 Roughing It At The Ridge
Kurt Baker, Director
One of my favorite holiday post cards showed a rustic log cabin either nestled at the base of a snow capped mountain or tucked away in a secluded woodland scene. These images always provided a sense of adventure and a true connection to the outdoors. Although the mountain thing is out of the question, the woodland scene is certainly applicable to Southeast Iowans.
As a way to help keep people connected to the natural world, the Wapello County Conservation Board decided to construct a family overnight facility that would provide a unique experience while catering to most of the luxuries afforded to today’s life styles.
The initial question raised by the Board was “can we market solitude”? The overwhelming response from both the Board and the public is YES!!
As one user said, “your worries tend to melt away the longer you stay”. Another user said “it was great to have a place close to home where we could get away from everyday life and enjoy ourselves”.
 The construction of the cabin was made possible from funds provided via tax revenues and state Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) money. The long term objective is to build additional cabins as determined by demand. If this cabin is as successful as we hope, construction of the second unit will probably begin in the summer of 2009.
 Cabin amenities include a full kitchen with a stove/oven, microwave oven, refrigerator and sink. The kitchen has plates, utensils and basic pots and pans along with a toaster and coffee pot. A full bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink is also available. The cabin has a loft that includes one queen size bed on one side and a bunk bed on the other side. The main floor has a queen size futon that can sleep two and a futon chair that can sleep a small child. 
When renting, the following items must be provided by the renting party:
- all bedding that includes blankets, sheets, pillows or sleeping bags.
- towels, washcloths and personal hygiene items.
- food and any specialty cooking items.
Cabin rental cost is $60.00 per night and may be rented from one to fourteen nights. Weekly rates are $360.00. A $50.00 damage/cleaning deposit is required with each reservation. This deposit will be destroyed if all checks out following your rental. All fees must be received within ten working days of making a cabin reservation to validate that reservation.
Reservations must be made by either calling or stopping by Pioneer Ridge Nature Center.
What can Pioneer Ridge Offer YOU
Lincoln Utt, Natural Resource Manager/Interpreter
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With a cabin in place at Pioneer Ridge, visitors now have a place to enjoy an overnight stay while also enjoying the numerous recreational opportunities of the area.
 The main focal point of the area is the Pioneer Ridge Nature Center. The center serves as operations headquarters for the conservation board and a base of operations for environmental education programs. The center also functions as a modern, fully handicapped accessible facility offering visitors numerous displays depicting the flora, fauna, and natural history of the area. The nature center is available for rent as is the hay barn shelter.
The hay barn shelter is a large barn turned into a shelter, and it is located just behind the nature center. The shelter is a great place for reunions, anniversary parties, and large gatherings. Pioneer Ridge nature Area also has a smaller outdoor shelter available for the public to use for small picnics and cookouts.
Aside from the facilities at Pioneer Ridge, the area also offers numerous outdoor recreational opportunities on the 737 acre area. Opportunities include bird watching, picnicking, fishing at one of the four ponds containing fish, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and cross country skiing on the 10 miles of trails maintained at Pioneer Ridge.
 The 737 acres at Pioneer Ridge Nature Area offers many different habitat types containing diverse native vegetation. Some of our management strategies for the area include restoring open grassland areas to diverse, native prairie plant communities and managing upland wooded areas to include more open savannah type plant communities. We are also working to restore the natural transitional zone between open prairie and the more heavily wooded riparian areas. Although we will never duplicate the natural vegetation structure present at Pioneer Ridge prior to settlement, we will strive to restore the landscape at Pioneer Ridge as close as we can to the natural vegetation in an educational, sustainable manor most beneficial to today’s society.
We invite the public to come out and observe the area and ongoing management strategies we are implementing in attempts to stay at the forefront of natural resource management in southeast Iowa. These management practices provide a more diverse functioning landscape for all wildlife and the general public.
Oak Savanna Planting
Jessica Strom, AGHC Administrator
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The American Gothic House Center and the Wapello County Conservation Board joined efforts November 13-15 with a tree planting of 35 to join the 36 trees planted earlier this year.
 Tuesday afternoon, November 13, Cardinal High School students Danny Luna, Marcus Giltner, Andrea Fults and Curtis Fiedler hustled to plant the first trees of the oak savanna project in Eldon.  Tuesday evening Quenton Sims, Dakota Wilbanks, Auston Hummell and Lewis Aszman from Ottumwa Cub Scout Pack #11--with Den Leader Teresa Wilbanks, Cub Master Cheryl Carness and parent Robert Aszman--planted one more tree.
Students and cub scouts dug holes, filled in, watered and mulched the newly-planted trees with assistance from Administrator Jessi Strom and volunteers Dennis Donaldson of Ottumwa and Dennis Jeffrey of Eldon.
 A grant from Alliant Energy/Trees Forever generated the funds for the oak savannah featuring burr oaks, white oaks and red oaks. Other trees to augment the oaks are basswood, black cherry, red maples, white pine, service berries and burning bushes.
Wapello County Conservation Board staff Lincoln Utt and Paul Totten transported trees and continued planting with Bill Maynard joining the volunteer crew on November 14-15.
American Gothic House Center Update
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Winter Hours
Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Saturday – Monday: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
We Made the News! The September 2007 issue of Art Scene featured a great article about Grant Wood sites. The cover was of Eldon visitors dressed as the Gothic Couple in front of the house. You can check out the cover and article at www.artsceneiowa.com/artsceneARCHIVES.html.
Attendance may decline with the temperature, but we still show a lot of activity. We had 961 people in August, 869 in September and 788 in October, making a total of nearly 5,000. We have had visitors from 48 states and 15 foreign countries. We are waiting to greet people from Montana and Rhode Island.
New Grant Activity: We received $2,500 from the Wapello County Foundation for an in-house marketing package to include marketing software, a digital camera and a portable printer. We can now take and sell pictures of our guests in front of the house, maintain our website and design our own marketing materials.
How You Can Help: Do you have perennials you will be ready to split and willing to share next spring? Let us know what you will have available as we put together plans for our Butterfly / Bird Garden.
Thank You: As always, thank you to the many volunteers who help keep the Center open during the weekend, and the Committee who help with events, programs and grant writing. We thrive because of you!
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Bird-Banding 2007
Annette Wittrock, Naturalist
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Another successful year of banding birds has nearly come to an end. We would like to thank master bird bander, Nelson Hoskins, for providing this exciting program to WCCB.
We would like to share some of the highlights of this year in bird banding. We caught three birds this year that were originally banded in 2003. Two were black-capped chickadees, and the other was a downy woodpecker. You may remember we talked about one of these black-capped chickadees being caught last year as well. It is uncommon to see a small bird like this live over four years in the wild.
We were also lucky enough to catch a chipping sparrow that was first banded in 2001. This little bird was recaptured in both July and August of this year. This bird would be at least six or seven years old this year. That is one healthy bird, and it must have dodged many a predator in that time. Overall we have seen nearly sixty species of bird and banded around thirty species.
If you would like to participate in this program, join us every Wednesday (weather permitting) for our weekly bird banding program. 7:00-9:00 am.
Individuals and businesses looking to aid us in continuing this program throughout the winter, please consider a donation of bird food. We primarily place black oil sunflower seeds and thistle seeds in our feeders.
Thank you
for your
support.
New and Noteworthy
Hunting Policy Changes at Pioneer Ridge
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This newsletter has been dedicated to what WCCB and Pioneer Ridge Nature Area have to offer the public. There is one thing left to mention. Along with the cabin, fishing, hiking, biking and horseback riding previously mentioned, we offer managed deer and turkey season hunting at Pioneer Ridge. Due to continued interest of local hunters, and after much consideration by the county conservation board, our hunting policy will be changing.
As of the first turkey season in March 2008, designated areas in the northern and eastern portions of PRNA will be open for public hunting during regular hunting seasons. This will involve about one half of Pioneer Ridges 737 acres. Hunters will be held to the rules of state hunting practices to ensure safety and the respectful harvest of these varied species of animal as well as to ensure the safety of our other trail users.
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