Prairies
Plant native wildflowers and grasses for pollinators and songbirds. Reinvigorate your prairie with prescribed fire, mowing, and invasive species management.
Forests
Manage your woodlands for wildlife habitat, recreation, and profit. Restore an oak savanna, plant a windbreak or remove invasive species.
Wetlands
Improve water quality and create habitat for turtles, frogs, dragonflies, and other wildlife. Restore a stream, construct a wetland or grow prairie strips.
Feature Stories
Family Roots
On a typical urban property in Urbandale, Darrel Mullins strategically manages his piece of Iowa’s forest. Through his backyard window, a diverse kaleidoscope of native woody plants provide multiple benefits: shade, privacy, habitat for songbirds, and acorns for squirrels. The trees also compliment the raised garden beds of native perennials. “If you can’t be in…
Ecological Significance
At Four Mounds, just north of Dubuque along the Mississippi River, a mature white oak has been witness to dramatic landscape changes. The 60-acre site pivoted from the Indigenous ecological stewardship to cultural and historic site tourism management. When a tornado or flood quickly tears through an Iowa woodland, what remains is almost unrecognizable from…
A Culture of Collaborative Conservation Management
Since 1987, the Four Mounds Foundation has stewarded 60-acres as a city park, bed and breakfast and event venue. Situated just north of Dubuque, Four Mounds attracts over 25,000 visitors annually and is Iowa’s last remaining gentleman’s farm. For decades, the woodland and prairie were viewed as peripheral to the historic architecture and manicured landscaping….