Hello Mike,

PACRAT (Paddle And Cleanup Rivers Around Town)

Our sixth creek cleanup in Ames was delayed a week by heavy rains and high water, but we still had great turnout (33 people) and removed a record 3,200 pounds of trash from Ioway Creek, including the usual cans, bottles, and plastic bags, but also bicycles, drain pipes, snow fence, and car batteries! Thank you volunteers for your hard work, and to the City of Ames, Story County Conservation, Skunk River Paddlers, and Outdoor Alliance of Story County for bringing together the canoes, tools, and food to make it happen!

Conservation Connection

Pollinator of the Month:

Clouded sulphur (Colia philodice)

by Katelyn Rinicker, Pollinator Conservation Specialist

Chances are you have seen this tiny butterfly! They are extremely common and are active from March to December. You can find them fluttering from clover to clover and drinking from mineral-rich mud puddles. They also love milkweed, coneflower, alfalfa, and dandelions (remember to leave some when you are mowing!).

The clouded sulfur has a silver spot in the center of their hindwing surrounded with red rings, but they can hybridize with other species of Colia, making them hard to tell apart. Females lay eggs on host plants, some of which are soybean, red clover, and self-heal. When first laid, the eggs are white, but after a few days, they turn red and then grey right before they hatch. The caterpillars, or larvae, are green with a white strip running along each side of their body. These stripes can also contain pink or orange.

Clouded Sulphurs are a staple in our ecosystems and a welcome sight in Spring.

Don't Pull Those Weeds and Help the

by Katelyn Rinicker,

Pollinator Conservation Specialist

Spring is one of the most important foraging times for pollinators. Let’s help them get off to a great start!

2 Minute Read

Subtle Spring

by Jim Colbert, Board Member

The beauty of an Iowa woodland in early spring is subtle, but once you get to be on a first-name-basis with spring ephemerals, they’re impossible to ignore!

3.5 Minute Read

Story County Water Quality Update

by Dan Haug, Water Quality Specialist

My latest attempt to visualize the data from our monitoring program has 35% higher information density than a table, is 55% less cluttered than a grouped bar chart, is 69% less suggestive than a standard violin plot, is this much-------------> easier to read than a chart without data labels, and has 99.9% fewer made up numbers than this paragraph.

View the latest data

Watersheds and Wildlife Events

Spring Water Quality Snapshot

May 20, any time

Ioway Creek Watershed

Help us continue a long tradition of citizen science! Pick up a water testing kit in Ames and monitor two or three sites in Ioway Creek Watershed whenever you have time on Tuesday. Contact Dan Haug if you're available to help.

Byway Events

Lincoln Highway Tour

June 18- June 25

The LHA proudly announces our next big Lincoln Highway tour - the 2025 Middle Third Tour of the 1928 Lincoln Highway alignment, departing from Joliet (Chicago area) Illinois on Wednesday morning, June 18, 2025, and traveling 1000+ miles over 8 days, arriving in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Wednesday, June 25. Daily itinerary here.