Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: Kothenbeutel

This article was writen and posted on INHF's webiste in January of 2006.

Brian Fankhauser/INHF

Kothenbeutel Heritage Prairie contains 60-foot elevation changes and a limestone substrate, providing habitat for an unusually diverse habitat community. Close-ups (below): Ladies' Tresses orchid, Stiff gentian

	Joe McGovern/INHF

Prairie enthusiasts are celebrating the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation’s recent purchase of a diverse native prairie remnant in Franklin County.

INHF purchased the 40-acre site from Daryl Kothenbeutel, and the site will be called Kothenbeutel Heritage Prairie. With steep slopes leading to great variations in wetness and soil type, its 32-acre prairie remnant hosts diverse species. In fact, more than 250 plant species have been documented here, including Stiff Gentian, Rattlesnake Master, Ladies' Tresses orchid and Purple Prairie Clover.

“It’s rare to find a remnant prairie of this size and quality in north-central Iowa,” says Brian Fankhauser, INHF’s Land Stewardship Specialist. “Daryl should be commended both for his efforts to enhance this prairie’s health and for his proactive efforts to ensure its permanent protection.”

The prairie is located about two miles east of Sheffield and just a quarter mile from the West Branch of the Cedar River. Kothenbeutel recently retired from running a small prairie seed business using seeds he hand-harvested from this and other nearby sites.

Kothenbeutel notes that the site’s interest extends beyond prairie. The land was once crossed by a popular stage-coach route, and the tracks are still visible after prairie burns. The land also contains a variety of fossils, similar to those found at the Rockford Fossil and Prairie site in Floyd County.

INHF purchased the site in November 2005 and intends to perpetuate Kothenbeutel’s work with continued prairie management.

Members of the Iowa Prairie Network (IPN) have embraced the project and are donating proceeds from the Silent Auction at their free IPN-Central Region Annual Winter Workshop to be held in Ankeny on Feb. 18.

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

INHF purchases diverse prairie in

Franklin County