Historic Bald Eagle Site at Red Rock
Gets Major Grant Support

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Three new grants have brought the proposed Gladys Black eagle refuge near the Red Rock Reservoir in Marion County that much closer to reality.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has approved $40,500 toward the purchase of the Eleanor Coster property located just below the dam of the Red Rock Reservoir. This grant was requested by the Wildlife Diversity Program of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) through the State Wildlife Grants program.

The Pella Rolscreen Foundation and the Peter H. and E. Lucille Gaass Kuyper Foundation each contributed $3,000 to the project recently.

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), a non-profit conservation group that protects Iowa's land, water and wildlife, will facilitate the purchase. Once acquired, the Coster property will be dedicated as an eagle refuge in memory of Gladys Black, a Marion County native sometimes known as the "bird lady of Iowa." Black led local school children on popular birding field trips, published two bird books and wrote nearly 30 years of weekly newspaper columns on birding until her death in 1998.

INHF is working to secure funding not only to protect the woodland but also to establish a local scholarship in Black's name. About $18,000 remains to be raised to protect the woodland and establish the scholarship.

"This property is one of Iowa's most historic and well-known Bald Eagle winter roost sites," according to Doug Harr of the Wildlife Diversity Program. "Long before Iowa's nesting eagle population began a rapid increase in the 1980s, the Coster property served wintering needs of migratory eagles. Eagles selected the site to take advantage of open water winter foraging opportunities in the tailwaters of Red Rock Dam." The many eagles that roost there are viewable from the Horn's Ferry Bridge, a popular bird-watching platform directly across the river.

The State Wildlife grant, because it is intended to go toward projects concerned with wildlife conservation and restoration, actually adds a layer of protection to the property's habitat. The grant requires that there be no public recreational uses of the property during the winter eagle roosting period, that no timber be harvested, and that the area be posted with wildlife management and refuge signage. The grant also requires that the IDNR own the property. The Wildlife Diversity Program will recommend and oversee management practices.

INHF, Des Moines Audubon Society, Marion County Pheasants Forever, and many local families have contributed private funds toward the project.

More information about the project and Gladys Black will be available from project volunteers and INHF staff during Bald Eagle Days at the Pella Community Center and Lake Red Rock on February 21, 2004. Information is also available by contacting Cheri Grauer at 515-288-1846. Contributions for the Gladys Black Project may be sent to INHF, 505 Fifth Avenue, Suite 444, Des Moines, IA 50309.

According to John Skerrit, a project donor who "was privileged as a young SCS trainee to be involved in 5 of the annual 6th Grade programs with Gladys and the Felsings in 1983-1987," Gladys Black "could have the attention of the 6th graders armed only with a collection of owl pellets and a stern gaze if someone was acting up. Thousands of Marion County youth were able to have met her and also touched her life. A scholarship would be a fitting way to perpetuate her unique interests in natural resources and wildlife."

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