Crossman State Preserve

Crossman Prairie is a 10-acre preserve containing a remnant of tallgrass prairie. It is located five miles northeast of Riceville, in Howard County. It was donated to The Nature Conservancy in 1976 by Glenn Crossman and dedicated as a biological state preserve in 1980. Ownership and management was transferred to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in 2023.

About the Land

The geological setting of this preserve is typical of the Iowan Surface landform region. The weathered and worn boulders that occur on the land surface were transported from Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Canada by glacial ice over 500,000 years ago. The gentle slopes and surface concentration of boulders are the product of extensive erosion that leveled the landscape and removed finer-grained glacial materials during a period of intense cold between 21,000 and 16,000 years ago, when northern Iowa was still free of ice but exposed to permafrost conditions. 

Directions

1. From Riceville (on the border between Mitchell and Howard Counties), take Highway 9 east 2.5 miles to County Road V10 (Dale Avenue). 
2. Turn north (left) and go 3 miles to 75th Street. 
3. Turn east (right) and continue 1 mile to the preserve on the north side of the road (sign: Crossman Prairie).

Plants

The prairie in the preserve provides habitat for over 120 plant species, including:

• Bog birch 
• Prairie cordgrass
• Big bluestem
• Prairie dropseed
• Indian grass
• Prairie coreopsis
• Compass plant
• Prairie phlox

Early in the spring one can find the impressive marsh marigold, hoary puccoon, and shooting star, followed by blue phlox, prairie smoke, and prairie violet. With summer comes the striking color of wood lily, as well as swamp milkweed, black-eyed Susan, leadplant, and rattlesnake master. Fall brings the blooming of asters and goldenrods. 

The northern 3 acres of the preserve were once plowed but have been reseeded. Management includes periodic controlled burns and the removal of aspen trees. 

Hunting is not permitted. 

Another natural area in the vicinity is Hayden Prairie State Preserve.