Gather in the parking lot west of the McCleod Center for 8:00am departure. A box lunch will be provided this day for all conference attendees. Buses will return by 5:00pm. We thank all field trip leaders for their contribution to the conference. **Indicates: Field trip is Full

Doolittle Prairie, Kurtz Reconstruction & Marietta Sand Prairie
Doolittle State Preserve is a 26-acre site dotted with several prairie potholes, temporary and seasonal shallow wetlands, surrounded by tallgrass prairie. The trip includes a stop at Carl Kurtz’ prairie reconstruction for lunch and a walk and ends at Marietta Sand Prairie, a 17-acre state preserve with, “a large and unusual selection of species,” (Robert Mohlenbrock) adjacent to a 212-acre Marshall County Conservation Board acquisition with remnant sand prairie and fen.
Total round trip miles – 180
Location
Doolittle Prairie- NW Story County
Kurtz Reconstruction- near St Anthony
Marrietta Sand Prairie- 8 miles NW of Marshalltown
Walking distance - less than a mile at the first 2 sites, a mile at the 3rd
Level of difficulty - mostly easy with some moderate to difficult hiking at Marietta
Leaders - Carl Kurtz, Mike Stegmann, Lloyd Crim

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Kauten Fen, Rowley Fen and Patton Prairie**
Includes two high quality examples of this unique habitat with distinct flora. Becky’s Fen is a rich, 13-acre privately owned site that refused to succumb to tiling. Rowley Fen is a 43-acre property owned by Buchanan County Conservation containing floral gems: grass of Parnassus, numerous sedges, several gentian species and rare sage willow. Numerous butterfly species have also been identified at this site, including sedge skipper, a species of special concern in Iowa. Also owned by Buchanan County, Patton Prairie is a 45-acre wet meadow prairie remnant with 140 native plant species.
For more information on Buchanan County Conservation click here.
Total round trip miles – 134
Location
Kauten Fen- Near Fayette
Rowley Fen- Near Rowley
Patton Prairie- Near Aurora
Walking distance - less than a mile at all 3 sites
Level of difficulty - moderately strenuous walking with some rough terrain and wet areas
Leaders - John Pearson, Rebecca Kauten, Jennifer Webster

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Iowa DNR Prairie Resource Center
& Brushy Creek State Recreation Area
The 6,000 acres surrounding the lake provides a variety of opportunities. Stops will include Root Cellar Prairie, a 15-acre remnant overlooking the lake with a small bulldozer salvaged section, savanna, reconstructed prairies and the Prairie Resource Center which includes 80-species, Iowa-origin seed production plots (cardinal flower, blazingstar, birds & insects) and seed processing facility for lunch with shade, A/C, restrooms and garlic mustard available for sandwich garnish, pull your own.
For more information on Iowa DNR Prairie Resource Center click here.
For more information on Brushy Creek State Recreation Area click here.
Total round trip miles – 190
Location
Brushy Creek State Park, near Lehigh
Walking distance - less than a mile at any of the stops within the park
Level of difficulty - fairly easy walking, some remnants are steep but exploration is optional
Leaders - Bill Johnson & Eliot LaFollette

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Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve and Wilkinson Prairie
Devonian fossils, visitor center, and 60-acre prairie remnant on adjacent knob owned by Floyd County Conservation. The Fossil and Prairie Park is one of the few public parks where you can collect and keep fossils for free- brachiopods, pelecypods, gastropods, horn coral, crinoids, bryozoans and cephalopods weather out of the soft shale, clay and limestone and can easily be picked up by hand. 2nd stop- Wilkinson Prairie is a scenic, 10-acre Cerro Gordo County Conservation property situated on a partially exposed limestone shelf protected between a railroad r-o-w and the Shell Rock River.
For more information on Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve click here.
Total round trip miles – 180
Location
Fossil & Prairie Center, near Rockford
Wilkinson Prairie, near Rock Falls
Walking distance - less than a half mile at each site
Level of difficulty -you can choose to take it pretty easy, otherwise it’s moderately strenuous with slopes and some rough terrain
Leaders - Doug Schroeder, Barb Schroeder and Todd Von Ehwegen

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Hayden Prairie and Daubendiek Prairie
Daubendiek Prairie – 9-acre privately owned remnant half wet prairie slough/half old field returning to prairie and savanna. At 240 acres Hayden Prairie is Iowa’s largest piece of prairie outside the Loess Hills also prized as a rare example of high-quality black soil prairie.
Total round trip miles – 162
Location
Daubendiek Prairie- 10 miles north of New Hampton
Hayden Prairie- North Central Howard County
Walking distance - less than one half mile at each site.
Level of difficulty - mostly easy walking with some rough and wet ground. Vegetation will be tall.
Leaders - Laura Jackson and Mark Leoschke

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Hayden Prairie and Bluffton Hill Prairie**
This expedition includes a stop at a high-quality, 240-acre, black soil prairie and for contrast continues east to a hill prairie island in the forest above the Upper Iowa River and if time allows, Ludwig Prairie, an interesting but small limestone outcrop prairie.
Total round trip miles – 214
Location
Hayden Prairie- North Central Howard County
Bluffton Hill Prairie- Near Bluffton in Winneshiek County
Ludwig Prairie- Near Spillville
Walking distance - less than a mile at any of the sites
Level of difficulty - mostly level, one modest hillside to climb in a forest environment
Leader - Larry Reis

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Heritage Valley Hill Prairie and Ray Prairie**
Heritage Valley is an Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation property above the Upper Iowa River featuring multiple hill prairies, woodland and oak savanna. Ray Prairie is a 9-acre mesic to wet-mesic great example of a northeastern Iowa prairie. Home to at least 140 plant species. Substantial management has helped to reduce woody invaders and return fire to the landscape.
Total round trip miles – 214
Location
Ray Prairie- Bremer County, north of Waverly
Heritage Valley- Allamakee County , Upper Iowa River
Walking distance - half mile lane to the first site, half mile total at the second
Level of difficulty - easy walking and then steep terrain
Leaders - Joe McGovern & Tom Rosburg

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Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge
US Fish and Wildlife’s 5,000-acre prairie reconstruction and Prairie Learning Center with rolling prairie vistas and occasional bison and elk sightings. Tour includes US Fish’s Land Management Research and Demonstration program for developing new techniques for managing habitats and other ongoing field research.
For more information on Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge click here.
Total round trip miles – 210
Location
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, near Prairie City, east of Des Moines
Walking distance - between the miles of trails and the beautiful Learning Center, participants can walk as much or as little as they choose
Level of difficulty - fairly easy walking with some slopes to climb
Leader - Pauline Drobney, Karen Viste-Sparkman

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Cedar Hills Sand Prairie and Blackmun Prairie**
Cedar Hills is a 90-acre sand prairie with sedge meadow, small fen and 360 native plant species owned by The Nature Conservancy. Blackmun Prairie’s 175 acres include some exceptional prairie remnants, a diversity of landscape and a mile of meandering North Beaver Creek owned by the Department of Natural Resources.
Total round trip miles – 73
Location
Cedar Hills Sand Prairie, 10 miles NW of Cedar Falls
Blackmun Prairie, near Ackley
Walking distance - close to 2 miles covering the first site and less than a mile at the second
Level of difficulty - you can choose to take it easy, otherwise it’s moderately strenuous with slopes and some rough terrain
Leaders - Scott Moats and Justin Clark

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Two field trips are being offered from 8am to noon and two more are offered from 1 to 5pm. Departure is from the McCleod Center west parking lot. Box lunches will be available to these participants at noon in the McCleod Center parking lot. Choose a morning tour, an afternoon tour or one of each.

3 Local Remnants
Small remnants visited annually by Daryl Smith’s Tallgrass Prairie Seminar; Bennington Township Cemetery (mesic), Dunkerton Railroad Prairie (wet mesic to dry mesic) and Raymond Outcrop (xeric limestone outcrop).
Total round trip miles – 50
Location
North and east of Waterloo within Black Hawk County
Walking distance - two of the sites involve very little walking, less than ¼ mile for the other
Level of difficulty - fairly easy to moderately strenuous walking with a small climb and some slightly rough terrain at Raymond Outcrop
Leader - Daryl Smith

[HALF DAY, MORNING TOP]

Research Projects at Cedar River Natural Resource Area
Tallgrass prairie species composition and above ground biomass production, Effects of burn timing on grasshopper and ground beetle assemblages, Effects of mycorrhizal innoculant and micronutrients on prairie establishment.
Total round trip miles – 40
Location
Northwest of LaPorte City
Walking distance - 1 mile each way, tram shuttle available for return trip
Level of difficulty - moderately strenuous (unless you ride the shuttle) level ground with mostly mowed lanes, mosquitoes possible
Leaders - Dave Williams, Vern Fish, Jim Weimer, Mark Meyers, Jim Mason, Cindy Cambardella, Anna Abney, Chris Barber and Molly Schlumbohm

[HALF DAY, MORNING TOP]

Cedar Hills Sand Prairie
Cedar Hills is a 90-acre sand prairie with a wide variety of communities: dry sand ridge, revegetated blowouts and dunes, mesic prairie, swale with Palms muck, sedge meadow, small fen and 360 native plant species owned by The Nature Conservancy.
Total round trip miles – 20
Location
10 miles NW of Cedar Falls
Walking distance - half mile or less, prairie adjacent to parking
Level of difficulty - fairly easy walking with optional rough terrain
Leader - Daryl Smith

[HALF DAY, AFTERNOON TOP]

Campus and Tallgrass Prairie Center Projects
Prairie plantings, research plots, the prairie root tubes, Dry Run Creek Restoration, wetland park, campus trail system, pervious concrete, green roof and parking lot infiltration cells.
Total round trip miles – 10
Location
UNI campus and vicinity
Walking distance - there will be several stops. Each one has a walking distance under a quarter mile
Level of difficulty - fairly easy walking with optional rougher terrain on a couple
Leaders - Dave Williams, Rebecca Kauten, Amy Meehan, Billie Hemmer, Kellie Evers, and Sarah Benedict

[HALF DAY, AFTERNOON TOP]