Facilitators – 2016 Loess Hills Prairie Seminar
Kim Alexander, Alexander Farm, Smithland, IA
Eric Anderson, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
(Iowa DNR), Whiting, IA
Lindsey Barney, Iowa DNR Forestry Bureau, Oakland, IA
Bill Blankenship, Prairie Enthusiast, Sioux City, IA
Dianne Blankenship, Northwest AEA, Sioux City, IA
Steve Borgstrom, Musician, Educator, Osseo, MN
Ed M. Brogie, Executive Dir., National Association of
Academies of Science, Wayne, NE
Lee Brogie, Wayne Middle School, Wayne, NE
Mark A. Brogie, Creighton Community Schools,
Creighton, NE
Cheryl Buntsma, Orange City, IA
Ron Butler, retired teacher, from the Hills, Roseville, IL
Doug Chafa, and the Missouri River Wildlife Unit staff,
Iowa DNR, Onawa, IA
Victoria DeVos, Plymouth County Conservation, Hinton, IA
Bruce Ehresman, Wildlife Diversity Program Biologist,
Iowa DNR, Ames, IA
Chad Elliott, Musician, Song Writer, Coon Rapids, IA
Suzan Erem, Sustaining Iowa Land Trust (SILT),
West Branch, IA
Tyler Flammang, Resource Naturalist, Woodbury County
Conservation, Sioux City, IA
Michelle Wodtke Franks, Executive Director, Golden
Hills RC&D, Oakland, IA
MJ Hatfield, Oneota Field Station, Plymouth Rock, IA
Brian T. Hazlett, Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, IA
Jody Herbold, NWAEA Science Consultant, Sioux City, IA
Steve Hummel, Dragonfly Society of Americas; Great
Plains Administrator, OdonataCentral, Lake View, IA
Adair V. Kaehlar, Leland Rickabaugh, Arden Larsen
and Friends, Musicians, Whiting, IA and nearby
Jerome Kills Small, retired from the Univ. of SD, Utica, SD
Addie Kinghorn, Horticultural Consultant, Omaha, NE
Jeannine Laverty, Storyteller, Saratoga Springs, NY
Mark Leoschke, Botanist, Wildlife Bureau, Iowa DNR,
Des Moines, IA
Deborah Q. (Deb) Lewis, EEOB Dept., Iowa State Univ.,
Iowa Native Plant Society, Ames, IA
James Locklear, Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha, NE
Kelly Madigan, Hoop the Fair, Lincoln, NE
Graham McGaffin, The Nature Conservancy (TNC),
Sioux City, IA
Monona County Conservation Staff: Doug Kuhlmann
(Director), Jack Gibler, Jeannette Riesberg, Steve
Johnson, and David Weidt.
Connie Mutel, Writer, University of Iowa, Solon, IA
Kay Neumann, Saving Our Avian Resources (SOAR),
Dedham, IA
Brent Olson, Iowa DNR Loess Hills State Forest,
Pisgah, IA
Don Poggensee, Seminar Photographer, Ida Grove, IA
Rich Pope, retired from ISU Extension, Sloan, IA
Bill Pusateri, Iowa Department of Transportation, Ames, IA
Thomas (Tom) Rosburg, Drake Univ., Des Moines, IA
Will Schmitt, Music and Backpacking, Winterset, IA
Carol Schwarting, Lawrence, KS
Nancy Schwarting, Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Tim Sproul, Loess Hills Conservation Specialist, Iowa
Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), Missouri Valley, IA
Larry Stone, Writer and Photographer, Elkader, IA
Douglas Tallamy, Writer, Entomologist, University of
Delaware, Newark, DE
Rod Tondreau, Biology Instructor, WITCC, Sioux City, IA
Peter Vander Meer, Le Mars, IA
John (Jack) White, Ecological Services, Urbana, IL
Paul Williams, Amateur Archaeologist, Hinton, IA
Douglas Wood, Musician, Writer, Sartell, MN
Bill Zales, Landowner, Westfield, IA
Dotty Zales, Landowner, Westfield, IA
Children’s Program Coordinators
Dianne Blankenship, Ron Butler, and Doris Swanson
Silent Auction
Gayle Backes, Jeanne Bockholt, Eileen Kenyon,
Andrea Porter, and Dotty Zales
Exhibtors/Vendors
Book signings: Chad Elliott, James Locklear, Connie
Mutel, and Douglas Tallamy
Center for Prairie Studies – Briar Cliff University
Iowa Living Roadway Trust Fund
Iowa Native Plant Society
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
Iowa Prairie Network
Loess Hills Alliance
The Nature Conservancy of Iowa
Northwest Iowa Group - Sierra Club
Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT)
Larry Stone’s Iowa
WildOnes
Wind Rider Images
… and several additional ones!
The Loess Hills Prairie Seminar
owes its existence to the many individuals who provide
sessions, programs and exhibits as well as those who
provide behind-the-scenes support. It also owes its
success to the new and returning participants from
many walks of life and locations.
A very sincere thank you to all!
Friday Evening Speakers
Doug Chafa is the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Biologist for the Missouri River Wildlife
Management Unit based in Onawa. This includes seven western Iowa counties. He and his staff manage the Loess
Hills Wildlife Area and Sylvan Runkel State Preserve and organize the annual G.R.A.S.S. event.
Tim Sproul is the Loess Hills Land Conservation Consultant for the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, a position he
assumed after a 33 year career as Director of Harrison County Conservation.
Graham McGaffin is the Loess Hills Project Coordinator for The Nature Conservancy Iowa Chapter. He came from
his position as External Relations Manager for TNC’s Wyoming Chapter. He grew up in Sioux City’s Loess Hills.
Rich Pope is Co-chair of the Stewardship Committee of the Loess Hills Alliance. Rich returned to western Iowa after
a career at the ISU Extension.
Michelle Wodtke Franks is Executive Director of the Golden Hills RC&D. She was raised in western Iowa.
Brent Olson CF is Forester for the Iowa DNR Loess Hills State Forest, headquartered in Pisgah, IA.
Bruce Ehresman is a Wildlife Diversity Program Biologist for the Iowa DNR. He has promoted the establishment of a
second Bird Conservation Area in the Loess Hills.
Connie Mutel – A Sugar Creek Chronicle: Observing Climate Change in a Midwestern Woodland
Connie is an ecologist and is the author of Fragile Giants: A Natural History of the Loess Hills and The Emerald
Horizon: The History of Nature in Iowa and the editor of A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008. This
book is newly published. She is Senior Science Writer at IIHR–Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa.
Friday at camp: Chad Elliott – Chad will entertain with songs and sing-a-longs with a focus on nature. He is a singer
and musician, poet and artist, author and storyteller, all in one. S’mores fixings will be provided.
MJ Hatfield and Mark Leoschke and others – blacklight to attract moths and other insects.
Saturday Evening Speakers
James Locklear – Jewels of the Plains Revived
Claude Barr homesteaded in South Dakota in 1910. Over the next 72 years, his experience produced an account of
the wildflowers there that won immediate acclaim. Jewels of the Plains has been out of print for many years but has
now been republished in a revised edition edited by Jim Locklear, Director of Conservation at Omaha’s Lauritzen
Gardens. Join Jim on this botanical journey across the prairies and plains of America.
Douglas Tallamy – Birds, Bugs, and Blossoms: Biodiversity’s Crucial Connections
Dr. Tallamy is professor and chair of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware.
His book, Bringing Nature Home, propelled him into national fame as the public embraced the importance of native
plants in the home landscape. Join him later at camp as he seeks to attract insects to a mercury vapor lamp.
Douglas Wood and Steve Borgstrom – EarthSongs Concert with Douglas Wood
Join Doug Wood and his friend Steve Borgstrom for a concert celebrating the earth, and all things wild and natural.
Acoustic music straight out of the great outdoors, from Appalachian bluegrass to Mississippi blues, this is music like a
prairie wind blowing through a concert hall.
Saturday at camp: Douglas Wood and Steve Borgstrom – MORE EarthSongs and EarthStories
More songs and stories under the stars…
Doug Tallamy, MJ Hatfield and Mark Leoschke – blacklight to attract moths and other insects
Late night hike with MJ to the Runkel Preserve to find insects.