Golden Hills welcomes Charlie Schilling as new Trails Coordinator

Golden Hills is excited to announce that Charlie Schilling has been hired as our new Trails Coordinator! Charlie will primarily be developing recreational trails in Pottawattamie County, in partnership with Pottawattamie County Trails Association and Pottawattamie Conservation.

Charlie is energized to be the first-ever Trails Coordinator for Golden Hills. He has had past success bringing people, stakeholders and organizations together for a common cause and for the good of the overall community while leading some high-profile public projects.

He also produces Tour de Nebraska, one of the premier bicycle tours in the Midwest.

Charlie has fostered many industry, professional and personal relationships that have been established based on earned trust over three decades. This standard will continue while building relationships and trails throughout western Iowa.



Join us in welcoming Charlie to the team!

Southwest Iowa Local Foods Summit in Logan November 14

Join us for the third annual Southwest Iowa Local Foods Summit in Logan, Iowa, on Friday, November 14!

🥔Discuss farm to school, rural grocery store initiatives, grants and funding opportunities, and more

🫛Shop exhibitor booths and farm stands

🥕Enjoy a locally sourced breakfast and lunch (free with your registration)

Registration is required by November 7.

Register here.

Golden Hills featured on Local Routes podcast

Golden Hills' Executive Director Angie Remington was recently featured on an episode of Local Routes with Todd Studer of Loess Hills Media & Podcasts about the wide range of work we do across Southwest Iowa.

Angie explains how Golden Hills supports practical conservation, from protecting the Loess Hills and preserving topsoil to encouraging local foods, outdoor recreation, and small-town development. She also shares what she has learned during her first year in the role, meeting farmers, community leaders, and discovering hidden places that make this part of Iowa special. The conversation highlights how people and land connect to create a stronger, more sustainable future for rural communities.

Watch the interview here.

Prairie seed harvest featured on The Iowa Podcast

Lance Brisbois was recently interviewed on The Iowa Podcast about our Prairie Seed Harvest project.

Listen here.

Prairie seed harvest concludes another successful season

This year, Golden Hills had more than 100 volunteers help at our 13 seed harvests at nine locations throughout the Loess Hills.

THANK YOU to everyone who was able to join at one or more of our events!

We harvested seed from at least two dozen species, primarily sun-loving prairie grasses & forbs, but also some shade-tolerant savanna/woodland species. Since it was an oak mast year, we also collected acorns.

Most of the seed was given to local land managers (our conservation partners such as county conservation boards and Iowa DNR). At some sites, with landowner permission, we kept some seed to propagate this winter for our native plant sale next spring, and to create seed mixes for small-scale plantings.

The value of our volunteers' time and labor, plus travel expenses, easily exceeded several thousand dollars, and that’s not including the cost of the seed that does not need to be purchased now. Seed from remnant Loess Hills prairies is especially valuable and cannot be purchased easily or inexpensively from seed growers.

Many conservation agencies are facing budget cuts and resource constraints, so your time and effort is more valuable now than ever before. If you are able to support Golden Hills’ prairie seed project financially, you can donate at any time on our website.

We will likely have some seed-cleaning and planting volunteer opportunities this winter and of course more seed harvesting next year, so stay tuned!

Visit us on Small Business Saturday at the Omaha Raygun Store

Golden Hills is having a popup at the Omaha Raygun store in the Old Market on Saturday, November 29 from 10am-2pm.

We'll have our popular WanderLoess bison shirts and stickers available, and you'll be able to purchase other items with the logo.

This is a great opportunity to support Golden Hills and get some of your holiday shopping done early!