Prairie Studies Events

Prairie Studies Events

Connie Mutel

Author, former senior science writer at IIHR–Hydroscience & Engineering, Univ. of Iowa College of Engineering
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024
Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room S1325, 4:15 p.m.

“Tending Iowa’s Land: Searching for Environmental Wholeness in a Fragmented World”

In the last two centuries, Iowa has been transformed from an ecologically resilient complex of prairies, woodlands, and wetlands into agricultural lands dominated by corn, soybeans, and CAFOs. What are the costs and benefits of this dramatic landscape simplification, and how does it continue to shape our lives today? How might we, as caretakers of our soils, water, climate, and natural communities, continue to promote a healthy future, even as we witness the burgeoning tolls of climate change and loss of biodiversity?

This talk will focus on Mutel’s most recent book, Tending Iowa’s Land: Pathways to a Sustainable Future, which received the 2023 Midwest Book Award for Nature. Those present will be entered into a giveaway to receive a copy of Connie Mutel’s book.

Connie Mutel has dedicated her life to sharing her passion for nature. She has written or edited seven books on Iowa’s natural environment (and eight more on other topics), including The Emerald Horizon: The History of Nature in Iowa and A Sugar Creek Chronicle: Observing Climate Change from a Midwestern Woodland. Mutel, now retired from the University of Iowa, has visited 51��ɫ several times to discuss Iowa’s environmental problems. She enjoys talking with students who will be championing nature and environmental health in the coming decades.

Accommodations are available for persons with disabilities as guests of the College. If you need an accommodation to attend an event that is open to the public, contact either the department sponsoring the event or the Office of Safety (641-269-4600), and they will assist you with the accommodation that you need. Minors under the age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.

Help Us Put the Gardens to Bed for the Winter!

Students standing near the 51��ɫ College garden sign.

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024
51��ɫ College Garden (Located at 1128 East Street, east of Game House)
4:15–5:30 p.m.

Join Jon Andelson and the college garden staff to help put the garden to bed for the winter. We’ll be doing any remaining harvesting, uninstall the drip irrigation hoses, add compost to raised beds, put down straw mulch in the raised beds, water the perennial bushes, and do whatever else is needed.

No gardening experience required. Work gloves will be provided, though quantities are limited. Bring your own if you have them.

Study Break at Conard Environmental Research Area

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024

4:15–7p.m. (see note)

Come see what CERA has to offer and enjoy a few hours off-campus!

Join Emily Klein and Jake Hill at CERA and spend a few hours studying (wi-fi is available), just relaxing indoors or outside, or kayaking!

Note: Limited transportation is available on a first-come-basis. Meet in front of the Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center at 4:15 p.m. The event will begin around 4:45 and participants will return to campus at 7 p.m. Feel free to join us if you have your own transportation.

Contact Emily Klein, 641-260-6429, for driving directions or questions.

Sunset Seed Harvest at CERA

Thursday, Oct. 10, and
Friday, Oct. 11, 2024
4:15–7 p.m.

CERA and the Center for Prairie Studies welcome you to a sunset seed harvest. Staff and volunteers will collect native prairie seed to diversify and expand the prairie under the setting sun in CERA’s largest remnant prairie. Collecting seed from plant species ready to harvest for future habitat restoration sites is an effective way to help conserve this unique and important landscape.

51��ɫ College Students at CERA after seed collecting

Drinks and snacks will be provided.

No running water is located on site. Please use the restroom ahead of time.

Schedule

4:15 p.m.: Load the minibus outside Rosenfield Center. First come, first serve.

5–6:30 p.m.: Harvest seed in the remnant prairie on the south side of CERA property.

6:30 p.m.: Load the minibus and return to campus by 7 p.m.

If you are driving your own vehicle, please arrive at CERA by 4:45 p.m. to follow the caravan to the harvest location, 2.5 miles from the Environmental Education Center building at CERA.

Please Bring

Water bottle
Required: closed-toe footwear.
Recommended: long pants, long socks, work gloves, and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.

Site Details

No experience necessary
Primitive restroom and hand washing station available on-site
Usual natural hazards like ticks, poison ivy, mosquitoes, or plants with thorns may be present
Parking is limited in the grassy field. Please carpool or ride the shuttle.

Questions?

Contact Emily Klein, 641-260-6429

Leaf Printing: Patches and Gelli Prints

Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024
2–5 p.m., HSSC, Room N1164

Drop in to print leaves from the 51��ɫ campus! Try two different methods — relief print on fabric using a small press and hand printing from a gelli plate. You’ll leave with your very own leaf patch and colorful print on paper. All skill levels welcomed and encouraged!

Emily Jalinsky is a mixed media printmaking artist. Her delicate collage works on paper act as a prompt for mindfulness and resiliency. She is represented by Gilded Pear Gallery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and lives and works in Iowa City, Iowa.

Please wear appropriate clothing as it could be stained during the printing process. You’re welcome to come-and-go as you like during the three-hour session.

This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.

If you are an individual with a disability and need accommodations, please contact Conference Operations at 641-269-3235. Minors under the age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.

CERA Faculty Open House

Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024

Please join the Department of Biology and the Center for Prairie Studies at Conard Environmental Research Area for a chance to see the facilities and landscape and hear a bit about how faculty from across the college use the site. We will also take a short outdoor hike.

requested, but not required. Transportation will be available if needed; the van will depart in front of Rosenfield Center at 5 p.m. A light meal will be provided. (Finger sandwiches, fruit, and drinks.) Families welcome!

CERA is located at 11203 S. 12th Avenue E, Kellogg, IA.

Driving directions:

From 51��ɫ (junction Hwy 6-Hwy 146) take Hwy 6 W 10.3 miles. Turn left (S) into Hwy 224. Continue 2.2 miles, passing under I-80. Turn left onto S 28th Avenue E (gravel; 1 mile). Turn left (N) at first crossing onto E 108 Street S. Follow 1.9 miles to the entrance, following road right as it becomes S. 12th Avenue E.

We hope to see you there!

Peter Jacobson and Liz Queathem

Garden Harvest and Work Session

Tuesday, September 24, 4:15 – 5:30 PM

51��ɫ College Garden

The garden is located at 1128 East Street, east of Game House.

Green Your Thumb!

The Center for Prairie Studies invites you to join garden supervisor Professor Andelson, and the student garden apprentices for a harvest and work session at the 51��ɫ College Garden on Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. The garden, established in 2000, provides food to College Dining Services, MICA, and the Global Kitchen. We’ll be harvesting whatever is ready that day and doing some additional work.

Bird Watching with Jonathan Meiburg

Friday, Sept. 20, 2024
CERA, 4:15–7 p.m.

Join the 51��ɫ College Birding Club for an outdoor hike at CERA with Jonathan Meiburg, bird enthusiast, author, and musician.

Transportation will depart the Rosenfield Center drop-off location at 4:15 p.m. and will return to campus at 7 p.m. Space is limited to 14 participants and there will not be reservations for transportation. The vans will be filled on a first come basis. The event will begin around 4:45 p.m.

Jonathan Meiburg watching birds gather around prey.

Throughout his career, Jonathan Meiburg has charted a unique path between the arts and the sciences. In 1997 he received a Watson Fellowship to travel to isolated communities around the world, a year-long journey that sparked an enduring fascination with islands, birds, and the deep history of life on Earth. Since then he’s written for print and online publications on subjects including , , and the bizarre marine life of the Antarctic seafloor.

In 2021 Knopf published his first book, A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey, which explores the evolutionary history of South America’s wildlife and landscapes through the eyes of crow-like falcons called caracaras, their human companions, and the 19th-century naturalist and writer William Henry Hudson. It was acclaimed as an original and thrilling hybrid of travel writing, natural history, and literary biography; “to call [it] a bird book,” wrote one reviewer, “is like calling Moby-Dick a whaling manual.” Meiburg is now at work on a new book, The Secret Land: The Once and Future Life of Antarctica, which reveals the southern continent’s surprising role in shaping life on our planet — past, present, and future.

Meiburg also has a parallel life as a recording and touring musician. His bands and have been praised by The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, and Pitchfork. He’s collaborated with artists from Sharon Van Etten to Laurie Anderson, and in 2018 he organized a live performance of David Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy” of albums for WNYC’s New Sounds program. Loma’s third album, How Will I Live Without a Body?, was released by Sub Pop records in June. The eighth Shearwater album is now in production.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies and Writers@51��ɫ.

Sandy Moffett, Professor Emeritus of Theatre

Book Talk: Emmi
This event has been cancelled and will be rescheduled at a later date.

Sandy Moffett, emeritus professor of theatre at 51��ɫ College, joined the faculty in 1971 and continues to teach and direct plays on occasion, serving as a utility infielder for his department. An ardent outdoorsman and conservationist, he spends most of his time restoring prairie on his small farm, writing songs and stories, playing guitar and mandolin in The Too Many String Band, and catering to the whims of his three grandchildren. His writing has appeared in The Wapsipinicon Almanac, Rootstalk, Saltwater Sportsman, and other publications. This is his second novel.

Emily Reese, an eleven-year-old girl who has trouble reading, trouble with numbers, trouble with school, trouble with friends, who is only happy when she is alone in a special wild place that she considers her own.

Wade McPherson, an eighty-eight-year-old retired English professor whose life now revolves around a prairie he has restored and a woodland he likes to believe is his own.

Frank Reese, a single father who adores his daughter above all things and blames himself for the death of her mother in a car crash on an icy Chicago freeway.

Angelina Valenzuela, a young Mexican woman fleeing south Texas and a past she is not proud of who has come north to try and bring life to a shrunken heart.

In a small rural town in a southern Iowa county on the border of the Skunk River State Forest the largest and last remnant of wilderness in the state, these four enter into a battle against corporate greed, political ambition, and maniacal trophy addiction to save this wild place and a magnificent snow-white stag that is rumored to live there. Three murders bring a slew of other crazy characters into the fray as they fight to save these priceless remains of a time past.

“Emmi is a captivating story about the undulating farmland, prairies and forests of southeast Iowa (not to mention South Dakota, backwater Texas and the sun swept mountains of Tajikistan). It’s about endearing people and nasty scumbag people. It’s a love story. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s about courage and cowardice. It explores the wellsprings of our ancestry as hunter-gatherers and the poisoning of that well today. The centerpiece of the novel is the quest for a Melvillian albino stag, as fey as the evening light. But like all good fiction, the journey isn’t where the grace resides. It’s in Moffett’s myriad of humble (and often slyly humorous) observations along the way. These make the narrative as rich as a blooming prairie.” —David G. Campbell, Ph.D., author, A Land of Ghosts: The Braided Lives of People and the Forest in Far Western Amazonia

“Like Faulkner, Sandy Moffett returns in this, his second, novel to the fictitious setting of the first — Nachawinga Co., Iowa — and to some of the same characters as well, so we’re really getting to know the place and its people, warts and all. Moffett is a gifted raconteur who tells a gripping story about a 10 year old girl, her widowed game warden father, a lot of guns, a mysterious woman who doesn’t say much but shoots straight, an intentional murderer, an unintentional murderer, and an elusive white buck that is the focus of a great deal of greed and a great deal of compassion. Interwoven with the story is hard-hitting social commentary about the way that the land and people are mistreated by (did I already use this word?) greed. Emmi is a riveting page-turner from start to finish. Don’t miss it.”–Jonathan Andelson, director emeritus, Center for Prairie Studies, 51��ɫ College

Those present will be entered into a giveaway to receive a copy of Sandy Moffett’s book.

Lespedeza Volunteer Days at CERA

Sept. 5 and 6, 2024
4:15 – 7 p.m.

We need your help!

Please join us at CERA on Thursday, Sept. 5 and Friday, Sept. 6, to help us get rid of the invasive lespedeza plants. Transportation will be provided. A light snack and drink will be provided. Please complete the registration form so we will know if you need transportation. The minibus will depart in front of Rosenfield Center at 4:15 p.m. and will return to campus at 7 p.m. You may still join if you have your own transportation. Wear long pants and closed-toed shoes or clothing appropriate for the weather conditions.

2023–24 Events

Leland Searles, Environmental Specialist Senior

Meskwaki Nation Department of Natural Resources

Leland Searles looking closely at a milkweed

Thursday, April 25, 2024
Drake Community Library, 6 p.m.

Working Alongside Nature: Actions for Our Fellow Beings

In a wide-ranging talk, Searles will talk about gardening with native plants, attracting pollinators, learning to live at peace with “bugs” and other denizens of natural ecosystems, and the rewards of a determined effort. Other topics may slip in, in part because Searles is an ecologist not only in practice, but also in his mental life: everything is surprisingly connected to everything else. Climb into the saddle and come along for the ride through tall grasses, swamps, woodlands, clouds of midges, mussel shells, and much else that lives in the mind of one person.

Leland Searles holds a PhD (2001) in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, with emphases on medical and psychological anthropology. After that he taught for several years as an adjunct but became dismayed with changes in postsecondary education. He formed a business, an LLC, in 2009, to return to an old passion, birding and the natural world. Since then, he has taken training in conservation, stream hydrology and restoration, wetland delineation, and other areas of ecology. Through mentors and self-study, he learned Iowa’s fungi (including major lichens), mosses, and vascular plants. Throughout his work now he emphasizes the careful study of natural processes as a guide to any restoration project.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies, 51��ɫ College.

Wildflower Walks at CERA

Join the Center for Prairie Studies for a relaxing woodland wildflower walk at CERA on Monday, April 22, from 4:15–6:45 p.m. and again on Saturday, April 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Emily Klein and Jake Hill will lead a 1.5-mile woodland wildflower hike at Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA). Spring ephemeral wildflowers grow and flower before the forest trees leaf out, and are only around for a few weeks at the beginning of spring! Wear long pants and close-toed shoes or boots and bring a water bottle.

Transportation will depart and return to the Rosenfield Center at the times noted above. Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come basis. You’re welcome to drive yourself. We hope you can join us!

Everyone is welcome. If you are an individual with a disability and need accommodations, please contact Emily Klein, 641-260-6429. Minors under the age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors.

Janicki Sheep Farm Tour

Monday, April 8, 2024, 4:15–6:45 p.m.
Janicki Farm

Join Dr. Todd Janicki and the Center for Prairie Studies for a tour of the Janicki family’s Jasper County sheep farm. The Janickis raise and market 200–300 lambs per year, and many are being born right now. The tour will also include a short hay rack ride to the Janicki’s restored prairie area.

Transportation will depart the Rosenfield Center drop-off location at 4:15 p.m. and will return to campus at 6:45 p.m. Space is limited to 22 participants and will be filled on a first-come basis.

Please direct any questions to Emily Klein, the Center for Prairie Studies Outreach Coordinator.

Book Talk: Austin Frerick ’12

Thursday, April 4, 2024, 7 p.m.
Rosenfield Center, Room 101

Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry

What does it mean when one family’s annual revenue is equivalent to the combined annual tax revenues of 19 states?

Come hear 51��ɫ alum, Austin Frerick ’12 discuss his new book, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry, and how the consolidation of the food industry affects our lives, our economy, and our future prospects. Austin will be joined by Iowa-based journalist Laura Belin, who will lead a discussion with Frerick about this important topic.

Austin Frerick is an expert on agricultural and antitrust policy. He worked at the Open Markets Institute, the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the Congressional Research Service before becoming a Fellow at Yale University. He is a seventh generation Iowan and first generation college graduate, with degrees from 51��ɫ College and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Barons is the story of seven titans of the food industry, their rise to power, and the consequences for workers, eaters, and democracy itself. Readers will meet a secretive German family that took over the global coffee industry in less than a decade, relying on wealth traced back to the Nazis to gobble up countless independent roasters. They will visit the Disneyland of agriculture, where school children ride trams through mechanized warehouses filled with tens of thousands of cows that never see the light of day. And they will learn that in the food business, crime really does pay — especially when you can bribe and then double-cross the president of Brazil. Barons paints a stark portrait of corporate consolidation, but it also shows that a fair, healthy, and prosperous food industry is possible — if we take back power from the barons who have robbed us of it.

Laura Belin is the publisher, editor, and primary reporter for the Iowa political website Bleeding Heartland, and the part-time statehouse correspondent for KHOI Community Radio in Ames.

This event is co-sponsored by the Chrystal Funds, Rosenfield Program, and the Center for Prairie Studies.

New “Moved by Waters” and Emmy Award-Winning Filmmakers Appear March 8, 2024, at 51��ɫ College

Friday, March 8, 7 p.m.
Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC), Room A2231

Documentary focuses on diverse groups and individuals working together for the health of the Upper Mississippi Watershed

What unites us is more important than what divides us. Emmy award-winning filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films turn their lens on their Quad Cities home base and discover a network of people and organizations working toward improved water quality in the Upper Mississippi watershed. Their new documentary “Moved by Waters” will be presented on Friday, March 8, at 7 p.m. in the 51��ɫ College Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC), Room A2231, 1226 Park Street. A “talk back” with the filmmakers will follow the screening. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.

“The ‘Moved by Waters’ story is the opposite of the national narrative. The national narrative tells us that Americans are too divided politically to work together on anything,” said director-writer Kelly Rundle of Fourth Wall Films. “The people we met and talked to while making this film showed us the opposite.”

Did you know a piece of trash discarded in a Moline, Illinois, neighborhood can end up in the Gulf of Mexico? How is water quality monitored and evaluated? Is water pollution an urban or rural challenge? How does water quality affect wildlife and their habitat? We all need water that is clean and safe to drink, and the people and projects in “Moved by Waters” model a way forward that benefits people, and the environment.

51��ɫ College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. For information, contact Conference Operations at 641-269-3178. Important: Minors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.

Squatters on Red Earth

Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, 7 p.m.
Bucksbaum Arts Center – Sebring Lewis Hall

A peaceful encounter between the Meskwaki and the Amanas in the midst of the U.S. white settler land grab

Squatters on Red Earth is a play written by Mary Swander under the guidance of members of the Meskwaki Settlement, and supported by grants from Anon Was a Woman Environmental Art Award (The New York Foundation for the Arts) and The State Historical Society of Iowa, Inc. It is a one-man show starring

Rip Russell and directed by Brant Bollman. The drama explores the issue of the white settler land grab from the Native Americans. The core story revolves around a peaceful encounter between the Meskwaki and the Inspirationists, a German Utopian group, all while the colonialists were forcing the Natives from their land.

The one-hour drama is enacted through the use of a crankie, a medieval puppetry device.

Squatters on Red Earth will resonate with those who have desired a more comprehensive history of the United States.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by Public Events and the Center for Prairie Studies.

Jon Andelson, Professor of Anthropology

Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, 4:15 p.m.
Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC), Room A1231

The Meskwaki and the Amana Colonies: How 51��ɫ’s Most Distinctive Neighbors Made Homes in Iowa

In anticipation of the performance of “Squatters on Red Earth,” a play about the braided stories of the Meskwaki people and the Amana Colonies, Professor Jon Andelson will present an informal talk about how the two groups came to Iowa from distant places, bought land about forty miles apart in the 1850s, and forged distinctive collective communities that still thrive today.

“Squatters on Red Earth,” by Iowa’s poet laureate emeritus Mary Swander, will be presented at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23 in Sebring-Lewis Hall.

Accommodations are available for persons with disabilities as guests of the College. If you need an accommodation to attend an event that is open to the public, contact either the department sponsoring the event or Campus Safety (641-269-4600), and they will assist you with the accommodation that you need. Minors under the age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.

Chris Jones, Author, Retired Engineer

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, 7 p.m.
Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC) S3325

This Land is Their Land: Iowa's Agriculture and its Effects on Water Quality

Come and hear why a prominent Iowa scientist, Chris Jones, thinks The Swine Republic, the title of his book, might be a better name for our state — a place where water quality has been sacrificed to pork producers’ interests. In this talk, Jones will discuss the history of Iowa agriculture and its consequences for the state's streams, lakes, and aquifers.

Chris Jones is recently retired from IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, where he worked as a research engineer. Jones is the author of 55 scientific journal articles, several book chapters, and is the author of the book, The Swine Republic, Struggles with the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality. He holds a BA in chemistry and biology from Simpson College and a PhD in analytical chemistry from Montana State University. Earlier work experience included stops at the Iowa Soybean Association and the Des Moines Water Works.

Those present will be entered into a giveaway to receive a copy of The Swine Republic, Struggles with the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.

Help us Put the Gardens to Bed for the Winter!

Thursday, Nov. 2, 4:15 p.m.
College Garden (The garden is located at 1128 East St., east of Food House)

Join 51��ɫ College Garden personnel to help put the garden to bed for the winter. We’ll be doing any remaining harvesting, uninstall the drip irrigation hoses, add compost to raised beds, put down straw mulch in the raised beds, water the perennial bushes, and do whatever else is needed. No gardening experience needed.

Work gloves will be provided, though quantities are limited. Bring your own if you have them. Refreshments will be served.

“Bird-Thinking” at CERA

Robert Hampton hold a bird on his finger

Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, 4:45–6 p.m.
Conard Environmental Research Area

Join the 51��ɫ College Birding Club for an outdoor hike at CERA with animal cognitive scientist Robert Hampton from Emory University. Hampton, an avid backyard wildlife enthusiast, will hike with the group and give us insight on “bird-thinking,” which can help us to better understand and interact with our avian friends.

Limited transportation is available on a first-come-basis. Meet in front of the Rosenfield Center at 4:15 p.m.

Robert Hampton earned his doctorate at the University of Toronto for laboratory studies of neurocognition in wild black-capped chickadees, a species that hides and recovers food using memory. For his postdoctoral work he transitioned to studies of memory and metacognition in rhesus monkeys at the National Institutes of Mental Health. He is now professor of psychology and investigator at the Emory National Primate Research center in Atlanta, Georgia, where he has had his laboratory for almost 20 years. While most of his recent research focuses on monkeys and other primates, he has done some recent work with his graduate students on memory in wild birds, and most recently has begun a line of work on computerized tests of memory and cognition in the flock of chickens he keeps in his backyard.

Chris Helzer, Nebraska Director of Science, The Nature Conservancy

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, 7 p.m.
Humanities and Social Studies Center (HSSC), Room A1231

Exploring the Beauty and Resilience of Prairies

Prairies are incredibly diverse and beautiful places, though most Americans don’t recognize them as such. That disinterest might be the greatest conservation challenge facing prairies today. Helzer will talk about his work as a conservation photographer and science communicator trying to get people to care about grasslands. In addition, he’ll talk about the research and land stewardship The Nature Conservancy is doing in Nebraska. A major focus of his work is to help develop and test different ways of building and maintaining biodiversity and ecological resilience in prairies. He then helps share what’s been learned with a broad audience in order to have significant effect on grassland landscapes. Prairies have survived this long because of their resilience, but also because of their close relationship with humans. Our job now is to continue giving them the chance to thrive and express that resilience in the face of many new challenges.

Helzer is director of science for The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska, where he conducts research and evaluates prairie management and restoration work. He is also dedicated to raising awareness about the value of prairies through his photography, writing, and presentations. Helzer is author of The Prairie Ecologist blog, and two books: The Ecology and Management of Prairies in the Central United States and Hidden Prairie: Photographing Life in One Square Meter. He is also a frequent contributor to NEBRASKAland magazine and other publications. Helzer and his family live in Aurora, Nebraska.

Everyone is welcome. If you are an individual with a disability and need accommodations, please contact Conference Operations at 641-269-3235. Minors under the age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.

Stephanie BadSoldier Snow ’03

Monday, Oct. 9, 5:30 p.m.
Drake Community Library

Growing Up Native in Iowa

Join 51��ɫ College alumna Stephanie BadSoldier Snow ’03 at the Drake Community Library at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 9, for a talk celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

BadSoldier Snow’s presentation will acknowledge our inescapable connection to the land that is now called Iowa, the most human-modified landscape in the United States. BadSoldier Snow will discuss such questions as “Is modern life sustainable?” through the exploration of a Native perspective on life in Iowa and specifically the Meskwaki Settlement.

The education coordinator for the Meskwaki Nation, BadSoldier Snow was raised on the Meskwaki Settlement with traditional Meskwaki beliefs and language and is a member of the Swan Clan. She is an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. Along with her Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk heritage, BadSoldier Snow is also Lakota and Umonhon. As a performer in a local Native American song, storytelling, and dance troupe, she also collaborates frequently with acclaimed Native American artists, performers, and actors.

BadSoldier Snow’s public talk is supported by the Center for Prairie Studies at 51��ɫ College.

Leaf Printing Workshop

Saturday, Oct. 7, 25 p.m.
HSSC, Room N1164

Drop in to print leaves from the 51��ɫ campus! All skill levels are welcomed and encouraged. Learn the basics of relief printing with a press and take home your very own prints! A sampling of leaves will also be printed for a new campus tree map. Feel free to watch the collection grow throughout the afternoon.

Emily Jalinsky is a mixed-media printmaking artist. Her delicate collage works act as a prompt for mindfulness to counterbalance chaotic states of the mind. She is represented by Gilded Pear Gallery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, teaches at the IC Press Co-op, and lives and works in Iowa City, Iowa.

Please wear appropriate clothing as it could be stained during the leaf pressing process. You’re welcome to come and go as you like during the three-hour session.

This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies.

Pieta Brown Outdoor Concert

Saturday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m.
Central Campus, Commencement Stage

Atmospheric and dreamy, a gifted singer-songwriter.

Opening for is Jake Hill, CERA horticulturalist at 51��ɫ College. Hill is a songwriter from 51��ɫ planning to release an EP of solo material in the coming year.

This event is co-sponsored by Public Events and the Center for Prairie Studies. It is free and open to the public.

51��ɫ College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. For accommodations, contact Disability Resources. Important: Minors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. 51��ɫ College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus.

Tom Montgomery Fate

Thursday, Sept. 28
Roundtable, 4:15 p.m., HSSC, Room S1325 (an informal craft discussion)
Reading, 8 p.m., HSSC, Room A2231

Tom Montgomery Fate is a professor emeritus at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn Illinois, where he taught creative writing and literature courses for more than 30 years. He is the author of six books of creative nonfiction, including The Long Way Home: Detours and Discoveries, a travel memoir (Ice Cube Press, 2022), Cabin Fever, a nature memoir (Beacon Press), and Steady and Trembling, a spiritual memoir (Chalice Press). A regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, his essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Orion, The Iowa Review, Christian Century, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, and many others. Dozens of his essays have also aired on NPR, PRI and Chicago Public Radio.

This event is co-sponsored by Writers@51��ɫ and the Center for Prairie Studies.

Garden Harvest and Work Session

Green Your Thumb!

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 4–5 p.m., 51��ɫ College Garden
The garden is located at 1128 East Street, east of GWARC (previously Food) House

The Center for Prairie Studies invites you to join garden supervisor Professor Andelson and the student garden apprentices for a harvest and work session at the 51��ɫ College Garden on Tuesday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 5 p.m. The garden, established in 2000, provides food to College Dining Services, MICA, and the Global Kitchen. We’ll be harvesting whatever is ready that day and doing some additional work.

CERA All Faculty Open House

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023

Please join the Department of Biology and the Center for Prairie Studies at CERA for a chance to see the facilities and landscape and hear a bit about how faculty from across the College use the site. We will also take a short outdoor hike.

requested, but not required. Transportation will be available if needed, the van will depart in front of the Rosenfield Center at 5 p.m. A light meal will be provided. (Finger sandwiches, fruit, and drinks.)

CERA is located at 11203 S. 12th Avenue E, Kellogg, Iowa.

Planting a Pocket of Prairie

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, 4:15 p.m.,
HSSC, Room S1325

Are you interested in converting a small section of your yard to tallgrass prairie? Do you know how to find and evaluate resources to support prairie landscapes? Join us to learn more!

Emily Klein (CERA manager and Center for Prairie Studies outreach coordinator) and Jake Hill (CERA horticulturalist) will give a short history of the tallgrass prairie in Iowa and present information about CERA, the 365-acre field station owned and managed by 51��ɫ College. They will discuss why the tallgrass prairie ecosystem is so important and share ideas for what we can do as Iowa residents to care for and preserve the tallgrass prairie remnants that remain. Klein and Hill will also present tips on how to reconfigure already-altered landscapes, both agricultural and residential, to better reflect our local natural history. They will also offer practical native planting techniques and distribute some native seeds. Plus, all attendees can enter a drawing to win one of two native landscape reference books.

Lespedeza Volunteer Days at CERA

Sept. 7 and 8, 4:45–7:30 p.m.

Please join us at CERA on Thursday, Sept. 7, and Friday, Sept. 8, from 4:45–7:30 p.m. to help us get rid of the invasive lespedeza plants. Transportation will be provided. The minibus will depart in front of the Rosenfield Center at 4:15 p.m. and will return to campus at 8 p.m. You may still join if you have your own transportation. Please by noon on Sept. 5. Pizza will be provided, so please complete the registration form so we will know if you need transportation and what your pizza preference is.

Contact Emily Klein for driving directions or questions, 641-260-6429.

The Journey Home

Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 7 p.m.
HSSC, Room A1231

Kamyar Enshayan
Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Education
University of Northern Iowa

Enshayan says: “It does not appear that we as Iowans are at home. If we were at home, we would better protect it as if our lives were dependent on it; we would not allow our waters to be polluted, our soils eroded. We would be actively engaged to protect the well-being of the human communities we belong to as well as the wetlands, rivers, floodplains, and the biodiversity they nurture. Time to get home! I hope you will join me to have a group conversation about what a homecoming might look like, and of course what role schools and colleges can play in the education of a homecomer.”

Bird Banding and Wildflower Walk

Saturday, April 22, 2023
8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Join the Tallgrass Audubon Society for a morning of bird banding on Bob and Connie Van Ersvelde’s beautiful property south of 51��ɫ. Participants will help set up and check nets, learn how to determine the species, gender, and age of many migratory songbirds, and get a chance to hold a bird.

Directions: Take Hwy 146 (West Street) south. After you pass under I-80, drive a half-mile south. Turn right (west) at 420th Ave. — the corner with 51��ɫ Mutual Reinsurance Company. Drive three-quarters of a mile. At mailbox #224, turn left (south) onto the lane. Follow the lane about a tenth of a mile back to the Van Ersvelde’s house.

You may on the College van or drive yourself. Transportation will leave campus at 8:30 a.m. and return at 12:30 p.m. If you RSVP for transportation, you’ll need to commit to participating in both events. We hope you can join us!

Iowa Kiko Goat Farm Tour

Friday, April 14, 2023
4–7 p.m.

; space is limited.

Join Adam Ledvina, who runs a large-scale holistic meat goat operation, Iowa Kiko Goats, based in Tama County, Iowa. This is a forage-based operation focused on low maintenance and high performance.

He also owns and operates Blue Collar Goatscaping where he takes hundreds of goats around the state to manage invasive brush for conservation organizations and private landowners.

Ledvina studied environmental science and biology at Central College in Pella, Iowa. While growing his operation over the years, Ledvina worked full-time for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Pheasants Forever, Iowa State University, and Sac and Fox Tribe/Meskwaki Nation as well as the Florida Fish and Game in the Everglades and multiple conservation organizations in California. He is now a full-time herdsman in Iowa. He also does private land restoration and is a wildland firefighter.

Transportation will be provided; space is limited, so , April 7, 2023.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Sustainability at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage

Tuesday, April 11, 2023
HSSC, Room N3110, 4:15 p.m.

Since 1997, Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage has experimented with and implemented myriad sustainable practices such as organic gardening, humanure, vehicle sharing, kitchen co-ops, an on-farm solar power grid system, village-wide water catchment, shared infrastructure, and behind-the-scenes necessities like inner sustainability and purposeful work. Get together for a lively conversation about these practices and more. The bottom line is, we can’t actually live sustainably unless we are doing it together. So, what can we do to leave this planet in better condition than when we arrived?

The Joys and Challenges of Living in Intentional Community

Tuesday, April 11, 2023
HSSC, Room N3110, 7 p.m.

What’s it like to live in an ecovillage in rural, Northeast Missouri? Fun? Isolating? Living so closely with 40 people isn’t always a picnic, but it sure comes in handy when you need to unload a U-Haul or fix a roof leak. How about the chiggers and tics? Ah, but we have a pond … is it worth all the trouble? Find out in a candid conversation about the joys and challenges of living in intentional community with Prairie Johnson, born and raised in Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.

Listening to the Land: Lessons from the Land Remains

Neil Hamilton
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022
HSSC, Room S1325, 4:15 p.m.

The discussion will focus on what we can learn when we take time to listen to the land. All land has a story, and every Iowan is a landowner. Whether land is owned privately or held by the public it carries with it a duty of care and a stewardship obligation. Iowa has a rich legacy of leadership in land stewardship, one we can build on in the years ahead.

Neil Hamilton is an emeritus professor of law and the former director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University in Des Moines. He retired from full-time teaching in 2019 after thirty-eight years of focusing on agriculture and food law. Raised on his family farm in Adams County, he attended Iowa State University for Forestry and the University of Iowa for Law. Teaching, writing, and consulting work led to travels around the globe and across the state and nation. His advice is sought by presidential candidates, cabinet secretaries, reporters, and others looking for insight on issues involving farming, rural society, conservation, and land tenure. He has served for decades on a variety of nonprofit boards including the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and Seed Savers Exchange.

The Land Remains blends personal memoir, history of Midwestern land conservation, and analysis of contemporary issues of soil health, water quality, public lands, and future challenges to tell the story of how land shapes our lives. The Land Remains weaves stories from his career working with food and the land to bring a fresh perspective to a topic most people take for granted. The book is narrated in part by the voice of the Back Forty, a field on his family’s farm in Adams County. Influenced by past conservation leaders like John Lacey and Aldo Leopold, as well as efforts by current farmers and landowners who care for and steward the land. The book also weaves new insights from authors like Eddie Glaude Jr. and Jedidiah Purdy to trace the parallels in our attitudes toward the land to issues of historic racism, economic inequality, and environmental vulnerability rooted in our land history.

The Land Remains identifies reasons to be optimistic — we can find hope and resiliency from the land by examining how new attitudes toward land can address past abuses. Demand for better food is creating opportunities for better land stewardship and new farmers, land trusts are helping owners protect unique lands, and conservation practices to improve soil health and protect water quality are laying the foundation for how the nation will address the challenge of climate change. Whether you are a landowner or a citizen, our history and future are shaped by how we treat the land. The Land Remains will leave readers informed, inspired, and thinking differently about how land will shape the future.

Getting to Know the Place: A Talk on Iowa’s Environmental History

Joe Otto, Special Projects and Partnerships Director
Soil & Water Conservation Society
Wednesday, Nov. 9, 4:15 p.m.

HSSC, Room A1231

Want to know more about Iowa’s agricultural landscape as a place? Join invited Environmental Historian Joe Otto as he talks about how Iowa’s landscape changed from native wet prairie to row crop farming. Otto tells this story not from the land’s perspective, but from the water. The most important and least understood man-made feature of Iowa’s agro-environment is the system for managing excess water. Also known as drainage, it is the water management systems built by people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that support the neatly aligned fields and farms you see today.

Joe Otto is the special projects and partnerships director for the Soil & Water Conservation Society — an international nonprofit organization based in Iowa that is dedicated to advancing the science and art of natural resource conservation. In this role, he directs operations for over $2 million in federal and state grants. He is also the society’s historian. In this role, he preserves the history of the Conservation Movement and has built up the society as a leader in that space. He is also a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Oklahoma, where he specializes in the agricultural and environmental history of Iowa, with a focus on the management of public water resources and drainage infrastructure. Otto is deeply familiar with Iowa as a place, having grown up in rural Jasper County. His scholarship is based on interactions with Iowa’s lands and waters made over his lifetime, and a desire to share his knowledge and experiences with others who would like to learn about and know this place better.

Kayaking at CERA

Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022

Join Amy Andrews, a naturalist with Poweshiek County Conservation, and Emily Klein, CERA manager, for a kayaking adventure on the pond at CERA. Each session will start with a quick lesson. Kayaks and life jackets will be provided.

Wild Edible Food Foraging Event

Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022

There is an entire grocery store of delicious, local, wild foods just waiting outside your backdoor! Join Mitchell County Conservation Naturalist, Chelsea Ewen Rowcliffe and Emily Klein, CERA manager and CPS Outreach Coordinator to get a “taste of the wild”! This session will pique your curiosity with some common wild edibles; focusing on how to identify key features of wild edible plants, knowing when and what to sustainably harvest, foraging safety, how to prepare, and even sample some wild flavors.

Chelsea Ewen Rowcliffe is a naturalist by both passion and profession, working and teaching for Mitchell County Conservation Board for over 12 years. She shares her enthusiasm for the outdoors with the public through environmental education programming and hosts several Wild Edible classes each year. She can also be found teaching at the Midwest Wild Harvest Festival and is listed as an Iowa Forager on .

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Prairie Studies and the Mitchell County Conservation Department.

2021-22 Center for Prairie Studies Events