Polk

O.W.L.S. (Older Wiser Livelier Seniors) - Lessons Learned from Prairie Restoration

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Looking for an excuse to get out of the house, make some new friends, enjoy a good meal and learn about the exciting world of nature? Then join us! These programs are held the first Tuesday of each month. The nature program will start at 11:00 a.m. at the Jester Park Lodge. An optional luncheon follows the program at noon in which pre-registration is required. Luncheon registration deadline is February 2. The cost of the catered lunch by The Radish is $10. Lunch menu - Pan fried chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetable, salad, bread, and dessert

Keith Summerville, professor of Environmental Science & Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Drake University will share lessons learned during his 15 years of prairie restoration research at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt. Restoration ecology is the science that helps us understand how to heal the landscape and return native plants and animals to their historic habitats. Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt, a gem in the otherwise rapidly urbanizing Polk County, has been an incubator for developing techniques for restoration ecology for at least 25 years. Keith will use four studies of the animals and plants of Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt to explain why the science of restoration ecology has so much promise for conserving the biodiversity of Iowa’s prairies and wetlands. 

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