story County Conservation’s Mission

Q&A

Prairie Rivers:  Why is it important for Story County to partner with Prairie Rivers of Iowa?

Story County Conservation:  The mission of Story County Conservation is to connect people with nature and improve natural resources – making Story County a great place to live, work, and recreate.  This is only possible through meaningful partnerships.  Prairie Rivers of Iowa shares many of the same values and objectives.  Public-private partnerships leverage the unique abilities of each.  The Prairie Rivers/Story County Conservation partnership specifically provides feasible and meaningful improvements to the environmental and social fabric of the community. Through the partnership with PRI, SCC can engage residents through a volunteer citizen water monitoring program. The data collected twice a month is used by PRI to analyze trends and hotspots for pollutants in the county. The volunteer water monitoring program is part of a 10-year water monitoring plan developed by PRI, SCC, the City of Ames, the City of Nevada, the City of Gilbert, the City of Huxley, Iowa State University, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Izaak Walton League, Story County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Story County Community Foundation. Additional initiatives worked on by the SCC/PRI partnership include watershed boundary signage, creek signage, creek and river clean-ups, watershed assessments, and water quality education.

Prairie Rivers: What is the first or most important thing that comes to mind that Story County Conservation has done to inspire citizens to get out and make a difference to improve conservation efforts within the county?

Story County Conservation:  Story County Conservation engages with people in many contexts to break down barriers to help connect people with the outdoors. Whether it be through classroom programs, discovery hikes, outdoor recreation opportunities, environmental stewardship education, and involvement, or simply opportunities to enjoy nature, SCC helps people discover the values of the natural environment.

During his professional career as a soil physicist, Jerry worked at the North Central Soil Conservation Research Lab in Minnesota then retired from the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research at the National Soil Tilth Lab in Ames. His work took him around the world while he continued to study soil structure, soil temperature, and instrumentation. His published articles included research related to freezing and thawing soils, plus the effects of water and nutrient movement within soil profiles.

Here at Prairie Rivers, we primarily got to know Jerry through his service as a Story County Soil and Water District (SWCD) Commissioner. When asked about what was the most important legacy that Jerry left for the citizens of Story County, his daughter Katrina Radke had a hard time pointing to just one thing. He was deeply involved with the SWCD and Story County conservation projects, the Lions Club, and the church.  “He always wanted to do what was best for the soil, conservation, nature, and recycling,” Katrina shared. “He always had a compost pile and was into reusing everything as much as possible rather than wasting it.”

“Some of our most cherished family memories were hiking and camping in Minnesota state parks and national parks throughout the country,“ Katrina fondly remembers, “Obviously, his value for the environment was big. Something else I view as a legacy from him was the good old-fashioned values of discipline, hard work, pursuing what you love to do, and immersing yourself in it. He was a very honest working good man with integrity and high expectations. Being of service to humanity and the land was important to him.”

Katrina concludes with, “I loved my dad very dearly. He was very much a part of my life in terms of a creative voice and teacher.”

If you’d like to reach out to Jerry’s family with a note, please email his wife Susan at susan@susanradke.com or his daughter Katrina at coach@wecoach4u.com.

Here at Prairie Rivers of Iowa, we are grateful for the memorials given in honor of Jerry Radke and his family. If you or a loved one have questions about establishing a memorial to assist Prairie Rivers of Iowa’s work, please contact our Director Penny Brown Huber.

The North American Prairie Conference will be held on June 26 -29 in Altoona, Iowa (just outside of Des Moines), right in the heart of the tallgrass prairie region in the U.S. For four days, attendees will learn and discuss, hope and dream and craft real-world action to expand prairies on the continent. Attendees will place themselves in a world that addresses the value of one of the most important and endangered ecosystems.

“Our future success as a society will in part derive from the degree to which we recognize and fulfill our obligation to ensure our grandchildren and their grandchildren have the opportunity to interact with and benefit from these wondrous grasslands, ” wrote Douglas Ladd in an issue of the Missouri Prairie Journal, “We depend on these bio­logical systems to sustain us as a people, meeting human needs through healthy productive soils, clean and abundant waters, pollinator reservoirs, flood and erosion prevention, and countless other amenities which taken for granted, can be prohibitively expen­sive to re-create once system integrity is lost.”

During one of the field trips being offered, you can spend your afternoon at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, a 6,000 acre reconstructed prairie with bison, elk, rare plant species and other interesting wildlife.

The North American Prairie Conference is America’s oldest and most celebrated native grassland conference. The conference is made possible by hundreds of attendees, volunteers, organizations and sponsors, including the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Living Roadway Trust Fund. This year’s co-hosts are the environmentally-minded nonprofits Prairie Rivers of Iowa and Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.

Attendees can learn more and register at www.northamericanprairie.org. Students can apply for a limited number of scholarships www.iowaprairienetwork.org/napcscholarships.

Members of the media wanting a pass and wishing to attend the conference or any field trips can contact Penny Brown Huber at pbrownhuber@prrcd.org.