NEWSLETTER
The Future of Voices From The Ridge Newsletter!
The WCCB would like to bring the Voices From the Ridge newsletter into the times of present technology to better streamline the process of creating and sending this quarterly newsletter and to reduce the amount of natural resources used in printing our publications. We will begin posting the newsletters and yearly events brochure to our website. We would then send electronic notices to those who would like to receive them when these pieces have been posted. This would allow everyone to receive these publications in a more timely fashion, and save many trees.
To implement this process, we need to update our mailing list. If we do not hear from you, we will automatically take you off the mailing list. If you do not have access to e-mail or internet, send us your current address, and we can send a printed copy if necessary. You can also call or e-mail your information to us at 641-682-3091 or wapellocountynaturalist@gmail.com.
Voices From the Ridge newsletter will be posted to our website (www.wapellocounty.org/conservation) in the future, and you will receive an e-mail notification when it is posted. Thank you for your support of WCCB and its programs, and thank you in advance for you patience while we go through this transition. We believe this change will help keep you better informed and help us get our information out to you in a more timely fashion.
New Cabin at Pioneer Ridge!
Kurt Baker, Director
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In November, 2007, the Wapello County Conservation Board (WCCB) finished the construction of its first log cabin for public rent. During this initial construction, services such as electrical, water and septic were put in place to facilitate a second cabin if needed. Within a year, the Board determined that it was already necessary to pursue the construction of cabin #2.
This decision was based on both occupancy rates and the frequency in which potential renters were turned down due to unavailability. This decision was made easier due to the nearly unanamous satisfaction of previous renters. Like the first cabin, the second is four season and fully modern with a full bathroom and kitchen facility. Comments provided by the ISU Landscape Architect class suggested that dissimilar cabins would stimulate interest in repeat rentals.
The new cabin is more accessible to elderly since the main bedroom is on the main floor rather than the loft. This has proved handier for those not wanting to climb stairs. Improvements in energy conservation was a priority in the new cabin. These improvements included more and better ceiling insulation and the installation of a geo-thermal heating and cooling unit. To date the heating has worked very well with the monthly energy cost a fraction of the first cabin.
The focus of both of these cabins was to provide users with a sense of adventure in luring people to the outdoors. The emphasis of cabin construction was to create a sense of wow...that is people needed to say wow when they drove up to the cabin and wow again when they opened the front door. They also needed to be wowed by the landscape in which they were staying. After all, the real intent is to get people outside and the cabin is simply a tool to do so.
Certainly, WCCB could have built a less expensive cabin but the aesthetic impact would not have been as great. The following is a quote from a recent user that captures the Board’s original project intent: “Nature all around; the seclusion from the hectic pace of everyday life. It sits a little ways in the woods; its quiet, peaceful and calming out here. Definately not a place you would expect to find right outside of Ottumwa, IA.”
Pathfinders RC&D was responsbile in obtaining a $25,000 grant from the Iowa Natural Resource Based Opportuniites Grant Program. The theme of this grant was “Selling Solitude in Wapello County”...a mission we hope will be successful for many years to come.
Cabin rental fees continue to be affordable for the majority of Wapello County residents. Fees are the same for both cabins which is currently set at $60 per night. In attempts to get renters during weekdays, rentals will be $50 per night for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All reservations can be made by calling Pioneer Ridge Nature Center at 641-682-3091.
Discover Grant Wood Country Bus Trip
Jessica Strom, AGHC Administrator
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On Saturday, April 24 at 9:00 AM, we will travel on Ottumwa Trasit buses to Cedar Rapids, Anamosa and Stone City, Iowa. The itinerary is as follows.
9:00 AM - Leave from the American Gothic House Center
11:00 AM - Eat sack lunch on bus. Bring a sandwich, and if you like, something to share for a sack lunch on the bus.
11:30 AM - Cedar Rapids Museum of Art for a docent-lead tour of the following exhibits:
Grant Wood: In Focus; Permanent Collection
This single-gallery installation traces Wood’s entire career from his youthful creations until his death in 1942. It will serve as an overview of the artistic achievements of this important American Painter.
The American Century; Permanent Collection
This exhibit demonstrates many of the movements and interests of art in America in the twentieth century, the century in which American art came to dominate the art world.
Less is More: The Vogel Gift of Minimal and Conceptual Art; January 23 - May 2, 2010
He was a postal clerk. She was a librarian. With their modest means, the couple built an important contemporary art collection - best known for its minimal and conceptual works. In 2008, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art was selected by the Vogels to be the Iowa recipient of a collection of 50 works as part of The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States initiative. Less is More will exhibit the entire Vogel gift to Iowa for the first time.
12:30 PM - Travel Time
12:45 PM - Grant Wood Studio with docent-lead tour of studio: Grant Wood’s home and studio was located at 5 Turner Alley from 1924 to 1935. Near downtown Cedar Rapids the studio is owned and operated by the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, which houses the world’s largest collection of works by Grant Wood. Grant Wood (1891-1942) was a prominent member of the Regionalist movement. His most famous painting, American Gothic, was painted in this studio in 1930.
1:45 PM - Travel Time
2:30 PM - Grant Wood Gallery: Photos of the Grant Wood Art Colony in Stone City and framed illustrations from Farm On The Hill are on display. An original chair designed by Grant Wood sits in one corner. A large collection of American Gothic parodies are on display as well as a life size cut out of American Gothic offering a fun photo op. The film “Early Life of Grant Wood: is available for viewing in a room that seats twenty.
3:05 PM - Travel Time
3:15 PM - Antioch Country School: Visit the school Grant Wood attended until fourth grade. See a completely restored country school. Once ubiquitous across Iowa’s landscape, one-room country schools are quickly disapperaring. Luckily, many have been reused as country school museums, giving us a lesson in Iowa’s educational history.
3:45 PM - Travel Time
3:50 PM - Anamosa Riverside Cemetery: See the burial sites of Grant Wood, his sister Nan Wood Graham and their parents Francis Maryville Wood and Hattie Weaver Wood.
4:00 PM - Travel Time
4:10 PM - St. Joseph’s Church & Stone City Quarry: A guide will tell you the story of the church and Stone City - its beginning as a company town to serve the needs of the quarry and its connection to native artist Grant Wood. From the church, tour the Stone City Quarry. See how the dolomite limestone quarried here is mined and find out why it’s so unique. If time permits, we will visit some of the old buildings in Stone City.
5:30 PM - Dinner at the General Store and Pub: Enjoy a wonderful buffet style dinner in this historically restored General Store. Dinner is all-you-can-eat and will include Chicken Marsalis, Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables, Rolls and Butter, Chocolate Cake, Coffee and Tea.
6:30 PM - Travel Time
9:30 PM - Arrive back in Eldon
January 16...
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...turned out to be a beautiful day for a Winter Festival at Pioneer Ridge. Over 100 visitors took part in the activities of the day, which included horse drawn wagon rides, stories by the fire, making s’mores, and more. We would like to give a big thank you to Brent Cullinan and his Spotted Belgian team, Jeff Wilson and Monica Harter driving the Mule team, and Lyn Harter driving the Belgian team for the wagon rides through the property. We would also like to send a big thank you to Bob Ivans for entertaining visitors at the fire with poems and stories. For all who attended, thank you for making this winter event a success.
Plant Growers Wanted!
Lincoln Utt; Natural Resource Manager
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This spring the conservation board is attempting to increase it’s native prairie seed production by giving started plants to volunteers to grow, maintain and collect seed. If successful, this program will accomplish a couple different things.
First, it will educate volunteers on Iowa Native Tallgrass Prairie and the importance of this lost ecosystem. Second, it will increase seed production for the conservation board, allowing for more prairie restorations on conservation board managed areas. The highly diverse prairie plantings will become home for a wide variety of wildlife on the conservation board’s public areas.
Prairie seed cooperators who volunteer will be given a certain number of started plants (50 - 100) to plant as a group somewhere on their property. The volunteers will plant and maintain these plants with technical help from conservation board staff. Each fall the volunteers will harvest the seed from these plants and return the seed to the conservation board where it will be dried, cleaned and added to seed grown by the WCCB.
This year’s goal of ten volunteers is close to being met. If anyone is intersted in volunteering as a cooperator, they should call the Pioneer Ridge Nature Center at 641-682-3091. A limited number of plants will be available, so interested landowners should call as soon as possible.
Thank you to all who helped with the 2009/2010 Christmas Bird Count...
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...despite less than ideal weather. We were able to count 32 species of birds with 2,117 birds in total. This program would not be possible without volunteers to cover the count area.
Did you know...
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...that the January/February edition of the Iowan featured a two page spread about the American Gothic House Art Contest?
THINK SPRING!
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Our mission: To create awareness of our natural environment
by providing quality outdoor experiences. (June 1995)