Wetland lessons and beauty

Hello again, fellow enthusiasts! Sorry to keep you waiting (my last blog entry was in January…and today is the start of July!!) but all is well, and I intend to finish this journey through Iowa’s 99 counties very soon. Today we visit the Calkins Nature Area in Hardin County. [Actually, these photos are from my visit to the site almost a year ago: August 2019.]

The County Conservation Board has a well-designed nature center just outside the town of Iowa Falls, complete with informative displays and helpful staff. Regular readers of this blog know my fondness for public outreach and education. I especially enjoy effective interpretation, in other words telling a story—putting the observations you make at the site today, in a context of the geology and history of that place.

Outside is a delightful butterfly experience, then the trailhead. As expected, we’re heading downhill to where the water will sit.

Sitting near the river, in a wooded bottomland setting, is a wetland pond with a control structure to impound the water. Really, the walk to the wetland, and the trail leading further along the stream, is just as lovely as the wetland itself. Flowers near water’s edge and along the path, dragonflies swooping around me, and sections of till and rolling hillside made it a scenic walk.

Lately, I’ve had reason to think more about how to tell the story of the wetlands of Iowa…actually, how to tell the story of Iowa! More about those musings later. For now, I welcome you back to my trek, and ask you to join me as I visit a couple more counties in coming weeks, and then step back and ask what we’ve learned. Please join me, add your thoughts and questions, and stay well, friends.