June 19 - Whiterock Conservancy

Sunday, June 19

Our walk today took us to Coon Rapids, Iowa.  We started at the Bur Oak Visitor's Center and followed an 11K trail through the Whiterock Conservancy and the town of Coon Rapids.  Whiterock Conservancy is a 5,400 acre nonprofit land trust dedicated to conserving and protecting Iowa's natural resources, demonstrating sustainable rural land management, and engaging the public with the environment through outdoor recreation and education.

There are 30 miles of trails in the conservancy.  Most of them are soft, allowing for horseback riding and mountain biking.  The original trails were mostly created by deer and cattle.  The effects of weather and continued use have caused massive erosion.  A major reconstruction project funded by several state and federal grants is under way to build 25 miles of state-of-the-art trails.  A new technology will be used to build the trails on contours so as to shed water and accommodate traffic with minimal erosion.

Our walk included grassland pasture, prairie (including some bison!), oak forest, oak savanna, and wetland.  We saw a great blue heron and lots of little frogs no bigger than your fingernail. We also saw the farm that was once the home of Roswell and Elizabeth Garst. Roswell Garst developed hybrid corn seed in 1930.  He sold the seed to the Soviet Union beginning in 1955.  In 1959, during the height of the Cold War, Nikita Khruschev visited the Garst farm and stated that Iowa corn was superior to Ukranian corn.  Whiterock Conservancy was formed by the Garst family to ensure the protection of this historical property.

Part of the walk went through Coon Rapids.  We passed the Roadside Park Sculpture Garden, featuring "Hybrid Icons" by David Dahlquist.  The three silo forms recall the agricultural architecture of grain silos and drying bins and represents Coon Rapids' involvement in he history of hybrid seed corn.   Inside each structure are symbols of scientific research: cellular structure, protein building blocks, and DNA genomic mapping.

Rating:

Walk Route: B+

Walk Documentation: A