Iowa
Wetlands and
Riparian
Areas
Conservation
Plan
Wetland nature center fosters
education, brings visitors
(Lost Island Nature Center, Northern
Iowa)
The Lost Island Nature Center near Ruthven in Palo Alto County serves as a site for nature education amid more than 5,000 acres of public lakes, marshes, and upland habitat. The center features a wetland diorama, interpretive hiking trial, and a wildlife observation deck and blind.
Opened in 1993, the Center has had more than 40,000 visitors from 30 countries, 48 states, and 380 Iowa towns. Each year the center brings about 10,000 visitors to Palo Alto County. More than 1,600 area students visit on field trips each year. Named Iowa's Tourism Attraction of the Year in 1994, the building was funded by Iowa's Resources Enhancement and Protection Program. Furnishings, exhibits, and landscaping for the Center are the result of local fundraising, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant, and assistance from the Palo Alto Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and Conservation Foundation. The partnership between the county conservation board and the Palo Alto SWCD was recognized by the National Association of Conservation Districts as the 1998 District of the Year for conservation education.
People power represents an important contribution to the nature center. A group of 4-H'ers donated their time and expertise to build a dock for watching wildlife, an observation blind, and a bridge on the trail leading to the duck blind. Iowa State University biological illustration students provided interpretive wildlife drawings within the blind for identifying amphibians, birds, and mammals. Volunteers keep the Center open on weekends.
Wildlife species that are common at the Center include wood ducks, teal, yellow-headed blackbirds, kingfishers, and an assortment of frogs and toads. A free-flying trumpeter swan sighting is also possible near the Center. In May 1997, eight of the federally endangered birds were released on the surrounding 5,000 acres of undisturbed and restored marshes. Also in the area is the recently opened Trumpeter Trail, a canoe trail through wetlands where visitors can go on a wetland safari.
- Contact: Miriam Patton, Palo Alto County Naturalist
- Phone: (712) 837-4866
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