Before the first Europeans arrived in what would become Iowa, most of the land here was covered by wild prairie plants. Bison and elk once grazed in the northwest and central regions, and black bears populated the woodlands and brush in the eastern corridor. Around 85 percent of Iowa’s landscape was prairie, but today a […]
Ecology
Posted inCommunity/News
Des Moines Public Works offering residents five free ‘tiny trees’
There are weeks of winter still to trudge through, but anyone in Des Moines looking to add trees to their property can start planning for spring, because Des Moines Public Works is taking orders for its Tiny Trees program. The program, which was launched in 2017, provides up to five free ready-to-plant saplings to Des […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: A tense encounter on the Pentacrest turns transcendental
Recently, as I approached the University of Iowa’s Jessup Hall on my way to work one cold morning, a wide wingspan of majesty and terror flashed past my eyeline. A red-tailed hawk swooped past me not six feet away and landed elegantly upon a low branch in the Austrian pine to my left. A raptor’s […]
