- Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge
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Bison sculpture on highway near refuge.
The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is a federal national wildlife refuge located in Jasper County, Iowa, United States. The refuge, formerly known as Walnut Creek, is named after Congressman Neal Edward Smith, who championed its creation. It seeks to restore the tallgrass prairie and oak savanna ecosystems that once covered most of Iowa. It has a herd of approximately 75 buffalo (bison) and a 25 elk.
The core of the Neal Smith refuge was a 3600 acre (5.6 square mile) block of land originally acquired by Iowa Power and Light (now part of MidAmerican Energy) for a nuclear power plant. The Fish and Wildlife Service was able to acquire this land in 1990.[1] Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has acquired much more of the allocated 8,654 acres (35.02 km2).
Although the Neal Smith refuge includes a patchwork of small and seriously degraded native prairies, most of the refuge is the result of prairie restoration efforts. The restoration work has been done with local ecotype seed harvested from nearby native prairie remnants or from other restoration efforts that have used acceptable local ecotype seed.[2]
See also
References
- ^ Environmental Efforts web page by Midamerican Energy Holdings
- ^ Diane R. Witte, Walnut Creek National Wildlife Refuge and Prairie Learning Center, Restoration and Reclamation Review, 1, 1, Spring 1996
External links
Coordinates: 41°34′31″N 93°16′26″W / 41.575389°N 93.273926°W
Protected Areas of Iowa Federal DeSoto • Driftless Area • Neal Smith • Northern Tallgrass Prairie • Port Louisa • Union Slough • Upper Mississippi River
State Ambrose A. Call • Backbone • Badger Creek • Banner Lakes at Summerset • Beed's Lake • Bellevue • Big Creek • Black Hawk • Brushy Creek • Cedar Rock • Clear Lake • Dolliver Memorial • Elk Rock • Elinor Bedell • Emerson Bay • Fairport • Fort Defiance • Geode • George Wyth Memorial • Green Valley • Gull Point • Honey Creek • Lacey-Keosauqua • Lake Ahquabi • Lake Anita • Lake Darling • Lake Keomah • Lake MacBride • Lake Manawa • Lake of Three Fires • Lake Wapello • Ledges • Lewis and Clark • Maquoketa Caves • Marble Beach • McIntosh Woods • Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons • Mini-Wakan • Nine Eagles • Okamanpedan • Palisades-Kepler • Pikes Peak • Pikes Point • Pilot Knob • Pine Lake • Pleasant Creek • Prairie Rose • Preparation Canyon • Red Haw • Rice Lake • Rock Creek • Springbrook • Stone • Templar • Trapper's Bay • Twin Lakes • Union Grove • Viking Lake • Volga River • Walnut Woods • Wapsipinicon • Waubonsie • Wildcat Den • Wilson Island
Backbone • Barkley • Gifford • Holst • Loess Hills • Pilot Mound • Shimek • Stephens • White Pine Hollow • Yellow River
A.F. Miller • Ames High Prairie • Anderson Prairie • Behrens Pond and Woodlands • Berry Woods • Bird Hill • Bixby • Bluffton Fir Stand • Brush Creek Canyon • Brushy Creek • Cameron Woods • Casey's Paha • Catfish Creek • Cayler Prairie • Cedar Bluffs • Cedar Hills Sand Prairie • Cheever Lake • Clay Prairie • Claybanks Forest • Cold Water Spring • Crossman Prairie • Decorah Ice Cave • Dinesen Prairie • Doolittle Prairie • Fallen Rock • Fish Farm Mounds • Five Ridge Prairie • Fleming Woods • Fort Atkinson • Freda Haffner Kettlehole • Gitchie Manitou • Hanging Bog • Hardin City Woodland • Hartley Fort • Hayden Prairie • Hoffman Prairie • Indian Bluffs Primitive Area • Indian Fish Trap • Iowa's State Preserves System • Kalsow • Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie • Lamson Woods • Liska-Stanek Prairie • Little Maquoketa • Malanaphy Springs • Malchow Mounds • Manikowski Prairie • Mann Wilderness Area • Marietta Sand Prairie • Mericle Woods • Merrill A. Stainbrook • Merritt Forest • Montauk • Mossy Glen • Mount Pisgah Cemetery • Mount Talbot • Nestor Stiles Prairie • Ocheyedan Mound • Old State Quarry • Palisades-Downs • Pecan Grove • Pellett Woods • Pilot Grove • Pilot Knob • Retz Woods • Roberts Creek • Rock Creek Island • Rock Island • Roggman Boreal Slopes • Rolling Thunder Prairie • Saint James Lutheran Church • Savage Woods • Searryl's Cave • Sheeder Prairie • Silver Lake Fen • Silvers-Smith Woods • Slinde Mounds • Starr's Cave • Steele Prairie • Stinson Prairie • Strasser Woods • Sylvan Runkel • Toolesboro Mounds • Turin Loess Hills • Turkey River Mounds • White Pine Hollow • Williams Prairie • Wittrock Indian Village • Woodland Mounds • Woodman Hollow • Woodthrush •
County State Parks
(Leased)Bobwhite • Cold Springs • Crystal Lake • Eagle Lake • Echo Valley • Frank A. Gotch • Heery Woods • Lake Cornelia • Lake Icaria • Kearny • Margo Frankel • Mill Creek • Oak Grove • Oakland Mills • Pammel • Sharon Bluffs • Spring Lake • Swan Lake • Three Mile Lake
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Categories:- Protected areas of Jasper County, Iowa
- Grasslands of the Great Plains (U.S.)
- National Grasslands of the United States
- National Wildlife Refuges in Iowa
- Nature reserves in the United States
- Iowa geography stubs
- Midwestern United States protected area stubs
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