The Campaign for Conservation

Bison and calf © Chris Helzer

Campaign Update

This is the first campaign in the 43-year history of The Nature Conservancy in Iowa.

The goal of the campaign is to raise $9.5 million for the six best remaining opportunities for large landscape conservation in Iowa: the Loess Hills, Lower Cedar Valley, Little Sioux Valley, Driftless Area, Grand River Grasslands and the Upper Mississippi River.

The Conservancy has already raised $8 million toward the campaign with the help of a $1.7 million lead gift from the Fred Maytag Family Foundation.

With campaign funding, conservation goals for Iowa include: the protection of strategically identified land,establishment of conservation projects in two critically important watersheds, significant expansion of land management capacity and the re-introduction of bison in the Loess Hills.

Gifts to the campaign can be made in many ways. Philanthropy professionals are available to consult with donors and their financial advisors to structure gifts to take full advantageof tax benefits.

Challenge Opportunities

Saving the Last Great Places in Iowa

Once almost entirely covered in tallgrass prairie, Iowa is arguably the most altered state in America. More than 99 percent of our original grasslands are gone and today, those that survive are conservation priorities of state, national and global importance.

In Iowa, The Nature Conservancy’s Campaign for Conservation is working to save some of our state’s last remaining intact, native landscapes for future generations. Focusing on Iowa’s six most ecologically important and threatened landscapes, the campaign is funding urgent conservation needs, from direct acquisition to important stewardship and restoration activities to vital scientific research.

We are more than halfway to our $9.5 million goal, but time is running out. We need your continuing help to save the last great places in Iowa.

The Loess Hills

Iowa’s largest remaining native prairies, found in the Loess Hills of western Iowa, are home to rare prairie rattlesnakes and grassland birds such as bobolinks. The Conservancy’s Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve contains the largest contiguous prairie surviving in the state. Here, the Conservancy and its partners have conserved 7,000 acres of important habitat. But the long-term conservation goal is much more ambitious. With the help of partners and local landowners, the Conservancy hopes to preserve 100,000 acres within the Loess Hills to maintain healthy natural systems within a productive, working agricultural landscape.

Lower Cedar Valley

Considered the most biologically diverse area in the state, the Lower Cedar Valley in southeast Iowa harbors more than 300 plant species and 19 types of reptiles and amphibians. The natural areas here are challenged by lack of fire and altered water flows. The Conservancy, partners and private landowners have preserved more than 20,000 acres of this unique landscape. The long-term goal is to conserve and restore an additional 5,000 acres to protect critical habitat for rare species and large fish, including sturgeon and paddlefish that spawn inthe Cedar River.

Little Sioux Valley

Northwest Iowa’s Little Sioux Valley,along the Little Sioux River, harbors some of the best tallgrass prairies surviving in the state. The prairies, rivers and wetlands here provide important habitat for grassland birds,shorebirds, rare butterflies and threatened plants such as prairie bushclover and eastern prairie fringed orchid. The Conservancy and its partners have conserved 2,700 acres in this important area, but the long-term goal is to preserve and restore 20,000 acres of land in the Little Sioux Valley.

Driftless Area

In northeast Iowa, cliffs of ancient limestone are riddled with sinkholes, springs and algific talus slopes (called cold-air slopes). Because the landscape is so rugged, much of this area escaped development and today it harbors someof Iowa’s highest quality streams and forests. The Conservancy owns 400 acres here and helped establish the Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge to preserve this unique landscape and its ancient species. The conservation goal in the Driftless Area is to preserve enough habitat to ensure the long-term survival of rare plants and animals, such as the northern monkshood and the Iowa Pleistocene snail.

Grand River Grasslands

On the border between Iowa and Missouri, the Grand River Grasslands is a landscape of rolling prairies that provides both important grazing lands for cattle and breeding areas for declining grassland birds, including greater prairie chickens, upland sandpipers and Henslow’s sparrows. The Conservancy’s long-term goal is to protect an additional 3,000 acres of prairie on the Iowa side of the Grand River Grasslands project and work with partners and local landowners to encourage sustainable grazing on an additional 10,000 acres.

Upper Mississippi River

The Mississippi River Flyway is a vital migration corridor for more than half of North America’s bird species. People also depend upon this river basin for food, transportation and drinking water. On important tributaries to the Upper Mississippi, including Iowa’s Boone River and Pike Run Creek, the Conservancy is working with partners such as the Iowa Soybean Association, the Monsanto Company and local soil and water districts to improve water quality in streams that flow through highly agricultural landscapes.

Beyond the Border

Conservation cannot be effective if it stops at the borders of Iowa or the United States. The Conservancy in Iowa is committed to global conservation and makes significant contributions to programs around the world. For instance, the Llanos grasslands of South Americaare vital to the survival of the dickcissel, a grassland bird that nests in Iowa and winters in the Llanos. With partners in Venezuela and Colombia, the Conservancy is working to protect grasslands in the Llanos that share the same challenges facing grasslands in Iowa and across North America.

A Time to Act

The Conservancy’s mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The Conservancy’s results oriented, non-confrontational approach allows it to forge partnerships with private landowners, governments and corporations. Sound science, partnership and innovation are the hallmarks of the Conservancy’s work. There is a place for everyone at the conservation table, but time is limited and we must act quickly and deliberately to preserve Iowa’s dwindling natural areas and the way of life they protect.