Project to preserve rare remnants

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	The proposed 212-acre public area adjoins Marietta Sand Prairie state preserve in Marshall County. Like the preserve, it contains large, unplowed areas of sand prarie. It also contains some low-lying wet prairies and even a fen. As a result, the stie hosts a huge variety of native plant species, like Hill's Thistle and Venus Looking-glass. photo by Carl Kurtz

Nearly 56 acres of existing sand prairie remnants still exist on this addition. Remnants of native sand prairie are even more rare than tallgrass prairie remnants, according to prairie expert Carl Kurtz, who says sand prairies comprise only a few hundred of Iowa’s 35 million acres.

The site also contains a fen—a rare, spring-fed type of wetland with saturated soil. Of over 200 plant species found in fens, about five percent are listed as threatened or endangered.

“Because of the biological potential on both the sand prairie and the constantly spongy fen, we feel it’s critical to put extensive restoration efforts on this site,” said Joe McGovern, INHF’s land stewardship director.

Reconstructed sand prairie will make up the bulk of the site, once INHF and the Marshall County Conservation Board (MCCB) begin large-scale prairie restoration efforts. The first phase of a multi-year restoration project includes reconstructing 90 acres of sand prairie on crop ground that presently connects the site’s remnants to the Marietta preserve. Eventually, INHF and MCCB hope to make the combined lands one of the most significant sand prairies in central Iowa, both in size and quality.

The two groups arranged the purchase of this property with landowner Elwin Pearey. Together INHF and MCCB are raising the $456,000 needed to acquire and restore it. Roughly 40% of that total has already been committed by donors, with another 40% being sought from public grants and 20% still to be raised privately.

Restoration of these rare ecosystems will require many hands, and the two groups hope to involve Iowans in the process. Join us for volunteer opportunities, including a prairie seed harvest on Oct. 1 (see page 13).

Learn more about this project at www.inhf.org/marietta.htm.

Visit the Marietta home page to learn more about this projcet and ways you can help.

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