Public invited
to "rescue" a prairie

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Adults and kids are invited to help "rescue" Rolling Thunder Prairie on Saturday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Located near New Virginia, the event is sponsored by the Warren County Conservation Board (WCCB). It's one of 25 events included the statewide Prairie Rescue, an annual Earth Dahttp:/y program designed to educate Iowans about natural resources and give them opportunities to actively protect them.

The Rolling Thunder site has also been selected by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) as part of its "25 ways to celebrate Iowa's great outdoors" campaign, a collection of 25 events held on former INHF project sites throughout the state. INHF is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects land, water and wildlife.

"Rescue" volunteers are invited for all or part of the event hours to help cut and remove woody species, which interfere with prairie vegetation. If possible, participants should bring their own loppers or other pruning tools, but some tools will be available at the site. Volunteers should also dress for the weather and wear heavy clothing, boots and work gloves.

"There will be plenty of hands-on, get dirt-under-your-fingernails type of work. People should come wanting to participate and have fun," said Jim Priebe, director for the Warren County Conservation Board (WCCB).

This is a family event, but it is recommended that children be at least twelve years old. WCCB and INHF staff will be on hand to guide workers and provide plant identification and other prairie education.

Weather permitting, volunteers are also invited to watch a small, prescribed prairie burn. Some volunteers may be allowed to use flappers and water-filled backpacks to assist in the three-acre burn.

Prairies once filled 80 percent of Iowa's land and maintained themselves naturally through prairie fires and grazing wildlife. Now 99.9 percent of the state's native prairies have disappeared, and human intervention is needed to maintain the scattered remnants.

"We hope the public will recognize the value of prairies and be encouraged to make efforts to keep what we have left," Priebe said. "Also, we hope they realize what a time-consuming and hard job it is to maintain prairies."

INHF assisted in the original purchase of Rolling Thunder in 1981. At that time, nearly 200 of the 282-acre prairie had never been plowed. INHF assisted in two more 80-acre additions in 1991 and 1992. WCCB now owns and manages the entire complex.

"Protecting a prairie is only the first step. Maintaining a native prairie like Rolling Thunder requires hard work and helpful volunteers. We were happy help protect this area in the beginning, and now it's nice to assist in an event that improves the prairie's health," said Mark Ackelson, INHF president.

Rolling Thunder is located in the southwest corner of Warren County, approximately 14 miles southwest of Indianola. The prairie is on 80th Avenue, four miles east of New Virginia on Highway G76 and one half mile north.

For detailed directions and a map to Rolling Thunder visit www.warrenccb.org/publicareas/rtp.html. INHF's Rolling Thunder page also has more information about the Rolling Thunder Prairie Rescue, other Prairie Rescue events and other INHF 25th anniversary events.

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