Ames High Prairie State Preserve
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Ames High Prairie State Preserve The Richard W. Pohl Memorial Preserve at Ames High Prairie (popularly known more simply as “Ames High Prairie”) is a 22-acre preserve containing a small tallgrass prairie remnant. It is located on the west side of Ames High School within the city limits of Ames in Story County. The land directions was originally purchased by the school district in 1956 for use as a parking From the intersection of High- lot. In 1971, however, it was established as an environmental education area way 30 and I-35 on the east side as the result of a popular vote in Ames. The property is presently leased of Ames, take I-35 north 2 by the Ames Unified School District to the Iowa chapter of The Nature miles to the 13th Street exit Conservancy. It was dedicated as a biological state preserve in 1997. (exit 113). Go west (left) 2.5 Located in the Des Moines Lobe landform region, the preserve consists miles to Grand Avenue. Turn of tallgrass prairie and ravine woodland along Squaw Creek, a tributary north (right) and go 0.5 mile of the Skunk River. Most of the prairie in the preserve occurs on relatively to 20th Street. Turn west (left) dry ridges and slopes. A small wooded stream flows through the preserve. and drive 1 mile into the Ames Years ago, the prairie and the surrounding woodland were heavily grazed. High School parking lot. There The hilltop prairie near the entrance was once used for the storage of heavy is a small parking area near the equipment. preserve on the west side of Nearly 100 plant species have been found at this preserve. Dominant the high school (sign: Richard grasses include big bluestem, Indian grass, sideoats grama, and prairie W. Pohl Memorial Preserve at dropseed. In the spring, white false indigo and wild indigo are stately, Ames High Prairie). and a large population of prairie dandelion can be found here. In the summer, the pale purple coneflower and prairie larkspur displays are area manager remarkable. In the fall, the asters and rough and prairie blazing stars make The Nature Conservancy a beautiful showing. Elm, hackberry, honey locust, and black locust are the 303 Locust St., Suite 402 dominant trees in the woodland, with Tartarian honeysuckle and poison Des Moines, IA 50309 ivy dominating the understory. The control of encroaching trees has been a (515) 244-5044 constant challenge in the maintenance of the prairie. www.tnc.org/iowa Over 100 species of birds have been seen at the preserve, with about [email protected] forty-five species residing in the area at one time or another, including [email protected] brown thrasher, American goldfinch, and song sparrow. Migrant bird species include the least flycatcher, Swainson’s thrush, common yellowthroat, and white-throated sparrow. The rare regal fritillary and indigo duskywing butterflies have also been observed here. The Nature Conservancy and the Iowa Prairie Network cosponsor prairie walks monthly starting in June and ending in September. Hunting is not permitted. Other natural areas in the vicinity include Doolittle Prairie State Preserve and Ledges State Park. www.iowadnr.gov 1 Anderson Prairie State Preserve Anderson Prairie is a 200-acre preserve containing a native tallgrass prairie on the western edge of the Altamont moraine. It is located 4.5 miles northwest of Estherville in western Emmet County. Dr. Ada Hayden visited this prairie in 1945, which was being used as a hayfield and pasture at directions that time, and recommended that it be preserved. The Iowa Conservation From the intersection of High- Commission purchased the area in 1980 from William Anderson. It was ways 4 and 9 in Estherville, dedicated in 1984 as a biological and geological state preserve. take Highway 9 west for 2.5 Located near the western edge of the Des Moines Lobe landform region, miles to 360th Avenue (watch Anderson Prairie lies in a hummocky landscape created by the melting for sign). Go north (right) of the Altamont glacier. A high diversity of prairie habitats is present in 1 mile to intersection with the preserve, ranging from very dry, gravelly hilltops to wet swales and County Highway A20 (beware marshes. Upland forest, floodplain forest, and disturbed habitats also of stop sign). Continue 0.5 mile add diversity. Although most of the preserve was formerly a pasture, the north to the preserve parking westernmost quarter is natural tallgrass prairie. Of the over 220 plant area on the east side of species in the preserve, the first to bloom in the spring is the pasqueflower, the road (sign: Anderson followed by prairie phlox, prairie violet, and hoary puccoon. The summer Prairie State Preserve). prairie contains butterfly weed, rattlesnake master, and prairie blazing star. The purples and golds of the late-blooming fall wildflowers are accented by area manager the silvery-white sage. Fall wildflowers include asters, goldenrods, rough Iowa Department of blazing star, and gentians. Natural Resources Five rare butterflies have been found in the prairie, including Poweshiek Prairie Lakes Wildlife Unit skipperling, Arogos skipper, silvery blue, regal fritillary, and Iowa skipper. NRCS Office Building In late summer, masses of monarch butterflies arrive during their annual 2109 Murray Road migration and often roost in the trees. Many other animals are found in the Estherville, IA 51334 preserve, including twenty-two mammals, twenty-seven birds, and five (712) 362-2091 amphibians and reptiles. Upland sandpipers have nested here and short- www.iowadnr.gov/preserves/ eared owls also use this large preserve. [email protected] Hunting is permitted. Other nearby public areas include Crim Savanna and Ringham Habitat Area (both just north of the preserve). Recent state wildlife area acquisitions to the east of the preserve bring the total public land area in this vicinity to 800 acres. www.iowadnr.gov 3 Behrens Ponds and Woodland State Preserve Karl W. Behrens Memorial Ponds and Woodland is a 29-acre preserve featuring a series of sandy ponds inhabited by the blue-spotted salamander, a rare species in Iowa. It is located 6 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids and 1.5 miles northwest of Toddville in Linn County. The property was deeded directions to The Nature Conservancy by Karl W. Behrens in 1977 and was dedicated From the intersection of I- as a biological state preserve in 1982. 80 and I-380 near Iowa City, Located on the Iowan Surface landform region, the natural features of take I-380 north to exit 28 (to this preserve are tied to the glacial history of the area. As the immense Toddville). Travel west (left) on Wisconsinan glacier melted some 12,000 years ago, a variety of sediments County Home Road 1.2 miles were deposited in the nearby Cedar River valley. Sand from these alluvial into Toddville. deposits was later blown onto adjacent uplands to form gently rolling sand Take 1st Street west (left) and dunes. Today, the sandy soil found in the preserve provides a variety of continue on Toddville Road habitats, including oak woodland, thickets, prairie openings, marshes, and 0.3 mile to Feather Ridge several natural ponds. Road (at a T-intersection). The ponds and their surrounding woodlands provide excellent habitat Go north (right) 1.3 miles to for seventeen species of amphibians and reptiles, including the rare blue- Ponds Lane. Go west (left) 0.4 spotted salamander. Other species include spring peeper, green frog, cricket mile to preserve (sign: Karl W. frog, ribbon snake, and Dekay’s snake. Invertebrates in the ponds include Behrens Memorial Ponds and freshwater sponges, bryozoans (“moss animals”), and many insects and Woodland). crustaceans. Of three main ponds, the two smaller ones are one to three feet deep, and tend to dry up in the summer. The larger pond can be up to four area manager feet deep. Wetland plants found here include mosquito fern, Sphagnum The Nature Conservancy mosses, prairie cordgrass, spikerushes, sedges, rushes, arrowhead, and 303 Locust St., Suite 402 wood reed. The woodland in the north half of the preserve consists Des Moines, IA 50309 mainly of white, red, and black oaks and shagbark hickory. Woodland (515) 244-5044 herbs include several sedges, enchanted nightshade, Virginia creeper, and www.tnc.org/iowa bedstraw, along with several species of moss. Over 180 species of vascular [email protected] plants have been documented from this preserve. www.iowadnr.gov/preserves/ Coe College in nearby Cedar Rapids uses this preserve for scientific [email protected] research and educational study. Hunting is not permitted. Other natural areas in the vicinity include Hanging Bog, Rock Island, and Palisades-Dows State Preserves and Palisades-Kepler State Park. www.iowadnr.gov 5 Berry Woods State Preserve Berry Woods is a 42-acre preserve containing an upland oak woodland. It is located 4.5 miles northwest of Indianola in Warren County. Don L. Berry deeded the woodland in 1961 to the Iowa chapter of The Nature Conservancy in honor of his grandfather and father, who had owned and directions protected this wood for over ninety years. It was dedicated as a biological From the intersection of state preserve in 1980. Highway 65 and Highway Located in the Southern Iowa Drift Plain landform region, Berry 69 on the south edge of Des Woods occupies the bluffs along the south side of the Middle River. It Moines, drive south is dominated by mature white oak, red oak, basswood, and shagbark 5 miles on the combined hickory. Ironwood is the most common understory tree along with Ohio Highway 65/69 to County buckeye. Beneath the forest canopy is a diverse understory layer of over Highway G24.