Crims receive the Hagie Heritage Award

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This article was written and posted on INHF's website in August 2005.

For Lloyd and Gaylan Crim, the subtle delights of the natural world—a singing bird, a prairie plant in bloom—have been reward enough for more than 30 years of conservation work.

The Crims who live in rural Boone County, are the recipients of the 2005 Lawrence and Eula Hagie Heritage Award. One of the largest awards recognizing Iowa conservationists, the Hagie Award is sponsored annually by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), a nonprofit conservation group.

INHF will present the Crims with a $1,000 check and a hand-carved acorn statue during a public open house at the Story County nature center in McFarland Park. The event will be on August 10 at 6-7:30 p.m., with a short award ceremony at 6:30.

“Conservation is a lifestyle, not just one or two extraordinary events,” said Gaylan. “We have a general belief that every person has a responsibility to help maintain the health of the land.”

Since they were students in fisheries and wildlife biology together at Iowa State University, conservation and the Crims have gone hand-in-hand. They have supported Iowa conservation in many ways, from water quality issues to prairie preservation. This diversity is the key to maintaining interest and overcoming the pitfalls and frustrations of the field, according to the couple.

“We pursue what interests us,” said Gaylan. “A lot of what we do is for our own enjoyment and awareness.”

“We enjoy seeing things change over the years—not necessarily for good or bad, just different,” added Lloyd. “Doing things repeatedly over the years has really brought that home.”

Whatever their method to maintain interest—it’s worked. Many of their conservation projects have spanned well over a decade, including Lloyd’s leading of walks through Story County’s Doolittle Prairie and Gaylan’s dedication to caring for a pair of trumpeter swans at the Mabaska Ponds site for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Trumpeter Swan Restoration Project.

Although frequently pursuing projects with separate missions—Lloyd’s interests frequently draw him to prairie and plant conservation and Gaylan’s more to wildlife—the couple relies upon each other for support and guidance. They consider the approach a “divide and conquer” method for promoting conservation.

But for all they do separately, the couple also comes together on numerous projects. That partnership began as Lloyd and Gaylan completed pioneering research on wild turkeys for their ISU master’s degrees, which is credited with facilitating a successful reintroduction of the birds throughout the state.

In recent years, Lloyd and Gaylan have donned their waders, venturing together into creeks at four sites near their home to sample water quality for the DNR’s IOWATER program. Of hundreds of sites across the state, the four monitored by the Crims are among a total of six sites that have data reported for every statewide sampling snapshot. They also try to sample every month, winter weather permitting.

“I’m just thankful to have the knowledge to be able to appreciate what I’m seeing,” said Lloyd. “When we are in a group and we are the only people looking up into the sky when geese call, it seems as if we notice things that other people don’t notice.”

It is subtle pleasures like these from time spent outdoors that have motivated the Crims to participate in organizations like Iowa State’s Trumpeter Swan Restoration Committee, the Central Iowa Prairie Network and the Squaw Creek Watershed Coalition. While working to preserve the many facets that contribute to a healthy environment, living alongside less conservation-minded individuals can be frustrating for the two.

“I just wish everyone could see the interconnectedness of it all, how what a person does on their land affects all of their neighbors,” said Gaylan. “I feel like the ‘web of life’ concept is often lost.”

Meanwhile, Lloyd and Gaylan continue to fight for victories on a smaller scale. The couple enjoys educating others at the grassroots level, fostering a love of conservation in people just beginning to take an interest.

“There are important conservation events that draw a great turnout of 200 people or so, when really we should need to rent a football stadium to hold them,” said Lloyd. “But the small victories are what keep you going.”

Another joy of their work is the close friends Lloyd and Gaylan have made through their involvement. The Crims’ three nominations for the Hagie Award came from Jon and Joyce Bahrenfus, Erv Klaas and Carl Kurtz—all of whom became close friends through conservation activities.

The Crims’ attitude toward conservation is especially evident at their rural home north of Boone. Over the past 18 years, they’ve planted prairie and created other wildlife habitat, as well choosing outdoor lighting that reduces light pollution. Lloyd and Gaylan are also avid recyclers.

“We just do it because it’s the right thing to do,” said Gaylan.

The Hagie Heritage Award was created in honor of Lawrence and Eula Hagie by their daughters, Jan and Ila Jeanne, to memorialize their parents’ commitment to environmental protection. INHF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization that has protected and restored over 80,000 acres of Iowa’s wild places. The Crims were among three nominees for the 2005 award.

 

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.