The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation offers both an online version and a free printed version of their Landowner's Options Booklet.

A free booklet for Iowa’s landowners has received a statewide award.

Landowner’s Options, a land conservation guide published by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), recently won the annual Ada Hayden Conservation Education Award.

The Ada Hayden Conservation Award commends “outstanding efforts to educate about preservation, land management or natural resource conservation.” The award is sponsored by the Iowa Association of Naturalists and the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition.

Landowner’s Options outlines numerous options for Iowans who are exploring permanent land protection — whether they intend to maintain private ownership or convert it to public use. Because 98 percent of land in Iowa is privately owned, these landowners play a critical role in protecting natural resources.

INHF will mail a free copy of this full-color, 52-page booklet to any Iowan on request. For your free copy of Landowner’s Options, contact INHF at info@inhf.org, or by phone at 515-288-1846. An online version is also available at www.inhf.org/landowner.

“The booklet is for people who love their land and want to protect it — but who aren’t sure where to start,” Engstrom said. “Hopefully its everyday language and skimmable design will make it easier for Iowa families to gather around the kitchen table and discuss the best future for the land they love,” Engstrom said.

Completely revised for 2007, the guide’s non-technical language and real-life examples help readers explore several methods of land protection, including full donations, bargain sales, fair-market sales, private conservation easements and many others. Additional topics include tax and financial impacts, a glossary and contact information for potential conservation partners. INHF’s staff is available to confidentially discuss land protection options.

The booklet was funded by INHF, a major grant from the state Resources Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Conservation Education Program, and financial support from public and private conservation organizations, educational groups, law firms and others.

Ada Hayden, for whom the award is named, was the first woman to receive a doctorate at Iowa State College, now Iowa State University. She was appointed assistant professor of botany in 1920, and devoted herself to prairie preservation and research.

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