Hartman Bluff State Preserve

John C. Hartman, historian and editor of the Waterloo Courier, lead an effort to raise the necessary funds to purchase the land that became Hartman Reserve, expressing his desire that “one of the few remaining tracts of virgin timber be preserved in its natural state.” The land was purchased in 1938 and donated to the YMCA, which used it as a camp until it was purchased by the Black Hawk County Conservation Board in 1976. In 2008, the most natural woodland tract within the Reserve, featuring a high ridge above the Cedar River floodplain, was dedicated as the 46-acre Hartman Bluff State Preserve.

About the Land

Vegetation in the uplands includes mature red oak/maple, maple/basswood, and oak-hickory forest. The lowland forest consists of mature bottomland hardwoods, including bur oak, sugar maple, walnut, hackberry, basswood, and silver maple.

Wildflowers

• Indian Pipe
• Showy Orchis
• Bellwort
• Rattlesnake Root
• Dutchman’s Breeches
• Bloodroot
• Spring Beauty
• Hepatica
• Canada Lousewort
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Directions

The preserve is located in the city of Cedar Falls, Iowa.

1. From the exchange of Highway 58 with East 18 th Street, drive east on East 18 th Street onto
   Rainbow Drive.
2. Drive east on Rainbow Drive for 1.5 miles to Laurie Avenue and turn left (north).
3. From Rainbow Drive, follow the directions signs on Grand Boulevard and Timber Drive to the Hartman Reserve parking lot. The Hartman Bluff State Preserve is the accessible to the east and northeast by walking on woodland trails.

Contact

Black Hawk County Conservation Board