INHF connects
Warren County sites

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By Erika Nortemann & Cathy Engstrom

With vision and financial risk, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has helped expand and connect two existing Warren County natural areas. Together with INHF's 494-acre addition, they create a 1200-acre public complex just 10 miles southeast of the Des Moines metro area.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) repurchased the sites from INHF in November 2003, using Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) funds and Federal Wildlife Conservation and Restoration funding. IDNR will continue to pay property taxes under the conditions of the REAP program.

INHF's 494-acre addition lies along the Middle River and includes part of the Summerset Trail. (INHF helped acquire the corridor and raise funds for this 10-mile trail a couple years ago.) The addition adjoins a slightly larger public area to the east. IDNR will combine these two parcels and name them the Middle River Wildlife Area. The addition adjoins the 240-acre Banner Wildlife Area to the west.

IDNR will convert Banner Wildlife Area to a wildlife refuge and state park. Future plans for the park section include stocking the lake with trout, adding boat docks and improving the target range. The Middle River Wildlife Area will be left more wild and used for wildlife habitat, public hunting and nature study.

INHF conceived and composed the addition over several years. Starting in 2000, INHF began purchase negotiations with the first of four private landowners whose property now makes up the addition.

"INHF saw the potential for combining these public sites early on and risked our own funds and years of work to put it together," said Bruce Mountain, INHF's Land Projects Director. "Then we brought the package to the DNR and waited until they had funding to purchase the area from us." INHF even sold it at less than full value.

The land, flood-prone and only marginally productive, made farming a battle. The farmers enrolled their land in federal wetland reserve programs administered by USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). These programs help farmers remove marginal ground from production, restore the wetlands and reconstruct the native vegetation. The NRCS purchased farming rights on the parcels, and INHF purchased the residual property rights. Working with INHF, the NRCS has already restored the 40 acres of developed wetlands on the land and seeded the remaining acreage to prairie grass and forbs.

"The demand for public land close to a metropolitan center is just huge," said Chuck Kakac, IDNR Natural Resource Biologist. "Lots of people like to slip out and spend a half day deer hunting or pheasant hunting, and this fills that void we have around metro centers." Others can enjoy the area for wildlife viewing and recreation.

Erika Nortemann is a Drake University student who recently completed her Buckmaster internship at INHF. Cathy Engstrom is INHF's Communications Director.

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