The entire area, including a forested southern segment, makes a total of 216 acres. The site is on the east side of Highway 330 (Marsh Avenue) directly across from Timmons Grove — North. This land area was successful in a land acquisition application two years ago. A Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) grant request was submitted.

That grant won the competition at the state level, thus it allowed for repurchase of the site from the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. The INHF held the land title only temporarily in order to provide the time needed for the Marshall County Conservation Board (MCCB) to pursue and secure various funding programs. That portion of the project was completed over one year ago.

Now is the time when appropriate prairie restoration hands-on, feet on the ground tasks are next on the list.

Lots of planning took place over the past year with assistance of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, the MCCB, and cooperation from Marshall and Tama County Chapters of

Pheasants Forever and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The land was studied, soil types evaluated, the land’s history of high water events from overflows from the Iowa River were all taken into consideration.

A series of shallow depressions were recommended. Excavation by USFWS heavy equipment was accomplished in October of this year. That work of creating shallow depressions is visible in the aerial photograph as the big “Y” shaped dark soil areas in the middle of the frame.

The aerial image also depicts another dark colored segment to the east side. These were formerly non-native grasses. Its dark color is the result of a controlled burn last fall.

By getting rid of the above ground old growth, it made way for improved new prairie seed-to-soil contact. At the north end is a large oval area, the persistent wetland/marsh complex that is well known for its normally shallow water, cattail edges, waterfowl stopovers each spring, and periodic muskrat huts.

USFWS personnel have extensive knowledge of and access to hand harvested prairie seed sources. Design of the shallow wetlands and recommended seed mixes was overseen by USFWS Iowa Private Lands Coordinator Andrew DiAllesandro, whose office is at Neal Smith NWR at Prairie City.

He and his staff compiled a list of seeds to plant, and also utilized US Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service data to identify seed species and sources. The final tally shows a seed mix of 17 native grasses, 55 forbs/legumes and 2 woody species. If one adds up all the seed types, over 743 pounds of pure live seed (PLS) were purchased.

Grass species go by the common names, to highlight just a few, as Indiangrass, Bebb’s sedge, Fowl Mannagrass, Canada Wildrye, Big Bluestem, Rice Cutgrass and several other sedges. Seeding rates varied from 0.002 to 1.0 pounds per acre.

These seeds are very small, but packed internally with all the genetic wherewithal to grow, restore and survive in the long term. Each new shallow wetland area received special attention for many of the sedge seeds.

As for the forbs and legume seed mixes, naming all 55 species would take up the entire T-R! Well, not quite. But this list is extensive with milkvetch, Spiderwort, Gentians, Anemone, mints, compass plant, Prairie phlox, Lobelia, Asters, Blue Flag, Prairie Milkweed, White Wild Indigo,

Spotted Trumpetweed, Goldenrod, Culver’s Root, Tick Trefoil, Coneflower and many others. Two woody type species fill out the mix with False Indigo and New Jersey Tea. When calculated out, those 743 PLS spread over the entire area averages 38.503 seeds per square foot, or 4.677 pounds of pure live seed per acre.

The cost of these seeds varies by species and the ease or difficulty of hand harvesting. Hand picking in some cases is a late spring to summer or fall time task due to all kinds of different seed maturation times.

For those folks at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, this is part of their mission to conduct the research and harvest of prairie seeds, and assist other natural resource agencies in those same efforts. An estimate of the value, or cost of the seed mixes, was a shared responsibility. Here is the cost share breakdown: the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation covered $24,000+; The US FWS added their help of $8,000+; Iowa Dept of Natural Resources kicked in $15,000; and the remainder of $10,540 was covered by the Marshall County Conservation Board. Pheasants Forever donated seed to match another grant. Add it all up: That is over $57,000 worth of unique seeds, all native plant types.

As the new year of 2024 begins very soon, Mother Nature is patiently waiting to do her thing. The new seeds are on the ground, ready to adapt to and colonize at their new home. The habitat these unique and varied plants will provide will be a long term win-win for wildlife, aquatic critters, small and large mammals, all kinds of insects, and many ground nesting birds. Migratory birds will inevitably find us and secure themselves in this new habitat. What the public needs to know is that the transformation of an area back to native grasses and forbs is not a quick thing.

It takes time, and Mother Nature has lots of time on her hands to accomplish her polishing of those reconstruction efforts now that the seeding is a done deal.

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A winter program to add to your calendar will be Wednesday, Jan. 17. Ty Smedes, world traveler and photographer, will present his slide show of experiences on “Mongolia — Land of the Nomads,” Jan. 17 from 11:30 to 12:30 (noon time) at the Grimes Farm and Conservation Center.

It is a free program, but please pre-register by Jan. 12. Call 641-752-5490. The story Ty will portray is how the Mongolian horsemen celebrate an honored tradition of using Golden Eagles to hunt for foxes and hares.

His travels and photos will also depict the Flaming Cliffs, the Gobi Desert, and Bactrian Camel herders. If you cannot travel to Mongolia, allow Ty to bring the images of this unique land and people to you.

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Here is my new year’s resolution for all of you to contemplate. It is a quote from Leo Tolstoy and it reads “People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest thing — refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.”

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005