Whiterock Conservancy Blog

By Guest Blogger, Richard Heathcote, Geologist

Hello, everyone. I was asked, and readily agreed, to write a blog for Whiterock Conservancy during this ecologist interregnum. My expertise is geology, so I’ll write mainly about the substrate at Whiterock on and in which ecology happens.

The thing I find most intriguing about the place is the history of landscape development. The pre-Illinoian glaciers deposited tills over the region before about 500,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period. The terrain of the glacial deposits then underwent erosion and alluviation for several hundred thousand years until about 55,000 years ago when strong westerly winds began depositing loess over the landscape. About 15,000 years ago, the Wisconsinan glaciation overrode the loess and pre-Illinoian tills and reached the line currently represented in this area by the Middle Raccoon River. The glacial deposits from that advance are known as the Des Moines Lobe, and the noticably high ground north of the river is the Bemis end moraine from that glacial episode. The Pleistocene epoch came to a close 10,000 years ago as the Wisconsinan glacier melted away. The succeeding and current epoch is known as the Holocene.

At the dawn of the Holocene Epoch, the Whiterock landscape was split by the Middle Raccoon River that was moving meltwater and sediment from the Des Moines Lobe. Some portion of sediment was also contributed from the pre-Illinoian till and Wisconsinan loess deposits south of the river. The river was cutting its valley south of the Bemis Moraine, and side drainages were developing into terrains north and south of the river. That activity did not progress at an even pace, rather it went in episodes alternately dominated by down cutting and sediment deposition.

Deposition along a stream occurs in the channel and on the flood plain. One characteristic of flood plains is their nearly horizontal upper surfaces. When subsequent down-cutting by the stream occurs, remnants of the flood plain remain at points along the valley. These features are called terraces. In the sequence of deposition and down-cutting in a valley, the older terraces are found at higher elevations, and younger terraces at lower elevations, down to the current level of the flood plain.

The history of Holocene alluviation and valley development of the Middle Raccoon River is contained in the terraces formed along the river itself and in the side valleys. As yet, this history has not been worked-out for the Whiterock area, but the evidence to do so is obvious and beckons a researcher to undertake the survey. The photo below was taken in Long Creek Hollow and shows Susan Heathcote standing on the floodplain of Long Creek, with an older terrace visible at about twice her height behind her, and an even older, higher terrace visible among trees to the upper right. The ages of these terraces and their relation to deposition and erosion of the river valley are key elements in determining the natural history of this landscape and of the Middle Raccoon River valley.

Bonus information: In August of this year, an impromptu, self-appointed committee met on the porch at River House and acknowledged the need to name certain geographic features at the east end of the property for future reference in trail development and geological discussion.  These features are 1) the stream north of the Middle Raccoon in section 19 whose valley first trends northerly, then bends northwesterly and rises to an origin near the Oak Ridge facility (See A).  This is now named Red Oak Creek (See B).  2) the stream that is tributary to Red Oak Creek and whose valley trends northward along the east side of sections 19 and 18.  This is now named Earl Lee Creek (See C).

I look forward to receiving your comments on this blog, and I’ll have another offering in October.  You can contact me by email here: rcheathco@aol.com.

Over the last week, we’ve had a flurry of activity here at Whiterock Conservancy! Four very different groups of people used this beautiful week to gather on the landscape for varying reasons, and the lucky staff of WRC was inundated with great interactions, lots of learning, and many wonderful conversations!

Volunteer Land Steward Orientation and Appreciation Day: On Saturday, June 12, we held an orientation for 8 new volunteer land stewards and hosted an appreciation hike and dinner for our 1-year veteran volunteer land stewards. It was a really wonderful day, and we were able to introduce a new batch of WRC supporters to the magnificent landscape and then turn around and give many thanks to the volunteers who have been monitoring land tracts for the last year. At the end of the first year of the program, we covered a few of the great successes: 17 volunteers donated 26 hours and helped us monitor 1990 acres, which is about 49% of the landscape–and with the orientation of our new batch of volunteers, we’ll have 25 people monitoring 2731 acres, which is about 63% of our land base!

Private Lands Tour: Last week we also hosted the Iowa Department of Natural Resources private lands tour, which brought together private lands and wildlife biologists to tour savanna and prairie restoration on private lands in the Raccoon River Savanna Bird Conservation Area (RRSBCA). Over the last few years, I’ve worked with Josh Gansen, the private lands biologist for 23 Iowa counties including Guthrie, to funnel monies towards the RRSBCA for oak savanna and prairie restoration, and in 2009, Whiterock Conservancy received funding through the Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) from the Iowa DNR to restore 100 acres of oak savanna. We had a wonderful tour of some really unique places with caring, devoted landowners doing inspiring restoration work and all of the agency people who assist in making it happen! Thank you Josh Gansen and others!!

HELP group: The Helping Our Earth and Environment group from Carroll spent the morning doing a roadside cleanup for Whiterock Conservancy on Fig Avenue and 125th Street–picking up garbage along the road despite the muggy heat of our wonderful monsoon season! The group of high schoolers will helping WRC out with trail, road, and river cleanups this summer, for which we are ever so thankful!

MUM Deep Ecology class: I met Travis Cox, Instructor of Sustainable Living at  Maharishi University of Management (MUM), when he was living in Ames working on his PhD at Iowa State University with Dr. Fred Kirschenmann, the president of WRC Board. Last weekend, Travis brought his Deep Ecology class from MUM to WRC for 3 days of thunderstorms, creek-walking, and learning. The class was a great group of students from varying backgrounds ( I even got to speak a little Swedish!), and even though they were covered in mud when they left, I’m certain that everyone learned more about interactions with surroundings, land use and management, rain and hail, and getting how to get a bus out of a mud trap!

Yoga Under the Oaks: 21 participants arrived at WRC last Friday night to engage themselves with the land and their own bodies.  Yoga classes, together with journaling sessions, walking meditations, and an ecology hike, ran from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. I took the participants on a hike up to the top of South Long Farm hill: we ascended through the wetland seeps on the river valley, through a tallgrass prairie reconstruction on the side hill, and then held a short yoga class in an oak savanna restoration on the hilltop.

Yoga Under the Oaks participants on the Riverhouse Barn porch

It’s been a busy and exciting time at Whiterock Conservancy for the last few weeks, and we’ve had so many great people out to visit! Now that summer is in full swing, you should come out to visit too!

Whiterock Conservancy’s newest project, Defining the Grazing Season of Restored Grasslands, is now in full swing. We’re working together with Dr. Mary Wiedenhoeft from Iowa State University Agronomy Department, her graduate student Rachel Cox of the Graduate Program for Sustainable Agriculture, and a handful of undergraduate field assistants, to quantify the nutritional quality and quantity of restored grasslands at Whiterock Conservancy.

At the beginning of May, the crew from ISU started sampling three different restored grasslands, restored oak savanna, reconstructed warm-season grassland, and reconstructed prairie for the nutritional quality and quantity of the forages.

Over the last few decades, research and demonstration projects across the Midwest have showed that the management of perennial grasslands for multifunctional purposes (agricultural and ecological goods and services) is beneficial for on-farm biodiversity, soil and water conservation, increased soil and water quality, reduced soil erosion, increased wildlife habitat, and overall biodiversity on the landscape, while concurrently protecting grazing lands and supporting farm income through diversified production

However, a large research gap has exposed itself, the knowledge of simple nutritional quality and quantity measurements from these alternative pastures. Defining the Grazing Season of Restored Native Grasslands will demonstrate, for producers and land managers, a two-step process of 1) testing the nutritional quality of on-farm forage in restored grasslands and, 2) adjusting strategic grazing planning to optimize use of grazing as a management tool in restored native grasslands while resting permanent pastures and sustaining pasture/livestock income.

Defining the Grazing Season of Restored Grassland is part of a larger WRC managed grazing program and includes the project Defining Grazing as a Management Tool, which seeks to identify, discuss, and arrive at a consensus regarding managed grazing as a tool by working together with natural resource managers and cattle producers to determine the collective understanding and regard for managed grazing in restored natural grasslands, hosting a stakeholders summit Grazing as a Management Tool and publishing the summary findings as recommendations for landowners, managers, and producers.

Over the course of the next few months, I’ll be keeping everyone up to date on the findings from nutritional quality and quantity research here at Whiterock Conservancy, and if you’re out on the landscape and see a bunch of orange flagging, please leave it alone!

Very quietly, I snuck out to the Great Blue Heron rookery this morning to check on the chicks, and I am happy to say that this year, there are 22 occupied nests!

Great Blue Herons can be seen across Whiterock Conservancy, fishing or frogging in any number of habitats: on riffles in the Middle Raccoon River, at the mouths of small tributaries such as Long Creek, in the shallows of the open-water Riis wetland north of Highway 141, or in the sedge meadow on the Wagner Farm. They generally hunt as solitary individuals and consume fish, insects, amphibians, reptiles, shellfish, and small birds. The Great Blue Heron is the largest of the North American herons, and because of their height, they can feed in relatively deep waters compared to other herons. The rookeries where they nest, also known as a heronries, or colonial nesting areas, are generally located in dead trees in bottomland forests along rivers, backwaters, or lakes. Because the herons are quite vulnerable during their nesting period, WRC strives to protect the rookery itself, as well as the aquatic habitats the herons use to forage. If you come across the heronry on one of your walks, please be very quiet and careful around the birds–we want to keep these beautiful guys around!

Spring could not have come any sooner this year! Indeed, after such a long and col winter, the green-up has been a quick rush of growth over the last few weeks. At Whiterock Conservancy, the spring has been marked by two wonderful elements–the presence of fire and water on the landscape-controlled water and prescribed fire to be exact.

By controlled water, I’m referring to the the ponds and wetlands where we manage the water for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. Whiterock Conservancy owns about 245 acres of land with a permanent wetland easement (enrolled in the Wetland Reserve Program) that encompasses four wetlands and one pond along with upland prairie, savanna, and woodland. Last spring we added a 3.5 acre wetland onto the complex on the north side of Highway 141 just east of Coon Rapids–and we’ve had some great visitors to the wetlands this spring. During the first few weeks of migration, there were hundreds of ducks, geese, and shorebirds that came through, and last weekend about 600 pelicans hung out for a few days in both the wetlands and pond.

Photo by Charlie Nixon, Coon Rapids Enterprise

Last night, however, I saw the most exciting visitors to date–eight American Avocets spent the evening feeding in the new wetland. American avocets are western birds and usually swing through Iowa on the spring migration in small numbers. Adults are very unique looking, especially during the breeding season–with their long gray legs, a thin, upturned bill, and a buffy neck and head. Just beautiful!

Eight American Avocets spent the afternoon at Whiterock Conservancy on April 18th

And the prescribed fires have been great–three savanna and grassland burns so far! A few highlights: on west Betts last Friday, 18 acres of eastern red cedars that had been cut down went up in flames and actually started a canopy fire in nearby cedar trees, killing another acre or two! On the Pingrey farm this past Saturday, the cool-season grass had really come in and so the burn was very patchy and VERY smoky!

Late burning of prairie restorations with a lot of cool-season grasses makes for a smoke-filled day!

A challenging component of conducting prescribed fires is attempting to create patchy burns–and leaving unburned areas, or refugia, for insects, herpetiles, and small mammals. Because the cool-season grasses and sedges have greened-up so fast this spring, a lot of our burns have been very patchy–good for everybody! Below is a picture of a common blue violet blooming in an unburned patch.

Patchy burns create small refugia for many different species

I was out last week skiing in the Middle Raccoon River valley, and just east of the campgrounds I happened upon one of the coolest things that I have seen this winter! Shown below is the snapshot of the life and subsequent death of one eastern cottontail (rabbit) and the dinner of one lucky owl (probably a Great-horned owl). I’ve enhanced the picture a little to show the outlines of the rabbit tracks and wingprints, yes…wingprints!
Enjoy!

We’re in the middle of one of those heavenly breaks between ice storms and snow storms here at Whiterock Conservancy, and I’m certain that everyone, especially the animals without central heating, are thankful. I thought I’d post a few more pictures from the last few weeks just to give folks context for all of the recent griping and groaning about the weather. The first two pictures below represent the same twig on a tree in my backyard. On the left, after the first ice storm in January, and then on the right, again after the second ice storm. After the second ice storm, when many in Whiterock valley and beyond lost electricity for several days, we weren’t as badly hit as surrounding counties to the north and west. But as you can see there was a tremendous amount of ice….In between the two ice storms, we had a few days of really interesting weather, dominated by fog, mist, and mornings of hoar frost, which is formed by the direct condensation of water vapor to ice on objects. Hoar frost generally appears as ice crystals that look as if they’ve grown off of all exposed surfaces. Below are two picture of the hoar frost that covered everything in sight for several mornings–what a beautiful sight.

Yesterday afternoon I headed out for another cross country ski outing along the Middle Raccoon east of the campgrounds–it was the first day in a few weeks without too much wind and some decent snow to ski on. I’ve seen a few folks out snow-shoeing and xc-skiing along the Garst Farm Trail, but I hope to see more in future years–and there is a rumor that Whiterock Conservancy will be receiving a snowmobile as a donation soon–all the better to groom the trails with! There has been some recent snowmobile activity on our land east of Coon Rapids, which is really disappointing because the only time we allow motorized vehicles on our land is for management and maintenance, not for recreation. If you see anyone out on the land with snowmobiles, please tell them that we only allow quiet forms of recreation on the landscape.

Luckily, I didn’t see any snowmobiles on my outing yesterday– just birds, mammals, and a really beautiful sunset. I know I’ve said this before, but please don’t forget to get outside every once in awhile during the winter…it will do you good!

While the beauty of the season is represented in all of my pictures above, I chose not to show all of the devastation brought by the ice storms. Many trees around our accommodations and along trails lost limbs — and there is A LOT of clean up work to do. What a great way to get outside during the winter: please join us on March 13, 2010 at 10 a.m. at the Betts Shop (0.8 miles south of Highway 141 on Fig Avenue–north of the campground) for a work day of clean up. If we get everything done, we’ll continue working on one of our oak savanna restoration sites on the Long Farm.  Please RSVP to me at elizabeth@whiterockconservancy.org and wear winter appropriate clothing, sturdy boots and bring leather gloves. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

With the amazing amounts of snow lately, I’ve been able to get out on the cross county skis every few days– and it’s been wonderful, albeit cold and windy. Usually I just push off from my back door and wander the hills around my house on the Betts Farm, and I’ve taken a couple loops on the Garst Farm Trail (covered in enough snow to ski on despite having a hard surface!). Yesterday I took a cruise out to the Long Farm yesterday to examine the 100 acres of oak savanna restoration that we labored through December to finish–I needed to check and see how many more days of cutting we’ll need to put in before total completion of the project. It was a beautiful afternoon….

Without foliage on the trees, this is the time of year when you can actually see the Middle Raccoon River Valley in all of its winding, bluff-lined glory. As I tell many of the visitors, there is not one place on Whiterock Conservancy property where you can see the entire river valley during the growing season. As we slowly but surely cut down the invading eastern red cedars from the ridgetops above the river, we expose more and more of the viewshed! I highly saturated this picture so that you could see Redrock, the sandstone outcrop across from 805 River Cabin–in the foreground are cut down cedars that used to hide the view of the valley, behind them are the lone oak trees that we left behind, the savanna, and behind them, the river valley with Redrock peeking out. What a site! Not only has the restoration uncovered the savanna and prairie remnants, but the view too! The view of another 100+ acres of cedars to cut down on the other side of the river!

Things have been bright and white and cold in Whiterock valley as of late….

Temperatures hovering around zero for days on end

We’ve been graced or blasted, sometimes I feel both ways, by two tremendous snowstorms, one accompanied by ice.

It has just started to snow again this morning, another blizzard has arrived!

Snow and ice and sun make for an unyielding landscape, washed of any color, covered in bright reflective cold

If snow blankets the land during winter, what does this ice do? Envelop, smother, shroud?  The silence of the outside during winter has been broken by the trees themselves, transformed to wind chimes by their icy coating.

Standing in the middle of winter’s day is lonely for those of us who relish the spectrum of light’s wavelengths

The simplicity of whites and grays and blacks, they contrast so starkly, sometimes blinding, sometimes boring.

I savor those few sublime moments before and after sunrise and sunset

Ann and Abdul from the Cedar 3 crew (Americorps NCCC) asked me to publish this goodbye from the crew….

For the past month, we (10 crew members) have been working with Whiterock Conservancy, SOAR and Diversity Farms, and helping out with a few projects in the Coon Rapids community. This four-week project was our first assignment as members of AmeriCorps NCCC and we have greatly enjoyed serving with the WRC.  We spent the majority of our time out on the Long Creek Ridge clearing trees for oak savanna restoration.

We found it incredibly gratifying to see the immediate effect we were having on the landscape.  Also, being able to see the work completed by the previous AmeriCorps team and the new growth on the land motivated us to push toward our target of clearing 25 acres.  Unfortunately, the Iowa Blizzard of 2009 stopped us just short of reaching our goal.

We would like to thank Elizabeth Hill and Matt Reiling for being excellent supervisors and teaching us about Iowa’s ecology! We are inspired by the passion they have for preserving the area’s ecosystems. Many thanks to the WRC staff for going out of their way to ensure we were comfortable at the worksite and housing.  We will never forget our experiences here with the WRC and we hope to someday return and see the lasting effects of our work.