Below find a copy of an email I sent to Senators Harkin and Grassley in support of a Nature Conservancy effort to earmark $10 million to purchase easements or fee title from willing sellers in the 12 special landscaped areas of the Loess Hills. This conservation effort is part of the transportation bill being discussed and passed in the coming month. Two bridges across the Missouri south of Omaha will threaten the Loess Hills with development. This section provides some mitigation in the form of a pilot project to protect these acres of native prairie. Please write soon as the votes will be emerging in the next month. Jim R. ps I am sure there are other aspects of the bill that need our attention, but this is one section we can address. Dear Senator Harkin, Recently you voted monies in support of the rainforest project in Eastern Iowa. We need help preserving the native prairies of Iowa, most of which exist in the Loess Hills of the western part of the state. Please support the conservation proposal in the upcoming transportation bill. See below for the Nature Conservancy description. The new bridges across the Missouri River threaten these natural areas. Now, not twenty years from now, is the time to save our last prairies. These 10,000 native prairie acres will go a long way in preserving our natural legacy. Dr. Jim Redmond Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club The Loess Hills of Iowa, Two Bridges, and SAFETEA Proposal: Two replacement bridges and improved roadways are planned between Mills County, Iowa, and Cass County and Sarpy County, Nebraska. The transportation improvements will provide Iowans access to the Omaha metropolitan, but will also impact the agricultural setting and natural habitats of the Loess Hills, through increased rural residential development. This increase in rural development threatens the delicate balance between native ecosystems and the agricultural community. The increase in development is also impacting the scenic value along the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway. A $10 million high priority demonstration project in the transportation reauthorization bill will enable us to provide protection for 10,000 acres of valuable conservation lands. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate win-win solutions to enhancing economic opportunities through improved transportation while conserving the unique agricultural and ecological values of the region. The supporters of the Loess Hills would like to acquire fee title or establish conservation easements on land within the 12 Special Landscape Areas (SLA) to protect the unique ecological, cultural and agricultural values of the Loess Hills of Iowa. The 12 SLAs identified by the National Park Service in 2001 are areas of high priority opportunity with a great deal of interest from landowners to sell fee title or conservation easements. Background * The Loess Hills are a 640,000-acre landscape of deep loess deposits, containing much of Iowa's prairie heritage, embedded in a functioning agricultural landscape. Iowa was once 85% prairie -- 99.9% is now gone. * In 2001, the National Park Service (NPS) determined "the Loess Hills landform region is nationally significant as a topographic and geological combination not found elsewhere in the United States. . ." The 2001 study identified the 12 Special Landscape Areas comprising 100,000 acres of exemplary geology with significant biological and cultural resources at high risk for conversion. * Over 24,000 acres are currently under conservation ownership, including land protected by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, the Loess Hills Preservation Society, the seven county conservation boards, and protected by private landowners with conservation easements. * In 1999, the Iowa Legislature created the Loess Hills Alliance, a regional coalition striving to maintain and enhance the natural and cultural resources of the Loess Hills. With development of a stewardship program, over 2,500 acres are undergoing restoration on private lands, with efforts underway to increase that number to 20,000 acres. * The Loess Hills National Scenic Byway has been named one of the nation's "10 most outstanding scenic byways" by Scenic America. The 200-mile long Byway, winds through the rolling hills of prairie, woodland and farmland and provides an economic impetus for local communities. * Over 5 million visitors will travel the trail of Lewis and Clark (including the Loess Hills byway) in celebration of the bicentennial in 2004. A program to protect the scenic, cultural and biological resources of the Loess Hills will be a great opportunity to mark this historic event. Supported by: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Transportation, Loess Hills Preservation Society, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Loess Hills Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, Golden Hills RC&D, Loess Hills National Scenic Byway Council, Sierra Club Jim Redmond Professor of English Briar Cliff University 712-279-5544 [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]