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The South Skunk River Watershed Project celebrates its one-year anniversary in October. This project is a partnership between Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) to further Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy goals.

Over 80% of Iowa’s landscape was once tallgrass prairie – an ecosystem comprising over 300 species of flowering plants maintained through regular fires and grazing by herds of elk and bison.

In keeping with a theme from my last blog titled “What the heck is habitat”, this month I explore another critical question within the language of conservation. What’s a wetland?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced an extension of the deadline to determine whether the monarch butterfly is warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The new deadline, December 15, 2020, was originally June 30, 2019.

Wild turkey. Ring-necked pheasant. Trumpeter swan. Turkey vulture. Northern bobwhite. These are the remarkable birds of Iowa’s rural landscapes. They’re large, conspicuous, and broadly recognized.

Monarch butterflies receive a great deal of attention these days. While children chase the vibrant orange-black fluttering across yards and gardens, adults are paying attention and taking actions to increase milkweed stands and native plantings in hopes of rebuilding monarch populations.

I have seen a wide gamut of responses to the question posed in the title of this post. While preparing for my Ph.D. candidacy exams, I was asked a version of this question as it related to ducks and agonized over the response for months (you’ll see elements of my answer below).

This week, the World Wildlife Fund released its 2018-2019 overwintering monarch population report. Adult monarch butterflies covered approximately 15 acres of forest canopy in Mexico, a doubling of last year’s population, and a level not seen since 10 years ago.

Liberty is at the heart of the American experiment: that fundamental concept that says the will of the majority should not supersede the rights of individuals. Emerging from this pillar however is a fundamental question: to what extent can one actor infringe on the rights of another?

In February of 2018, wildlife biologists and veterinarians investigated the suspicious death of 32 trumpeter swans in a Clinton County wetland.

Perhaps the greatest reward for living in a place with four well-defined seasons is the marked return of spring. It’s now that the long, motionless days of winter are, seemingly overnight, replaced with the sights and sounds of species whose likeness we haven’t seen for months.

One my favorite quotes from Iowa native and conservation icon Aldo Leopold goes like this: “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.” I think about that quote often this time of year because every fall, after the grand finale of summer