Stone State Park will expand by 160 acres in February, thanks to two Sioux City families and numerous conservation partners.

The 1,132-acre park, which is known for its scenic Loess Hills, prairie remnants and bur oak trees, is owned and managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Rare butterfly species and blooming yucca plants dot the landscape.

In recent years, new houses and other development have surrounded Stone State Park, limiting opportunities for expansion. But two local families wanted their land to remain natural.

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), a non-profit conservation group, acquired 98 acres from Norman and Carolyn Sloan and 62 acres from Alfred Thurow.

All 160 acres will be transferred from INHF to the Iowa DNR in late February. The land will then become part of Stone State Park and open for public recreation.

Kevin Pape, Stone State Park’s ranger, said the additions would be used for low-impact recreation, such as hiking and wildlife viewing.

“This addition is one of the last opportunities to significantly expand the park’s natural area,” Pape said. “It will protect the scenic features of the Loess Hills while improving the quality of life for Sioux City residents.”

Brian Fankhauser/INHF

Norman and Carolyn Sloan's 98 acres will connect vital habitat and wildlife corridors in Stone State Park.

Norman and Carolyn Sloan both grew up in Sioux City, where they raised their three sons. Although they never lived on the site, their family spent many hours together on it. The Sloans’ 98 acres is located one-half mile south of Stone State Park.

“We just had a love of this land and an appreciation of Stone State Park with its unique beauty and diversity,” Carolyn Sloan said. “We wanted it preserved.”

Stone State Park, located within Sioux City limits, is nationally recognized as an Urban Wildlife Sanctuary. Wild turkeys, white-tailed deer, coyotes and red foxes are found there.

“The recent acquisitions to Stone State Park allow for connectivity in the urban Loess Hills, an area that is vulnerable to housing development, fill-dirt mining and potential urban sprawl,” said Dawn Snyder, educational programs director for the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center, located in Stone State Park.

“It’s exciting that we are not only saving the small pieces of this fragile and endangered landscape — we are actually connecting the pieces to provide vital habitat and wildlife corridors,” Snyder said.

Birds that will benefit from this habitat include turkey vultures, barred owls, Rufous-sided towhees and ovenbirds. Uncommon butterflies, such as the Pawnee skipper and Olympia white, are found on the prairie ridges.

Like the Sloans, Alfred Thurow wanted to ensure his land would remain natural. Thurow’s 62 acres border the southern edge of Stone State Park.

“It can be preserved for future generations to enjoy,” Thurow said. “To be a park is the best thing to happen to it.”

INHF and the Iowa DNR secured grant funds from Iowa’s Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) program to help fund the acquisition of this property.

The Sloan and Thurow properties are not the first additions to Stone State Park facilitated by INHF. In 2005, INHF helped acquired 63 acres formerly belonging to the James and Herta Schenck family.

The recent additions improve the park’s educational opportunities, said Jim Redmond, 2007 president of Friends of Stone State Park, a local non-profit group.

“The region is rich in native prairie remnants,” Redmond said. “The addition of the Sloan and Thurow acres to the park enables us to develop our message of preserving Iowa’s native prairies. Education and recreation will increase throughout the park as the boundaries change.”