Uncategorized - Prairie Rivers of Iowa

New Pollinator Conservation Specialist Jessica Butters Joins PRI Staff

by Mike Kellner | Mar 30, 2022

Prairie Rivers of Iowa’s new Pollinator Conservation Specialist Jessica Butters’s background includes extensive knowledge about Iowa’s ecosystems and native bee conservation. She’s a graduate of Kansas State University (KSU) with a Master’s of Science in Entomology and recently completed work as a research assistant organizing and analyzing a large dataset concerning native bee presence in soybean in fields.

“We are thrilled to have her join our staff and look forward to some significant contributions towards pollinator and native plant habitat creation, restoration and education throughout Iowa,” says Executive Director Penny Brown Huber.

Jessica has a history of collaboration that will serve her well in this new position. As a part of the team at Kansas State, she has co-authored publications on topics ranging from Providing for Pollinators: Conserving and Integrating Natural Habitats to Native Flowering Border Crops Attract High Pollinator Abundance and Diversity. At KSU she managed two projects that gave her and others a greater understanding of native plant and insect interactions, and landowner viewpoints towards conservation efforts and practices.

Connecting with the public is an area of expertise Jessica honed while serving as an insect zoo tour guide at KSU and as a private tutor where she was able to synthesize scientific information into something simple, fun, and informational to school children and diverse audiences. Central Iowa audiences will get their first taste of her expertise during the Ames Public Library’s Birds, Bees and Pollinators EcoChat on April 28.

Besides being a great presenter, Jessica’s scientific skills are impressive as well. She is just as comfortable while conducting research and analyzing data, creating maps using ArcGIS and R, identifying native pollinators and plants, talking about sustainable agriculture or creating the perfect bee house. They are skillsets that are critical when considering the challenges pollinators currently face in Iowa and beyond.

Please welcome Jessica to the Prairie Rivers team, and “bee” sure to reach out, say hello, and call upon her expertise when you need assistance with your next pollinator garden, native prairie restoration, or educational event.

During the application process, Jessica related, “I believe my research experience, passion for public relations, and solid bee and Iowa ecology background, blend perfectly together for this position.” We could not agree more!

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by Mike Kellner | Mar 14, 2022

by Dan Haug | Mar 14, 2022

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Prairie Rivers of Iowa Releases Story County Water Quality Monitoring Annual Report

by Mike Kellner | Mar 11, 2022

Prairie Rivers of Iowa has just released an annual report investigating water quality in streams and lakes around Story County. Prairie Rivers of Iowa worked with Story County Conservation, the City of Ames, and other partners in 2020 to initiate a locally-led water monitoring program including both volunteer and laboratory testing.

The report’s author Prairie Rivers of Iowa Water Quality Specialist Dan Haug states, “Our partners and volunteers have gone to a lot of trouble to test rivers and lakes across the county, so we take seriously the job of interpreting the data.” He continues, “It’s only the second year of the program, but we’re starting to see patterns that can help us evaluate nutrient reduction efforts and improve our streams for recreation and fisheries.

Water Quality Monitoring in Story County Annual Report Cover

Volunteer Rick Dietz and Prairie Rivers of Iowa Board President Reed Riskedahl test phosphorous in a tributary of Ioway Creek.

Some of the key findings detailed in the report include the risks of waterborne illnesses, algae blooms in lakes and streams, the impacts to aquatic life and the effects of excess nutrients being sent downstream, eventually to the Gulf of Mexico.

“The water monitoring planning team is working hard to bring together all the resources we can to conduct monthly water testing, equip volunteers, educate elected officials and the public about the many water quality issues in our lakes, rivers and streams,” according to Haug.

In 2021, E. coli bacteria was usually low at swimming beaches and parts of the South Skunk River, but high in most creeks. The influence of nitrogen and phosphorus loads from Story County did not have as much influence on hypoxia contamination to Gulf of Mexico in 2021 due to a dry year, but the plan calls for continued monitoring to determine the effects during normal to wet periods helping to identify hot spots and evaluate whether conservation practices are working.

Water quality monitoring results in Story County did however reveal that during dry conditions in 2021, the highest levels of nitrogen and phosphorus were found below wastewater treatment plants. Wastewater effluent may be contributing to low dissolved oxygen levels in some streams harming aquatic invertebrates yet more monitoring is needed to establish patterns.

Other findings during the past year conclude that untreated stormwater from older neighborhoods has extremely high levels of sediment, phosphorus and bacteria.

Water monitoring was guided by a ten-year plan written by nine local partners and facilitated by Prairie Rivers of Iowa.

Water samples were collected monthly from 15 sites and weekly from three sites, with laboratory support provided by the City of Ames. Story County Conservation launched a volunteer monitoring program with 17 individuals and one business participating. Prairie of Iowa used special hardware to collect samples of runoff from rainstorms.

The entire Story County 10-year Water Quality Monitoring Plan, Annual Report, water quality updates, real-time data and educational articles can be found here.

Historic Bridges Face Challenges Along Lincoln Highway in Iowa

by Shellie Orngard | Mar 4, 2022

One of the most visually impressive historic bridges along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa was the Lyons-Fulton Bridge, which opened in 1891 on July 4th of that year to much fanfare. Crossing the Mighty Mississippi before the bridge required time and access to a ferry boat, a calculus definitively changed once the bridge was constructed between Fulton, Illinois, and Lyons, Iowa. Not only did the Lyons-Fulton affect the ease of travel, it was a feat of engineering, and an aesthetically captivating one at that. But don’t make plans to see and admire it the next time you cross the Mississippi. It was replaced in 1975 by the Mark Morris Memorial Bridge. While deterioration of the bridge undoubtedly demanded its replacement, there are a number of existing historic bridges along the Lincoln that need to be kept up to avoid being lost.

Sidebar: Dedicated Lyons and Fulton Bridge High Bridge is a Reality from The Clinton Daily Herald; Sunday, July 6, 1891, P. 7

Historic Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama, Iowa

Arguably the most iconic bridge along the entire Lincoln Highway — which stretches from Times Square in New York City to the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco — is right here in Iowa. The Bridge over Mud Creek in Tama, built in 1915, is known for its distinctive design with railings that spell “Lincoln Highway” and lamp posts gracing each of its four corners. It’s a working bridge along a truck route with a packing plant and paper mill nearby. Needed repairs have been postponed by administrative delays, and now the City of Tama is considering whether to repair the bridge or move it to a nearby park and replace it with a culvert.

The discussion will continue at the next Tama City Council meeting on March 21, and many people who are interested in preserving the bridge will be in attendance to voice their opinions. If you are unable to attend, you can express a note of support by calling or emailing the mayor and city council members found here: https://www.tamacityia.gov/mayor-city-council.

One less well-known section of the old Lincoln Highway is in Clinton County, where a trio of bridges on the Wapsipinicon River near Calamus and Wheatland have deteriorated to the extent they needed to be closed. For byway travelers who want to know what it would have been like to travel the Lincoln Highway in 1920, this is a good place to visit. Because the bridges are closed, viewing the bridges will require some walking, but it’s a beautiful rural landscape. You might even see some of the original Portland cement road. A 2005 analysis done by Iowa State University’s Department of Landscape Architecture ranked this section highest in the state for driving experience, road design, and landscape integrity.

Prairie Rivers of Iowa, along with the Lincoln Highway Association and local preservationists are looking at options to preserve the area, and maybe turn it into a park for future visitors. Bob Ausberger, one of the founders of the modern national Lincoln Highway Association, stated, “The Wapsipinicon wetland is one of the top 10 visitor destinations along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa. I’m concerned that without careful and comprehensive planning, the historic district will lose its importance as part of the national historic byway, as well as its ability to serve local interests.”

Interest in Iowa tourism is at a peak. Iowa’s Tourism office reports that travel to and in Iowa is up 14.8 % comparing 2022 with pre-pandemic numbers. At the same time, we see many challenges to historic properties for travelers to see. The historical resources remaining on the Lincoln Highway need to be kept in good condition if we are going to have them continue as signposts of the past, and bridges are some of the most endangered among them.

Women’s Suffrage History Along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa

by Mike Kellner | Mar 3, 2022

As you travel along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway you’ll find many cultural and historic points of interest — including a retracing of footsteps taken by many responsible for pioneering women’s suffrage in Iowa. This March, we commemorate Iowa History and Women’s History month, let’s take a look at a couple of related stories.

A historic milestone during the decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States took place in the Lincoln Highway community of Boone, Iowa over 100 years ago. At 11:45 a.m. on the morning of October 29, 1908, more than one hundred women gathered at the corner of 7th and Carroll, hoisted their banners, and began to march towards downtown in support of women’s suffrage.

Championing the ensuing parade was a car transporting the then National Women Suffrage Association President Dr. Anna Howard Shaw.

Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw in 1917.

When the marchers reached the intersection of 8th and Story, the crowd paused to allow Shaw to speak. The Woman’s Standard newspaper reported that Shaw “…held the breathless attention of her hearers, wit, humor, pathos, sentiment and clear, hard logic from one to the other she passed, naturally, entirely without self-consciousness, with the greatest sincerity of manner and at time with much dramatic fire.”

At the site today you’ll find a monument in honor of that 1908 parade that was organized by Boone Equality Club President Rowena Edson Stevens and former Iowa Equal Suffrage President Rev. Eleanor Elizabeth Gordon. Be sure to stop at this location, stand in these women’s footsteps, imagine, be inspired, and immerse yourself in their bravery and sacrifice.

At the top of Oakland Avenue and Lafayette along the Byway corridor in Council Bluffs, you’ll find Fairview Cemetery, the resting place of Mormon pioneers, Mrs. Caroline Pace who rode the first locomotive to come to Council Bluffs, and Amelia Jenks Bloomer a social reformer, temperance activist, suffragist and one-time editor of The Lilly, the first newspaper by and for women, which became a model for women’s suffrage publications thereafter.

The Bloomer family settled in Council Bluffs in 1855 where Amelia continued her activism and was Iowa’s first resident to speak publicly for women’s suffrage. She started the Soldiers’ Aid Society of Council Bluffs to assist Union soldiers and served as president of the Iowa Suffrage Association from 1871-1873.

Though she became the namesake, the late Victorian era fashion of “Bloomers” inspired by Turkish pantaloons did not begin with Amelia, but in the Lilly, she advocated for their wearing. Soon they became a symbol of the women’s rights movement, freedom, and feminist reform.

The next time you’re traveling the western edge of the Lincoln Highway in Iowa be sure to visit Council Buff’s Fairview Cemetery and pay respect to the American women’s movement pioneer Amelia Jenks Bloomer.

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