Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge

Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Bison sculpture on highway near refuge.
Map of the United States
Location	Jasper County, Iowa, United States
Nearest city	Prairie City, Iowa
Coordinates	41°34′31″N 93°16′26″W / 41.575389°N 93.273926°W / 41.575389; -93.273926Coordinates: 41°34′31″N 93°16′26″W / 41.575389°N 93.273926°W / 41.575389; -93.273926
Area	8,654 acres (3,502 ha)
Established	1990
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge

The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is a federal national wildlife refuge located in Jasper County, Iowa, United States. The refuge, formerly known as Walnut Creek, is named after Congressman Neal Edward Smith, who championed its creation. It seeks to restore the tallgrass prairie and oak savanna ecosystems that once covered most of Iowa. It has a herd of approximately 75 buffalo (bison) and 25 elk.

The core of the Neal Smith refuge was a 3,600-acre (1,500 ha) block of land originally acquired by Iowa Power and Light (now part of MidAmerican Energy) for a nuclear power plant. The Fish and Wildlife Service was able to acquire this land in 1990.^[1] Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has acquired much more of the allocated 8,654 acres (3,502 ha).

Although the Neal Smith refuge includes a patchwork of small and seriously degraded native prairies, most of the refuge is the result of prairie restoration efforts. The restoration work has been done with local ecotype seed harvested from nearby native prairie remnants or from other restoration efforts that have used acceptable local ecotype seed.^[2]

Prairie Learning Center

Located near Prairie City, Iowa, the Prairie Learning Center features exhibits and movies about the tallgrass prairie, sedge meadow and oak savanna ecosystems of the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. The Center offers environmental education programs for school groups, scout groups and more. The Friends of the Prairie Learning Center operate the book store.

References

↑ Environmental Efforts web page by Midamerican Energy Holdings
↑ Diane R. Witte, Walnut Creek National Wildlife Refuge and Prairie Learning Center, Restoration and Reclamation Review, 1, 1, Spring 1996

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

External links

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National Monument	Effigy Mounds

National Historic Site	Herbert Hoover

National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beeds Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake MacBride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pillsbury Point Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island

State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River

State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

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Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge

Prairie Learning Center

See also

References

External links