The State Preserves Advisory Board of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will meet at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 27, in the Wallace State Office Building, second floor conference room north, 502 East Ninth Street, in Des Moines. The meeting is open to the public.
The public may participate remotely either by video conference at meet.google.com/dhm-bkrz-bat or phone by dialing 530-593-0175 a few minutes before the meeting begins. When prompted, enter the pin 135 781 800 followed by the # key.
Members of the State Preserves Advisory Board are Perry Thostenson, Rebecca Kauten, Steve Gustafson, Amy Crouch, Rick Cerwick, and Rhonda Kendrick. The Deputy Director of the DNR is Alex Moon.
Any person attending the public meeting and has special requirements such as those related to mobility or hearing impairments should contact the DNR or ADA Coordinator at 515-725-8200, Relay Iowa TTY Service 800-735-7942, or Webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov, and advise of specific needs.
The following is the Jan. 27 agenda.
- Approve Agenda
- Approve Minutes of Past Meeting
- Hartman Bluff State Preserve – The City of Cedar Falls needs a temporary construction easement including the entrance to the nature center and the southwest edge of the preserve. The initial plan has been modified to reduce impacts to the preserve edge, but requires Board approval.
- Preserves Board Powers, Duties, and History – Review of the State Preserves Act and brief history of the state preserve system.
- White Pine Hollow State Preserve – A component of the current preserve management plan calls for overstory thinning via timber sales in Stands 11 and 13, but the Board agreed to hear information resulting from recent research of forest structure and dynamics that may affect that plan. The results of 20 years of monitoring permanent forest plots and recommendations for alternatives will be presented.
- Turkey River Mounds State Preserve - Staff developed an action plan to restore the mounds area of the preserve by removing dead and fallen trees on the mounds and also removing small sugar maples (<6 inches DBH) from areas between the mounds.
- Research, Inventory, and Management Funding Plan – A general proposal for allocating funds in 2023 for research, vegetation management, and surveys for plants and animals on preserves will be presented.
- Open discussion.
A more detailed agenda is available on the Iowa DNR’s website at www.iowadnr.gov/spab.
For more information, contact John Pearson at 515-669-7614.