Coralville Lake The Coralville Lake Project is comprised of five campgrounds and offers lake and river fishing, camping, boating, swimming and water-skiing. Several public golf courses are just a short drive from the Project. The environment is wooded. Coralville Lake is located very close to Iowa City/Coralville, which boasts the largest mall in Iowa.
DeSoto NWR Each spring and fall, spectacular flights of ducks and geese have marked the changing seasons along this traditional waterfowl flyway. Vast changes have taken place in the Missouri River Valley since settlement in the early 1800's. Land clearing, drainage projects, river channelization, and flood control measures have transformed the floodplain from diverse wildlife habitat to fertile farmlands. DeSoto is part of a network of refuges devoted to preserving and restoring increasingly scarce habitat for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. It serves as a seasonal resting area for up to one-half million waterfowl, primarily lesser snow geese and mallards. It has also become an important wintering area for up to 120 bald eagles. Warblers, gulls, shorebirds, and other species also visit the refuge during the fall and spring migration.A former oxbow of the Missouri River, DeSoto Lake provides recreational use for up to 350,000 visitors annually. The 1968 excavation of the steamboat Bertrand, which sank in 1865, adds a major historical emphasis to the refuge program. The 200,000 artifacts in the Bertrand Collection provide one of the most significant assemblages of Civil War era artifacts in the Missouri River region. The DeSoto Visitor Center, opened in 1981, exhibits much of the Bertrand Collection and contains interpretive displays on the historical development of the Missouri River Basin, the ecological impacts of that development, and the natural history of the area and its wildlife.
Driftless Area NWR The Driftless Area NWR was established to protect the endangered Iowa Pleistocene snail and the threatened northern monkshood plant. These habitats are also home to eight candidate snails and the federally threatened Leedy's roseroot plant. These species generally occur only on algific talus slopes. On these slopes, constant cold air and/or cold groundwater exiting from a cliff or talus slope creates an unique microclimate, one that may be considerably different from areas only meters away. The "driftless area" derives its name from the fact that it has not been recently glaciated. Presently, 34 sites have been prioritized for acquisition. Acquisition will be by donation, exchange, permanent easement or fee title. When the proposed acquisition is completed, at least 70 percent of the known norhtern monkshood population and 75 percent of the known population of the Iowa Pleistocene snail will be protected. The ultimate goal for recovery will be the removal of both species from Federal list of endangered and threatened species.
Effigy Mounds National Monument Prehistoric mounds are common from the plains of the Midwest to the Atlantic seaboard, but only in this general area was there a culture that regularly constructed mounds in the shape of mammals, birds, or reptiles. The monument contains 2,526 acres with 195 mounds of which 31 are effigies. The others are conical, linear and compound. Eastern Woodland Indians built mounds from about 500 BC until the early European contact period. Natural features in the monument include forests, tallgrass prairies, wetlands and rivers. The visitor center, located at the park entrance, contains museum exhibits highlighting archaeological and natural specimens, an auditorium and book sales outlet. The park has eleven miles of hiking trails. No roads exist in the park. Rangers give guided hikes and prehistoric tool demonstrations, June 11 through Labor Day weekend. Educational programs are presented on- and off-site by appointment. There are no lodging or camping facilities in the park. Nearest camping is at Pikes Peak State Park and Yellow River State Forest in Iowa and Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin. Various primitive campgrounds exist in the area as well.
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site buildings and grounds are preserved by the National Park Service to commemorate the life of the 31st President of the United States. Visit the small cottage where Hoover was born in 1874, a blacksmith shop similar to the one owned by his father, the first West Branch schoolhouse, and the Friends Meetinghouse where the Hoover family worshipped. Also located on the grounds are the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum, the gravesites of President and Mrs. Hoover, and a 76-acre tallgrass prairie.
Iowa WMD The State of Iowa and the Fish and Wildlife Service have developed large complexes of habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife species. Drained wetlands are restored by plugging ditches or building small water control structures. On the uplands, native grasses, legumes and introduced grasses are seeded to provide dense nesting cover for ducks and other wildlife. Native grasses may be managed by prescribed burning, haying or grazing. Sometimes uplands are leased to farmers for cultivation with the agreement that they will leave part of the crop standing for winter feed and cover for resident game. Although the Wetland Management District encompasses 35 counties, at this date, there are WPAs in 16 counties. Most acquisitions are intended to increase habitat at existing complexes, so it is unlikely that tracts will be acquired in the entire 35 county area. Most WPAs are small, from 100 to 500 acres, but several have grown considerably. Union Hills WPA in Cerro Gordo County is the largest in Iowa at over 2,000 acres. Spring Run, a large complex of state and federal lands in Dickinson County, is the second largest WPA. Dugout Creek WPA in Dickinson County and Lower Morse Lake in Wright County are also among the larger restored tracts in the Iowa Wetland Management District.
