State Forest additions open to public

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

Three recent additions to the Loess Hills State Forest in Harrison County are now open for public hunting, hiking, bird-watching and other uses.

Two of the additions—adjoining parcels of 160 acres each—are located one mile west of Pisgah. In 2002 the private landowner sold one parcel directly to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the other to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit conservation group that often takes interim ownership while public agencies raise acquisition dollars. In December 2004 the Foundation transferred this parcel plus another 5.5-acre site to the Iowa DNR’s Loess Hills State Forest.

The smaller site is located off of 165^th Trail in the south part of the Little Sioux Unit.  It brought the state forest boundary out to a road access. The Iowa DNR is planning to put a public parking area there this fall.

“We’re especially excited about the 320-acre addition near Pisgah,” said Brent Olson, Area Forester, for the Loess Hills State Forest. “It contains the highest point between Pisgah and Murray Hill, rugged slopes with prairie remnants on the ridgetops and fabulous wildlife habitat.”

State Forest staff have already begun restoration efforts, such as removing crops and cattle from the steeply eroding slopes, restructuring waterways to repair past erosion, planting hay and local ecotype native grasses, removing invasive cedar trees and conducting prescribed fires to stimulate dormant prairie plants.

“Healing the land and restoring native species is a long-term process,” notes Olson. “We’re limited today by not having enough local, native prairie seed to cover all the erosive slopes. We could only plant a few acres for now, but once our local ecotype seedings mature, we will be able to harvest and plant that seed elsewhere on the properties.”

The restored grasslands and woodlands will provide suitable habitat for pheasant, quail, deer, turkey and numerous songbirds.

According to Olson, “It took a lot of partners and funding streams to purchase this land for public use—including the DNR, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and the Loess Hills State Revolving Fund.  It will take even longer to reach our restoration goals, but the end product is worth the wait.”

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