Reflections on a successful 2025

As 2025 comes to a close, we're reflecting on our many achievements over the year.

In January, Golden Hills hired Angie Remington as our new Executive Director.

Angie joins Golden Hills with two decades of nonprofit experience, including her most recent role as the Director of Strategy and Development for the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table. She is also the former board chair of the Earth Day Omaha Coalition, now part of the Green Omaha Coalition. With a strong background in nonprofit management, fund development and organizational culture, she is working to strengthen Golden Hills’s impact in Southwest Iowa and further our mission of protecting and preserving the region’s unique natural landscapes.

Angie Remington, Golden Hills' Executive Director

At our December board meeting, two new board members were elected: Amy Brown from Pottawattamie County and Rick Finch from Page County.

​Amy Brown is an Iowa native with deep roots in the Loess Hills, where she and her husband, Dwayne, steward 150 acres of prairie and woodland. She brings 25 years of leadership experience from the financial services industry, currently serves as treasurer for Better Ballot Iowa, a nonpartisan organization advancing election reform, and is a former co-owner and editor of Edible Omaha, a magazine supporting local food systems. Her volunteer and board service includes United Way of the Midlands, Habitat for Humanity, Big Canvas Comedy, Red Barn Schoolhouse, and CASA of Douglas County. She holds a BS in Economics and Finance from Morningside University and is a graduate of Leadership Council Bluffs.

Amy Brown, Golden Hills board member representing West Pottawattamie County

Rick Finch lives in Clarinda with his wife Beckie. He works in sales, marketing, and contracting for EZ Way, Inc., a Clarinda-based manufacturer of safe patient handling equipment. Previously, Rick spent 18 years in the outdoor museum field, primarily in executive director roles, where he focused on education, community engagement, and place-based history.

Rick is active in community leadership, having served in multiple Kiwanis roles, including Lieutenant Governor. He also serves on the Clarinda Tourism Committee and the board of Clarinda Outdoor Recreation and Engagement, Inc. His interests include local and regional history, hiking, and the natural and cultural history of the Loess Hills and the Southern Iowa Drift Plain. 



Join us in welcoming Amy and Rick to Golden Hills!

Rick Finch, Golden Hills board member representing Page County

Golden Hills, founded in 1981, is a 501c3 nonprofit working to collaboratively develop and lead community, conservation, and cultural initiatives to improve our quality of life in rural western Iowa. We do this through several program areas.

Read on to learn more about some of our activities & achievements this year!

Land Stewardship program summary

In 2025, our Land Stewardship Program, led by Lance Brisbois:

📔Hosted a new Land Stewardship class series in partnership with Iowa Western

🌼Presented at Mills County & West Pottawattamie County Master Gardener spring conferences, Master Woodland Steward Program, and Pollinator Alliance of the Heartland's Milkweed & Cookies event

🌱Held our annual spring Native Plant Sale

🔥Participated in Loess Hills Cooperative Burn Week

🌄Helped with planning for & presented at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar

🌿Secured funding for a high tunnel to grow more native plants 

💸Chaired the Loess Hills Alliance Stewardship Committee, overseeing grants for several Loess Hills prairie & savanna restoration projects

🌾Coordinated numerous prairie seed harvest events with volunteers throughout the Loess Hills, and a seed sorting event at the Iowa Western greenhouse

🌎Attended the Iowa Native Seed Stakeholder meeting, Iowa Prairie Network Winter Meeting, Earth Day Omaha, & Iowa Nature Summit

🎤Interviewed with The Iowa Podcast, KETV, and KMTV about our prairie seed harvests

...and more!

Learn more about our Land Stewardship program: goldenhillsrcd.org/land

Local Foods program summary

Golden Hills' Local Foods Program, led by Jamie Smidt Fowler, had a busy and successful year developing and promoting a robust regional food system in southwest Iowa!

Highlights include: 

👩‍🌾Hosted three farmer meetups

🍽Tabled at Milk & Honey's Meet Your Farmer event

🛍Attended Center for Rural Affairs' SW IA Rural Grocery Store Tour

🎨Coordinated the first-ever HeARTwood Local Foods & Art Dinner at Hitchcock Nature Center 

🥕Sponsored Practical Farmers of Iowa agritourism field day Long Walk Farm and agroforestry field day at Pinhook Farm

👩‍💻Facilitated a Canva design class for producers 

👨🏼‍🌾Hosted Food Hub Perspectives & SW IA Farmer Collaboration events with Center for Rural Affairs

📈Led the Iowa Food System Coalition Food & Farm Business Development Priority Team

🍅Co-hosted the third annual Southwest Iowa Local Foods Summit with Center for Rural Affairs in Logan

🤳We're currently finalizing a new Local Foods website that will be bigger and better. We plan to launch that next spring, so stay tuned!



Learn more about our Local Foods Program: goldenhillsrcd.org/localfoods

Outdoor Recreation & Tourism program summary

2025 was an exciting year for Golden Hills' Outdoor Recreation & Tourism program, led by Seth Brooks and Charlie Schilling.

Scenic Byways:

·Celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the designation of Loess Hills National Scenic Byway 

·Created & distributed new Glacial Trail Scenic Byway maps 

·Designed & printed new Western Skies Scenic Byway brochures

·Participated in the Iowa Byways passport program

·Developed new interpretive panels/brochures about the Loess Hills

·Attended the Iowa Roadside Vegetation Management Conference

·Spoke on a panel discussion about tourism in Stuart 

·Managed & updated the Loess Hills Hiking Guide at visitloesshills.org/hiking

·Worked with the Southern Loess Hills Welcome Center to coordinate the installation of new interior interpretive exhibits

·Partnered with the Friends of Waubonsie State Park to coordinate installation of mural created by Anna Stoysich and Jorge Colorado

·Continued promoting a variety of low-impact, sustainable outdoor recreation & tourism throughout 14 scenic byway corridor counties.

...and more!

Learn about Golden Hills' byways at goldenhillsrcd.org/byways

Trails

Trails are consistently ranked as one of the top amenities people look for in a community, and we're working to expand multi-use outdoor recreational trails and connect existing trails throughout western Iowa. 

A few 2025 highlights include:

• Partnering with Southwest Iowa Planning Council on a trail-mapping project to update maps and generate 360-degree imagery for Google Street View for trails in Cass, Fremont, Montgomery, & Page counties

• Coordinating the Frontier Iowa Trails network, a regional coalition of trail groups 

• Hiring our first-ever trails coordinator to build the trails system in Pottawattamie County

• Providing support for Pottawattamie, Mills, and Harrison county trails groups

• Working with local and national partners on route planning for the Great American Rail Trail route throughout southwest Iowa

• Attending the Bike Expo & Banquet in Des Moines

• Co-hosting the Iowa Trails Summit in Cedar Falls

• Supporting a new Friends of Loess Hills State Forest trail signage project

• Creating data reports for new trail counters on Brent’s Trail

• Updating maps and creating 360-degree Google Street View imagery for hiking trails throughout the Loess Hills

• Developing a new Loess Hills Hiking Guide, including both interactive online maps and a printed guide



Learn more: goldenhillsrcd.org/outdoors

Charlie Schilling, our new Trails Coordinator

Events:

Another significant part of our Outdoor Recreation & Tourism program this year was hosting events to enjoy and learn about our great outdoors.

This included:

🌸Pasque Flower Walk at Loess Hills State Forest to see the first-blooming native prairie flowers

⛺5th Annual LoHi Trek, a multi-day camping & hiking adventure, based in Pottawattamie County this year

🥾LoHi Scout event to celebrate the Little Sioux Scout Ranch Addition to Loess Hills State Forest

🚲"Tourin' Around Turin" bike ride at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar in Monona County

📈Outdoor Recreation business development conference with Iowa Western

👥Celebrate Iowa's Outdoors Day at the State Capitol

🥾Veterans Hike with Operation 22 Til Freedom at Old Town Conservation Area

Join us tomorrow (January 1) for our next outdoor event, a First Day Hike at Loess Hills State Forest!

Learn more about out outdoor program: goldenhillsrcd.org/outdoors

Water Resources program summary

2025 was a busy year for Golden Hills' Water Resources program!

Successes include:

👩‍💻Hosting webinars about Saturated Buffers and Streambank Stabilization

💸Funding water quality practices along the West Nish as part of our Regional Conservation Partnership Program

🐐Hosting a Land Management field day at Vincent Bluff 

🌾Sponsoring & attending a Practical Farmers of Iowa's field day at Whiterock Conservancy

💰Providing cost-share funding for three southwest Iowa farms to implement regenerative agriculture practices 

💦Attending Practical Farmers of Iowa, ACRES USA, Conservation Districts of Iowa, Iowa Water Conference, and several other soil health, grazing, & regenerative ag trainings/workshops

🌱Completing the Midwest Cover Crop Essentials Course

💧Coordinating the East & West Nishnabotna Watershed Coalitions

👥Facilitating the Missouri River Ecosystem Coordination Group

🧪Receiving funding to start a water quality monitoring program in southwest Iowa 

📚Leading trainings for PL-566 watershed structure sponsors about maintenance 

...and more!



Learn more about our water work: goldenhillsrcd.org/water

Community Partnerships, Contracts, & other activities

In addition to these program areas, Golden Hills has a variety of other community partnerships, contracts, and fee-for-service work. Our partnerships align with our mission of collaboratively developing and leading conservation and cultural initiatives that improve quality of life in rural western Iowa. In 2025, a few of these partnerships & activities included:

• Tabling at Arbor Bank's Ag Expo
• Attending the Iowa Rural Summit in Ames
• Participating in the Iowa West Foundation's Rising Leaders program
• Getting accepted into the Nonprofit Association of the Midlands' Executive Institute
• Attending Nonprofit Association of the Midlands' Fundraising Palooza
• Interviewing for a podcast episode with Loess Hills Media & Podcasts
• Co-hosting the Southwest Iowa Rural Summit & hosting a Happy Hour for the Summit
• Working with Raygun on new WanderLoess stickers, beanies, mugs; hosting a popup at their Omaha store; and setting up a new online shop for WanderLoess merch
• Participating in Loess Hills Alliance, Mills County Tourism, & Pottawattamie County tourism committee
• Managing Cooperative Agreements and providing services such as fiscal management for organizations including Hungry Canyons Alliance, Western Iowa Development Association, Loess Hills Conservation & Development Authority, Harrison County Farmers Market, and The Naturalist School

If you have a project or organization that could benefit from Golden Hills' support, please reach out!

Photo of Golden Hills staff at Southwest Iowa Rural Summit Happy Hour. provided by WIDA.

Happy New Year from Golden Hills!

Our office is closed January 1-2, and we'll be back to regular hours on January 5.



Find staff contact info at goldenhillsrcd.org/staff

Happy 2026!

Photo of the Golden Hills team. Front row, left to right: Jackie Johnson, Finance & Revenue Development Manager; Jynell Miller, Operations Coordinator; Angie Remington, Executive Director; Seth Brooks, Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Program Coordinator; Back row L to R: Dawn Harder, Office Assistant; Charlie Schilling, Trails Coordinator; Jamie Smidt Fowler, Local Foods Coordinator; Lance Brisbois, Director of Community Partnerships

We couldn't do all this work without people like you! You can support Golden Hills with a tax-deductible donation at any time on our website.

THANK YOU for helping us with all these achievements this year, and we look forward to working with you in 2026 and beyond!