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Places We Protect

Hoffman Prairie

Iowa

Prairie flowers at Hoffman Prairie Prairie flowers at Hoffman Prairie © Tim Ackarman/TNC

Hoffman Prairie is located next to Clear Lake in northern Iowa.

Viewing

Overview

Description

Hoffman Prairie is dotted with wildflowers in the spring and is a great example of a wet, tallgrass prairie.

Why You Should Visit

Hoffman Prairie features an outstanding complex of morainal knob and basin prairie and cattail marsh.

Location

Two miles west of the city of Clear Lake.

Conditions

This preserve is a wet-mesic prairie with shallow marshes. It is characterized by tallgrass and sedge species, with cattails and rushes in marsh areas.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site

Hoffman Prairie was purchased by the Conservancy from Larry Hoffman in 1985, and was dedicated as a biological and geological State Preserve in 1986.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing

The northern portion of this site had been plowed and is being replanted to prairie using seed harvested from this and other prairies in the area.

Access

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Explore our work in this region

What to See: Plants

The varieties of habitat, ranging from cattail-dominated wetlands to mesic prairie, support over 150 plant species, including such rare plants as grass-of-parnassus, tall cotton grass and blazing star.

What to See: Animals

Birds at Hoffman Prairie include the red-winged blackbird, blue-winged teal, mallard, sedge wren, bobolink and yellowthroat. The preserve is also home to several rare butterfly species, including the black dash, dion and broad-winged skippers in the wetland habitats, and the Poweshiek skipperling and Arogos skipper in the prairie habitats.

Visitation Guidelines

Please download our preserve visitation guidelines here.