2015 Iowa Prairie Conference
Event Details
1215 W 23rd St
Cedar Falls, Iowa 50614
Contact Name: Staci Mueller
Email: staci.mueller@uni.edu
Phone: (319) 273-3866
Website: http://www.tallgrassprairiecenter.org/2015-prairie-conference
Event Description
The University of Northern Iowa’s Tallgrass Prairie Center will host the 15th Iowa Prairie Conference July 16-18, 2015.
The conference is open to anyone interested in prairies. Natural resource practitioners, educators, students, and prairie enthusiasts will gather for education, discussion, and networking opportunities. Workshop sessions, field trips, and social events are also planned.
This year’s conference theme, “Working Prairies,” reflects the evolving role of prairie in today’s landscape. “Using prairie to address current environmental concerns and provide ecological services allows us to incorporate more of it into the landscape. While not replicating the diversity of pre-settlement prairie, utilitarian prairie plantings offer elements of that ecosystem. These working prairies provide biofuels, assist in flood mitigation, reduce soil erosion and lessen nutrient loss while providing habitat for pollinators and other wildlife,” states Daryl Smith, Founder and Advocate for the Tallgrass Prairie Center.
Featured plenary speakers for this three day event are Doug Ladd, Land Stewardship Director of Missouri Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and Lisa Schulte-Moore, Associate Professor of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State University. Additionally, three symposia will be offered: Writing the Tallgrass Prairie chaired by John Price; Iowa Roadsides chaired by Kristine Nemec; and Forty Years of Prairie Preservation and Restoration (commemorating Daryl Smith’s retirement) chaired by Pauline Drobney and Laura Jackson.
As a special event at this year’s conference, Daryl Smith will be recognized and honored for his 40+ years of tireless work on behalf of Iowa prairies and the Tallgrass Prairie Center in particular.
To submit scholarly papers for consideration or to register for the conference, please go to www.tallgrassprairiecenter.org/2015-prairie-conference . Information may also be obtained on the event Facebook page by searching “Iowa Prairie Conference 2015.”
