For immediate release: May 13, 2014 www.iowadnr.gov | facebook.com/iowadnr | twitter.com/iowadnr | pinterest.com/iowadnr 1. Iowa to Dedicate State’s First Globally Important Bird Area2. Dual Bowhunter & Hunter Education Course Offered in July3. Take the Kids to the Park Iowa to Dedicate State’s First Globally Important Bird Area Iowa Audubon and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will join on May 31, to officially dedicate DNR’s Effigy Mounds-Yellow River Forest Bird Conservation Area (BCA) as the state’s first Globally Important Bird Area. The dedication event begins at 11 a.m., at the Yellow River State Forest headquarters, located along Allamakee County Highway B25 southwest of Harper’s Ferry. A field trip will leave from the state forest headquarters at 9 a.m., returning in time for the dedication ceremony. This international recognition highlights Iowa’s role in the global movement to study, protect and preserve at-risk birds.Important Bird Areas (IBA) are part of an international system designating sites critical to declining species of birds for nesting or for large migratory concentrations. Several requirements must be met to achieve basic IBA status, and globally important status must be backed by extensive documentation for reaching such international standing.“The particular bird that brought such recognition to northeast Iowa is the cerulean warbler, a species that has declined by 70 percent nationally since the 1960s,” said Doug Harr, president of Iowa Audubon, a statewide bird conservation and education organization based in Boone. “Bird researcher Jon Stravers, of Elkader, has spent several years documenting that Effigy Mounds National Monument, Yellow River State Forest and thousands of surrounding forested private acres provide some of the Midwest’s most critical Cerulean Warbler habitat.”The IBA program is conducted worldwide by BirdLife International, based in Great Britain. Each nation provides a partner, which in the U.S. is the National Audubon Society, with Iowa Audubon conducting the program at local state level. In 2006, Iowa Audubon awarded IBA status to all of DNR’s Bird Conservation Areas, currently numbering 18 statewide. BCAs are large landscapes containing a core of permanently protected habitat, and where a good amount of suitable bird habitat exists on surrounding private lands. These sites offer large expanses of habitat for entire communities of bird life. Bruce Ehresman, DNR wildlife diversity program biologist and avian ecologist directs the agency’s BCA system.“We are extremely pleased that Iowa’s largest and highest quality forested landscape now has international recognition,” said Ehresman. “This BCA-IBA has tremendous value not only to cerulean warblers but also to a large variety of forest birds and other wildlife. Now we have good reason to assist with more protection and better management of woodlands, both on public and private lands. International recognition should also result in a tourism increase—especially by birders—for northeast Iowa. That will, in turn, benefit the local economy.”Information about Effigy Mounds-Yellow River Forest BCA/IBA, containing a complete bird species list for the area, may be found at www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/uploads/wildlife/bca/EffMo%20-%20YRF.pdf More information about the Important Bird Area program is available at www.audubon.org/bird/iba/ and www.iowaaudubon.org/IBA/. Media Contact: Bruce Ehresman, Wildlife Diversity Biologist, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 515-432-2823 ext. 106. -30- Dual Bowhunter & Hunter Education Course offered in July A dual course satisfying bowhunter and hunter education requirements is scheduled for the evening of July 21 and all day July 26, at the Amana Sportsman’s Club, 1661 42nd Avenue, in Homestead. Although bowhunter education is not required by Iowa law, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources encourages bowhunters to enroll in this course, especially first time hunters, as it is required in a number of other states. Hunter education is a mandatory program for anyone born after January 1, 1972 and is designed to introduce students to several life-long skills that are important to the many different types of outdoor recreation. There will be live firing as part of the course.Registration for the Amana Hunter-Bowhunter course can be found on the DNR website at:http://reservations1.usedirect.com/IowaWeb/Activities/SearchFilters.aspx. Search under category Bowhunter Education and select All Months or July to register. Course Type will be Dual Bowhunter & Hunter Education Course. For more information, call 319-622-3038. Media Contact: Megan Wisecup, hunter education administrator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 515-238-4968. -30- Take the Kids to the Park The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is participating in the national effort this weekend to get children into parks. National Kids to Parks Day is held the third Saturday in May as part of an ongoing effort to connect youth with nature and encourage them to explore outdoors, especially at parks in their communities. A list of events registered in each state is available at http://parktrust.org/kidstoparks. To add an event, go to http://parktrust.org/kidstoparks/national-kids-to-parks-day/host-an-event. The DNR has been promoting reconnecting Iowans with their natural resources through Take it Outside and Healthy, Happy Outdoors campaign. “We want every Iowan to know that spending time outdoors increases physical activity and reduces stress,” said Todd Coffelt, chief of the Iowa DNR’s State Parks Bureau. For information on Iowa State Parks, go to www.iowadnr.gov/parks“No matter where they live, Iowans can find places to spend outside that are close to home,” Coffelt said. - 30 - MICK KLEMESRUD Information SpecialistIowa Department of Natural ResourcesP 515.281.8653 | F 515.281.6794 [log in to unmask] Building | 502 East Ninth Street | Des Moines, IA 50319WWW.IOWADNR.GOVLeading Iowans in Caring for Our Natural Resources. --- You are currently subscribed to major_statewide_media as: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe click the Unsubscribe link below, or send a blank email to: [log in to unmask] http://Membership.Lists.ia.gov/u?id=11605906.6af074476f3324dc2bbf60ca35be1b8d&n=T&c=F&l=major_statewide_media(click here to unsubscribe) If you received this message from a friend and would like to sign up for DNR Press Releases e-mails, please send a blank e-mail to: [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp