TURIN - Prairie Rescue 2005 began last weekend at a place "where the west commences." Volunteers came to the western Iowa Loess Hills on March 19 to clear invasive woody plants from remnant prairie. The event kicked off the 2005 Statewide Iowa Prairie Rescue, a series of roughly 25 prairie rescue events to be held across the state this spring.

David and Lin Zahrt, owners of the Country Homestead Bed and Breakfast, near Turin, hosted the rescue. David Zahrt welcomed volunteers to a stretch of land that he said Cole Porter was describing in the song, "Don't Fence Me In."

The lyric "I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences" refers the Loess Hills because that area supports vegetation (like the yucca) not found anywhere to the east, Zahrt said.

The Loess Hills, a landform found only in Iowa and China, were created when windblown silt collected into hills 20,000 years ago. The unique ecosystem now requires the assistance of people like the Zahrts to survive.

At Saturday's volunteer event, participants used clippers, handsaws, and chain saws to remove invasive cedar trees from a hillside stretch of prairie and oak savanna.

"I believe in the restoration work," said Bob Fritzmeyer, who volunteered at the event. "We can really restore some of this habitat for future generations to appreciate."

The Zahrts host four prairie rescue events every year, timed to coincide with the changing of the seasons. This event honored the March 21 spring equinox, the transition from winter to spring.

Other prairie rescue workdays will occur across the state during April and May as part of the Statewide Prairie Rescue, now in its sixth year. The events offer volunteers the opportunity to reconnect with Iowa's roots-the original prairie grasslands that once covered 70-percent of the state but have been cut to 0.1-percent of its original size.

More information about individual events is available at www.iowadnr.com/volunteer/pr05.html.

Other volunteer events coming to western Iowa include the annual Loess Hills Prairie Seminar and the 2005 Project AWARE river cleanup and canoe trip, on the Little Sioux River. Both events occur in June - check www.iowadnr.com/volunteer/ for more information on these and other events.

Prairie Rescue 2005 is sponsored by the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Prairie Network, the Nature Conservancy, Audobon Iowa, the Loess Hills Preservation Society, AmeriCorps, and Keepers of the Land - the DNR's volunteer program.

For more information on Prairie Rescue 2005, contact KATIE KEMP at (515) 281-3134 or at Katie.Kemp@dnr.state.ia.us or ALICIA HRAHA at (515) 281-6271 or at Alicia.Hraha@dnr.state.ia.us.

For more information about the Country Homestead event contact DAVID ZAHRT at (712) 353-6772 or at zahrt@country-homestead.com. Contact MICHAEL DHAR at (515) 281-4832 or Michael.Dhar@dnr.state.ia.us for pictures (digital).

Click Here To Return To The Previous Page