Monday, March 25, 2013

Value of Iowa’s Natural Resources

From our gentling rolling hills of native prairie, to our rocky bluffs along the Mississippi, Iowa teems with birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians. While we may struggle with habitat loss, pollution, and other environmental issues, Iowa is a state that is rich in natural beauty and resources.

Iowa’s natural resources have value to humans economically, such as the soil that we grow our food in, as well for hunting, and fishing. These uses are considered “consumptive use” of Iowa’s natural resources. Our natural resources also have intrinsic value of their own, meaning they possess value in and of themselves.

 
Iowa’s Natural Resources Links
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Iowa Wildlife Series: Iowa Insects, Spiders, and Other Invertebrates








 

 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Famous Iowa Conservationists

To understand Iowa’s early conservationists we need to examine the world in which they grew up. Iowa’s landscape is one of the most altered in our nation. When Iowa’s early conservationists were growing up Iowa’s landscape was at the pinnacle of change. Iowa’s natural areas were being altered and destroyed and wildlife was being hunted with little regulation. As a whole, they were Iowan’s who spent time outside in the natural world as children and youths. They developed a connect with, and a love of nature, and became crusaders for the natural world when they saw its wanton destruction.

Studying Iowa’s famous conservationist should serve as a lesson to us as we educate and raise future generations. Children and youth who spend time outdoors in our natural world will develop a life-long love and appreciation for nature. If we want children to grow up to be stewards of the land we need to get them outside now.

To learn more about the Iowa conservationists listed below, and to learn about other pioneering Iowa conservationists, visit the ISU Extension webpage below and download your free copy of “Important Iowa Conservationist”.

Important Iowa Conservationists – Iowa Natural Resource Heritage Series
https://store.extension.iastate.edu/ItemDetail.aspx?ProductID=2136

Ada Hayden ~ 1884-1950
Hayden grew up on an Iowa farm where her family kept a tract of virgin prairie simply to enjoy its beauty. Her love of natural prairie later became the focus of her career and her lasting legacy. Hayden was the first woman to earn her Ph.D. from Iowa State College. She became a professor of botany and the curator of the university herbarium. Hayden was one of the first scientists to study prairies. She surveyed the entire state to locate and document native prairie tracts. Hayden viewed prairies as complete ecosystems and as valuable living scientific laboratories. Her legacy started a prairie preservation effort in Iowa and her work has been an inspiration to countless prairie conservationists.

Ames Historical Society – Ada Hayden
http://www.ameshistory.org/exhibits/ada_hayden.htm

John F. Lacey ~ 1841-1913
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1888 Lacey was a conservation pioneer whose efforts were critically important to the protection of wildlife nationwide. The Lacey Bird Act of 1900 was just one of the issues that Lacey fought for diligently. The Lacey Bird Act of 1900 prohibited the transportation of illegally taken game across state lines, making the first significant dent in the economics of unrestricted market hunting and poaching.

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation – John F. Lacey
http://www.inhf.org/john-f-lacey.cfm

Bohumil Shimek ~ 1861-1937
A Professor of Botany at University of Iowa, and the first director of the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, Shimek was a pioneer of a comprehensive conservation and environmental education program for Iowa. He believed the first place to teach students about the natural world was in the field. Shimek helped his students not only learn about the natural world, but also encouraged and taught them to protect it.

The University of Iowa – Bohumil Shimek
http://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=343

Louis H. Pammel ~ 1862-1931
Pammel earned his Ph.D. in botany from Iowa State College and later became a professor of bacteriology, mycology, and plant pathology there. Pammel believed that humans could not exist without direct contact with the natural world. He developed the first working definition of conservation for Iowa and recommended that nature be taught in schools. Pammel help establish the Iowa State Board of Conservation and served as its president from 1919-1927. During that time he established the first Iowa State Park, Backbone State Park, in addition to 38 other State Parks. He is recognized as the “Founder of Iowa’s State Park System.”

Iowa State University – Louis H. Pammel
http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/exhibits/150/template/pammel.html

Books of Interest
Broda, H. W. 2011. Moving the Classroom Outdoors. Stenhouse Publishers.
Cornell, J. B. 1998. Sharing Nature with Children (20th Anniversary Edition). Dawn Publications.
Dinsmore, J. J. 1994. A Country So Full of Game: The Story of Wildlife in Iowa. University of Iowa Press.
Lendt, D.L. 1989. Ding: The Life of Jay Norwood Darling. Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated.
Leopold, A. 1989. A Sand County Almanac. Oxford University Press.
Louv, R. 2008. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books.
Ross, C., and T. Gladfelter. 1995. Kids in the Wild: A Family Guide to Outdoor Recreation. Mountaineer Books.
Stein, S. 2001. Noah's Children: Restoring the Ecology of Childhood. North Point Press.
Van Tilburg, C. 2005. Introducing Your Kids to the Outdoors. Stackpole Books.

 

 

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Aldo Leopold: Father of Wildlife Management

 “Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher "standard of living" is worth its cost in things natural, wild, and free.” ~Aldo Leopold

Iowa native Aldo Leopold is considered by many to be the “father” of wildlife management and of the United States wilderness system. Born in 1887 in Burlington, Iowa Leopold’s interest in nature started at an early age.  He spent countless hours exploring his natural surroundings and recording his observations in journals and sketches. Leopold’s father was an avid outdoorsman and took his children hunting, fishing, exploring, and camping.

Leopold attended Yale Forest School graduating in 1909 and pursued a career with the U.S. Forest Service. Leopold also completed Iowa’s first statewide biological survey, and created the nation’s first Department of Wildlife Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Leopold was a conservationist, forester, philosopher, dedicated teacher, writer, and outdoor enthusiast. He was influential in the development of modern environmental ethics. Leopold's goal in his popular wildlife ecology course was "to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees, and enjoy what he understands."

Leopold’s powerful writings have made a significant contribution to modern views and values about wildlife and our natural resources. Leopold’s most popular writings, A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There, was first published in 1949 and remains in print today. It is a collection of essays written by Leopold describing the land around his home in Wisconsin. The essays are philosophical in nature and explore the relationship between people, land and wildlife. It was a call for a land ethic and written with the hope that readers would begin to treat the land with love and respect. A Sand County Almanac has had far reaching influence, over two million copies have been published and it has been translated into twelve languages.

Examples of Project Learning Tree, Project WILD, and Project WILD Aquatic activities to use with a study of Aldo Leopold:

Project Learning Tree
Poet-Tree – Students write and share poems to express their thoughts, values, and beliefs about the environment.

Who Works in this Forest? – Students explore forest-related careers.

Project WILD
Enviro-Ethics – Students develop and use a “personal code of environmental ethics.”

Philosophical Differences – Students select a wildlife or environmental issue and visit with the community about their views and opinions.

Wildwork – Students explore wildlife-related careers.

Project WILD Aquatic
Dragonfly Pond – Students evaluate the effects of different kinds of land use on wetland habitats.

Living Research: Aquatic Heroes and Heroines – Students identify people who have made contributions to conserving or preserving aquatic environments.

Related Links
The Aldo Leopold Foundation
http://www.aldoleopold.org/

The Leopold Archives
http://www.aldoleopold.org/AldoLeopold/archives.shtml

Using Leopold in Teaching
http://www.aldoleopold.org/AldoLeopold/teachingtools.shtml