Hayden Prairie State Preserve
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The Hayden Prairie State Preserve is a tallgrass prairie located in
Howard County, Iowa Howard County is a county located in the US state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,469. The county seat is Cresco. The county was founded in 1851; it was named for General Tilghman Ashurst Howard, a Representative of India ...
. It is a National Natural Landmark managed by the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR or IA DNR) is a department/agency of the U.S. state of Iowa formed in 1986, charged with maintaining state parks and forests, protecting the environment of Iowa, and managing energy, fish, wild ...
. Located close to the northern border of the state of Iowa, the nearest towns are
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
and Lime Springs.


History

The prairie commemorates botanist
Ada Hayden Ada Hayden (14 August 1884 – 12 August 1950) was an American botanist, educator, and preservationist. She was the curator of the Iowa State University Herbarium, which was renamed the Ada Hayden Herbarium (ISC) in her honour in 1988. During her ...
(1884–1950). An Iowa farm girl, Hayden studied at the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) and
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
(ISU) and earned a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
in biology in 1918, one of the first women to earn this distinction in the U.S. She became an assistant professor of
botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
at ISU, devoting her personal and professional life to the defense of the fast-disappearing tallgrass prairies of her native state. During her working lifetime, most of the remaining patches of tallgrass that had survived the rush of Euro-American settlement in the 1800s were falling to the plowshare. Finally in 1940, the state of Iowa allocated $100 to Hayden for gasoline to drive around Iowa and identify what was left. A small number of remaining prairie patches were identified, including the parcel of land that was to become Hayden Prairie. In 1945, the state of Iowa purchased this parcel for $10,001, approximately $42/acre.. After Hayden's death in 1950, the Hayden Prairie was renamed in her honor. It was listed as a National Natural Landmark in 1965, and as an Iowa State Preserve in 1968. It has been managed by controlled burning since 1971.


Ecology

The Hayden Prairie is a
remnant Remnant or remnants may refer to: Religion * Remnant (Bible), a recurring theme in the Bible * Remnant (Seventh-day Adventist belief), the remnant theme in the Seventh-day Adventist Church * ''The Remnant'' (newspaper), a traditional Catholic ne ...
of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem that once made up 75 to 80 percent of Iowa’s landscape. Although this remnant is only in size – less than a half section of land – it is the largest remaining parcel of tallgrass prairies surviving in Iowa outside of the
Loess Hills The Loess Hills are a formation of wind-deposited loess soil in the westernmost parts of Iowa and Missouri, and the easternmost parts of Nebraska and Kansas, along the Missouri River. Geology The Loess (, , or ) Hills are generally located bet ...
on the western border of the state. More than 200 plant species, including 100 species of
wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...
s, have been identified in Hayden Prairie. Hayden Prairie is especially noted for a display of shooting stars peaking around the U.S. holiday of Memorial Day. 46 species of birds, and over 20 species of butterflies, have also been identified in Hayden Prairie.


See also

*
List of protected grasslands of North America The protected grasslands of North America consist of prairies, with a dominant vegetation type of herbaceous plants like grasses, sedges, and other prairie plants, rather than woody vegetation like trees. This ecosystem was generally dominant wi ...


References


External links

Photos of Hayden Prairie *http://ricefordcreekphotos.com/ {{authority control Protected areas of Howard County, Iowa Iowa state preserves National Natural Landmarks in Iowa Grasslands of Iowa Protected areas established in 1945