Campaign for The Bluffs, The Hills, The Lakes
Help support the single largest private campaign ever launched in Iowa for natural

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This is an extremely practical campaign with very tangible results, Together, we will permanently protect 15,000 acres in the Bluffs, the Hills, the Lakes over a five-year period (2008-2012)!
land protection.

In the first three years of this campaign, we’ve protected nearly 9,000 acres at 60 great places. That’s an average pace of one site saved every 2 to 3 weeks! 

Together, we are ramping up protection in three of Iowa's most important and well-loved natural areas.

  1. The Bluffs: The rugged wooded valleys of the Mississippi River Blufflands [more]
  2. The Hills: The expansive prairies of the Loess Hills [more]
  3. The Lakes: The refreshing, shimmering waters of our largest natural lakes [more]

Each dollar you give to the campaign is matched by $9 of public funds, land donations, and our major lead grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

  • Each dollar you give goes into the land.
  • Your gift purchases land or conservation easements to permanently protect its wildlife habitat, natural features and beauty.
  • You can direct your gift to the Bluffs, the Hills or the Lakes – or let us choose the project in any of these regions that most needs your support right now.

Outstanding, high-priority natural lands are being fragmented and developed daily in these regions. We're in a race to save key lands as part of the natural heritage we leave to the next generation.

You can be part of this rare and exciting effort. Please support the action!

Examples of land protected through this campaign.

Bluffs:
French Creek is one of Iowa’s premier cold water trout streams and one of only four cold water streams in the state with naturally reproducing brook trout. We’re protecting 320 acres on the creek, with goat (hillside) prairie, rugged limestone outcrops, massive white oaks and countless migratory birds adjacent to the public French Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Two places in extreme NE Iowa are protected by donated conservation easements. 

  • Bryan and Carmen Iwen protected their 5th-generation family farm (359 acres) with 120 acres of woodlands and steep, rocky slopes dotted with goat prairies. 
  • Lee and Andrea Venteicher protected 128 acres overlooking the Yellow River valley, with caves, sinkholes, steep limestone outcroppings and two year-round springs. Woodlands, oak savanna and native prairie provide habitat for diverse species, including resting sites for neotropical migratory birds on their cross-continental journey.

Loess Hills:
Near Turin, a site overlooking the Missouri River valley was familiar to many as a bed-and-breakfast and conservation area. Now the Reese homestead will be an interpretation center for the Loess Hills, prairie and restored wetland resources there. 

On the northern edge of Sioux City, Gerald Weiner donated a conservation easement on 535 acres to protect part of the Loess Hills landscape.

Nine neighboring landowners on the Woodbury & Monona County border each donated conservation easements to protect more than 400 acres in the high-priority Grant Center Special Landscape Area.

Lakes:
Near the Iowa Great Lakes, an addition to the Dugout Creek Wetland Complex is improving water quality, expanding a popular recreation/wildlife area, and protecting endangered species.

This special campaign supplements - but does not replace - the ongoing work of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation across Iowa.

For more about how to join with us on this special effort, contact INHF's Anita O'Gara by e-mail or at 800-475-1846, ext. 18.