Please mark your calendars! Registration and agenda will be available at a later date.
2019 Iowa Prairie Conference
Central College
Pella, Iowa
August 8 - 10
Our world is changing rapidly, and the highly fragmented nature of Tallgrass Prairie will greatly reduce the ability of this ecosystem to respond to these changes. As a result, the future of Tallgrass Prairie will depend heavily on our actions in the coming decades. Set in this reality, the 2019 Iowa Prairie Conference, with a theme of “Ensuring the Future of Prairie,” will be held at Central College, in Pella, on August 8 to 10, 2019. The Iowa Prairie Conference is open to anyone interested in prairies. Natural resource managers, educators, students, and prairie enthusiasts will gather for education, discussion, field trips, and networking opportunities. The conference will open on Thursday, August 8, with a morning of restoration work at a local prairie remnant, and official conference activities will begin at Central College after lunch that afternoon. Featured speakers include Jesse Nippert, Professor of Biology at Kansas State University discussing the impact of climate change on Tallgrass Prairie; Justin Glisan, the State Climatologist of Iowa presenting historical and recent climate trends in Iowa; and James Bever, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Kansas University highlighting the importance of soil bacteria and fungi on prairie biology and reconstruction. Additionally, conference attendees will attend a “posters in the prairie” session highlighting research done at Central College’s Prairies For Agriculture Project, and an open presentation session will be held; additional information about abstract submission will be available on our website soon. Last, and often the highlight of the conference, several field trips will take attendees to local remnant prairies and research sites. Field trips will be held in the morning to (hopefully) beat the August heat. Questions can be addressed to Russ Benedict, Professor of Biology at Central College (benedictr@central.edu; 641-628-5173).
See the official conference website.
Also, be sure to like our Facebook page, 2019 Iowa Prairie Conference!