Fossil & Prairie Park State Preserve

The Fossil & Prairie Park is a 292-acre area dedicated as a geological, historical, and natural state preserve. It contains a former limestone quarry with abundant fossils, remnants of natural prairie, and historic kilns of the former Rockford Brick & Tile Company. It was dedicated as a state preserve in 2005.

Geology

Located in the northwestern part of the Iowa Surface Landform Region, the preserve is bordered on its north edge by the Winnebago River. Rocky hills rise above the floodplain with outcrops of the Devonian- aged (400 million years old) Lime Creek Formation. A large former quarry contains numerous rock outcrops with abundant marine invertebrate fossils.

Historical Features

Remains of historic beehive kilns reside nearby from the former Rockford Brick & Tile Company, which operated from 1910 until 1977, mining the quarry for clay and baking it into bricks.

Flora & vegetation

Never plowed, rocky hillsides support native prairie dominated by little bluestem, sideoats grama, bigbluestem, Indiangrass, and an array of forbs including blazing stars, stiff goldenrod pale purple coneflower and prairie coreopsis. An interesting feature of the prairie is an unusually large mat of creeping juniper occupying the crest of a rocky slope.

Wildlife

Forty-four species of butterflies have been found in the preserve, including the regal fritillary.

Directions

1. From the town of Rockford, Iowa, drive 2 miles west on County High B47 (215 th Street).
2. Turn right (north) into the park entrance. Once inside the park, parking for the nature center is to
   the left, parking for the quarry is to the right.

Contacts

Floyd County Conservation Board