Blog

Brenton Slough officially opened to the public on Saturday, June 6, with a public open house and ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Polk County Conservation.  

Meet our 2026 summer interns! With 20 interns out in the field and four in the Des Moines office, INHF is pleased to introduce this group of young hands and voices making a difference this summer. 

Agent, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to save Iowa’s bees. It’s summer. The bees are buzzing about. They pollinate our flowers which makes Iowa beautiful and helps grow our food.

Find out how you can advocate for funding the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. 

Iowans with strong ties to their community are key in an addition to Palisades-Kepler State Park.

INHF is excited to welcome Morgan McAndrew to the Loess Hills land stewardship team as she begins her role as a Land Stewardship Assistant.

Have you ever seen Iowa’s biggest native mammal, the bison? They can be hard to find even though they’re so big. If you visit one of Iowa’s bison herds this year, play this “I Spy” game with your friends and family to spot some of the ways bison keep prairies healthy. If you’re playing along at home, don’t worry! You can still spot parts of Iowa’s native prairies and imagine how a bison would help a prairie grow in your yard.

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation welcomes Ryan Van Kooten as Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, Van Kooten manages INHF’s finances, providing financial statements, analysis and planning to advance the INHF mission and provide transparency to donors.

The 2026 Iowa Legislature adjourned on May 3 and throughout the session, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation worked to advocate for the land, water, and wildlife. Together, we forged connections with lawmakers, partners, and new voices to understand the ways that our natural resources impact our lives and communities.

Despite first appearances, prairies aren’t just made of grass. There’s much more out there on the wide-open plains. Broadly, prairie vegetation falls into four categories: grasses, sedges, rushes, and forbs. So, how do you tell what’s what?

Learn about lichens - fungi that "farm" photosynthetic algae or cyanobacteria. 

Last Friday, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation awarded Richard “Dick” Ramsay the Brush of Excellence for his lifetime achievements in conservation and contributions to conserving Iowa's land and water.