Conservation Connection
Subtle Spring
By Jim Colbert:
The beauty of an Iowa woodland in early spring is subtle, but once you get to be on a first-name-basis with spring ephemerals, they’re impossible to ignore!
More Bees, Please – Creating a Pollinator Friendly Ames!
Article guest written by Lisa Kuehl, a volunteer member of the Pollinator Friendly Ames group DID YOU KNOW that the City of Ames is a national leader in pollinator conservation? An exciting...
Don’t Pull Those Weeds and Help the Bees!
Spring is one of the most important foraging times for pollinators. Let’s help them get off to a great start!
Calibrate Your Disgust
There is a 100-fold difference in E. coli levels between Iowa’s cleanest lakes and Iowa’s dirtiest rivers, and between new and outdated sewage treatment systems. That leaves a lot of wiggle room to enjoy Iowa’s waters while protecting your health, and to make things a little better by repairing our infrastructure.
Troubleshooting a Rain Garden
Rain gardens are a stormwater management solution that’s simple enough to tackle as a DIY project. However, I’ve noticed a few things that can go wrong. Here are some tips to avoid them!
Create a Native Plant Sensory Garden!
A sensory garden involves all of your senses (taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight) making it a great learning opportunity for young children, adults with mental disabilities, or really anyone! These are the plants I would use if I wanted to create an Iowa native sensory garden!
How to Miss the Point Entirely
This letter is a satire of DNR’s latest response to the EPA’s partial disapproval of Iowa’s 2024 list of impaired waters. This dispute between federal and state agencies may have no impact on water quality but matters for transparency and accountability.
Resolutions to Help Pollinators
A new year means new resolutions! My personal resolutions are to build garden boxes out of reclaimed bricks and seed native plants in my backyard. There are many other things you can do to support pollinators this year like planting natives, creating nesting sites, reducing pesticide use, and creating a water source for them!
The Water (Monitoring) is Deep
Our grant from the Water Foundation gave me an excuse to dive deep into a big statewide dataset collected by the Iowa DNR. Behold, my finest graph yet!