Smithsonian exhibit at the Hurstville Interpretive Center

By Taylor on September 20, 2013 in Blog

Courtesy of O’Brien County Conservation

The Hurstville Interpretive Center will be the temporary home of “Listening to the Prairie: Farming in Nature's Image,” an educational exhibit created by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

The exhibit explains the history of prairies and features four farmers who use techniques that maximize their output while preserving prairies or land where prairies once were. It has been on tour in the United States since 2001 and will be at the Hurstville Interpretive Center in Jackson County from September 7 – October 29, 2013.

“We are always looking for exhibits about prairies since this site [the Hurstville Interpretive Center] sits on a reconstructed prairie,” said Ann Burns, Environmental Education Coordinator at Jackson County Conservation. “The exhibit talks about active farmers and ranchers that work with prairies on their grounds and use native species. Fun interactives, like a mural with a shopping cart, show the connection of the heritage of prairie we lost and what that means for us today.”

Courtesy of O’Brien County Conservation

This exhibit is free and open to the public during the regular hours of the Hurstville Interpretive Center, Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturday – Sunday from 12 – 5 p.m.

The exhibit was originally brought to Iowa by Blackhawk County and Friends of Hartman Reserve with funding provided by a REAP conservation education grant. It started its three-year state tour in the fall of 2012 and has been to a few other nature centers around the state, including the Hartman Reserve Nature Center.