Watersheds and Wildlife

The Watersheds and Wildlife Program works to improve water quality in rivers and lakes and to restore habitat for the 100 species of butterflies and 400 species of bees found in Iowa. We accomplish this work through robust education and monitoring, and by partnering with both private landowners and local government.

Past projects have focused the Ioway Creek and Skunk River watersheds in Story, Boone, and Hamilton counties.

Here is what we’re up to now:

Ames Pollinator-Friendly Community Plan

Prairie Rivers and the City of Ames have a vision to become a leader in developing and sustaining pollinator habitat that will enrich the quality of life for the human and biological communities of Ames.

Click here to learn more!

Enrolling working lands into butterfly habitat

This upcoming project will help farmers and landowners create habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators, and enhance the value of existing conservation lands for monarchs. The project has a special focus on women landowners.

Creek Cleanups

Over the past few years, we helped plan five volunteer events that removed over 9000 pounds of trash from Ioway Creek and other streams in central Iowa. Depending on the weather, we may be walking, wading, or paddling canoes, but it’s always a good time! Keep an eye on our Events page–we do at least one a year.

Water monitoring in Story County

Story County Water Monitoring & Interpretation Plan 2021-2030

Water quality in most creeks and lakes in Story County is not tested by state agencies, so in 2020 we worked with 9 partner organizations to plan for how we could sustain a monitoring program at the local level. Prairie Rivers continues to support the effort by collecting samples, organizing volunteer events, and making sense of the data.

Movement Infrastructure for Clean Water in Iowa

We were able to build relationships with some of the wide range of groups that do water monitoring across Iowa, as well as dive deep into analysis of a statewide dataset, thanks to grant from the Water Foundation which wrapped up in November of 2024.

Relationships between water quality and livestock density

Graph of E. coli vs livestock density in 58 Iowa watersheds

We spotted some interesting patterns in a statewide database that reveal some ways in which manure can impact Iowa’s rivers, and some ways it doesn’t. Our finidngs were presented to the Raccoon River Watershed Association (which helped fund the project) and the 2024 Iowa Water Conference.

Read about our findings