The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: “For those who follow”

Excerpt

“The challenge today is to conserve and protect the often fragile remnants of our natural heritage for the present generation … and for those who follow.” This is how the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, a private, nonprofit corporation, describes its ambitious charge, a broad involvement in natural resource conservation that makes it unique among conservation organizations. The agenda of the foundation extends beyond land acquisition and preservation to include programs in conservation education, publishing, soil conservation, and long-range planning for natural resource management.

Organizers say the breadth of the program is prompted both by Iowa's diminishing natural resource base and the limitations of governmental programs. Forest cover in the state has declined from 19 percent of the land area to 4 percent in the last 100 years. Fewer than 3,000 acres of native prairie remain in what once was a 36-million-acre prairie province. Soil erosion has claimed about half of the state's rich top-soil. And both surface and groundwater supplies, generally perceived as abundant, are in short supply and in need of careful management.

Moreover, foundation organizers point out that Iowa ranks next to last among states in the …