Et cetera : Reading Iowa’s Landscape

Karen Phelps, Naturalist

 

People that know me have often told me I think too much. Honestly, I think they’re right. Many decisions haven’t been made yet because I’m still thinking about the options. Now, as I sit in my tree stand, I start thinking about all the responsibilities I have at home that aren’t getting tended to, but these thoughts are quickly erased as nature weaves its magic spell and I no longer think; I absorb and reflect.

 

My thoughts take me across the landscape of Iowa. Like a literary group all reading the same novel, everyone’s interpretation of the author’s work is different based on their own experiences. We all view the same landscape as we go about our daily routines, but what we gain from our “reading” depends on our focus of the “words”.

 

A farmer reads the landscape as crops and pastures, developers read shopping malls and city streets, a naturalist reads the landscape as habitats and ecosystems. All are reading the same landscape, yet the interpretation is vastly different.

 

Iowa is one of the most altered landscapes in the United States. Iowa’s prairies and wetlands, which provided rich fertile soils, attracted readers of various backgrounds, each adding new chapters to Iowa landscape history.

 

As I look back a mere thirty-five years and think about reading the landscape, I remember several family trips. We would be driving towards the heart of the city when my mother would comment, “I remember when this was all cornfield,” as we viewed the stores dotting the landscape. As the years advanced, it happened to me: I was pulling into a mall driveway with my children and the words flowed out – “I remember when this was all cornfield”.

 

I slowly shift my weight in my tree stand and momentarily close my eyes, my face warmed by the sunlight filtering down through the branches of oaks and hickories. I try to replace the nearby cornfields with prairies that once covered Iowa – prairie grasses that tickled the feet of the settlers as they rode on horseback across our state.

 

Dr. James Dinsmore wrote in his book A Country So Full of Game about the animals that once inhabited Iowa; elk, wolves, buffalo, bear, and many more. As our landscape changes, so too does the wildlife that inhabits the landscape. I developed a school program I use in the lower elementary classes based on the teachings of Dr. Dinsmore’s book. Students build a time line depicting the history of Iowa and the animals that were apart of our landscape. As the population of the State grows, interesting changes occur. The students can clearly see that loss of habitat, brought on by population growth, as well as lack of understanding of predator/prey relationships, have greatly altered the wildlife landscapes of Iowa.

 

My eyes squint open to the sound of rustling leaves under my tree stand. A chatty squirrel busily bustles through the leaves, burying acorns into the fertile forest soil. The soil that will provide nutrients for the sapling oak which will emerge in the years to come.

 

I look forward to those years; years that will provide interesting lessons and knowledge if I’m willing to stop and read the landscape. Like a good book you can’t put down, the landscape is forever teaching us new things if we take the time to read and study it.