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The Iowa River Corridor was officially dedicated by the
Department of Natural Resources as a Bird Conservation Area (BCA) in a special ceremony
held on May 25, 2004 along the Iowa River valley of Belle Plaine. It becomes
Iowa’s sixth official Bird Conservation Area and the first in the state to be
exclusively associated with a river corridor. This designation emphasizes that
sustaining viable bird populations requires habitat conservation at a large
landscape level. The Iowa River Corridor BCA extends 45 miles from near Montour
in Tama County to the Homestead area in Iowa County. It begins with the forests
of the Mesquakie Indian Settlement and ends with the forests of the Amana
Society. The boundaries of this BCA contain approximately 133,000 acres with
about 20,000 acres in public land and over 12,000 acres in Wetland Reserve
Program easements. While the Model BCA
contains at least 20% permanently protected land, over 24% of this entire BCA
already exists in some type of permanent protection. This BCA differs substantially from others because it is
comprised of a wide variety of habitat types. As already mentioned, it has
several extensive tracts of forest, but it also includes tens-of-thousands of
acres of wetlands, grasslands, woodlands, and savanna. This river corridor is
critical habitat for declining grassland nesting birds, such as Northern
Harrier and Bobolink, declining savanna species like Barn Owl and Loggerhead
Shrike, important wetland species like the Sandhill Crane and American Bittern,
and rare forest dwelling species like Cerulean Warbler and Bald Eagle.
Sandhill Cranes have nested in the Iowa River Corridor since 1992. Well
over half of Iowa’s nesting birds can be found in the Iowa River Corridor BCA,
with approximately one-third of these species suffering nationwide declines. Without the concerted efforts of several federal, state,
and local agencies, as well as private organizations and citizens, the Iowa
River Corridor BCA would not exist. This total unified effort of partners shows
what can be done to benefit natural resources in this unique Iowa landscape
when people pull together for a common cause. BCA
partners are already exploring what might be done to open up the corridor to more
birders and other wildlife watchers. Future
plans are to develop a birding trail guide, which will include a map of the
corridor and feature some of the corridor’s best birding areas. This guide will
include a list of the birds that inhabit the area and the habitats that these
birds frequent. As part of the Iowa Valley Resource Conservation &
Development’s Iowa Valley Scenic Byway project, added improvements for the BCA,
such as parking areas and wildlife viewing platforms, are also possibilities.
For interested landowners and land managers,
guidelines for how to manage birds in various habitats are available upon
request from Iowa DNR Wildlife Diversity Program. The BCA designation opens
possibilities for some landowners to get special habitat planning assistance
from DNR’s Private Lands Program staff. BCA status also can give landowners
extra points when competitively applying for certain USDA Farm Program
practices. |
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