Land Between Two Rivers; 101-Is; Des Moines. Part 1

The following program is made possible through a grant from the Kennedy Lindstrom foundation incorporated a charitable trust Mason City Iowa. A. A river is just a river. Beyond that most of us do not see. There are those who see more. Anglers search for a lurking fish canoe or test it swiftness. Landowners call it demon in flood friend in drought. But a river is actually more than a river much more it is the land through which it flows. It is the plants and animal life that depend upon it for survival. Water land and life. Nature. A simple word for a very complex dynamic

and ageless process. Most only dimly perceive this process yet it is there for all to see in the shape of the hills. The bloom of a Prairie Flower and the solemn gaze of an owl. These frozen moments of time and others can be keys to unlocking the five billion years of natural heritage hidden in Iowa's landscape. Rivers are merely a good place to start their current speaker. The flow of time and of life. The

layers of stone and earth like pages in a book contain the 5 billion year Iowa natural heritage. Why this rose colored rock whispers now of once thunderous volcanoes embedded within limestone near the fossilized remains of ancient sea life were a quarry in southwest Iowa. As the ageless relics of a coastal swamp were pages of history are written in stone spear points broken pottery and old bone down through the millennia. Life unknowingly leaves its message for others to discover why like some ancient and dusty text that has suffered the winds of time. Whole chapters are missing pages obscured waste on what geologists do know. This book has been divided into four vast volumes of time called Arras to see the relationship between Everest will compress this 5 billion year heritage into one calendar year.

The pre-Cambrian era begins with the formation of the world five billion years ago an era of land building great cataclysmic up he will volcanoes and earthquakes mountains thrown up and ground to dust by EON's of erosion. Iowa's oldest rocks were created to Quartzsite one point five billion years old here. Primitive life began on our hypothetical calendar. The four billion year Precambrian era would last from New Year's Day to November 15th. During the pre-Cambrian era. Land erupted upon the earth's surface the Paleozoic Era beginning five hundred seventy million years ago witnessed the virtual explosion of life beginning with simple forms of life evolved into increasingly complex for trial by aquatic plants.

Ancient fish and insects. The Iowa land rested near the equator submerged under large tropical seas Paleozoic Era drew to a close with a melding of large land masses into one super continent. Geologists called Pangea one month on our calendar from November 15th to December 15th represents this three hundred forty million year era. Two hundred thirty million years ago the call of the Paleozoic and violent volcanic activity tore Pangea into colossal fragments. A grand opening for the Mesozoic. Here the continents began a ceaseless journey to their modern location evolution continues including the thunderous rain of dinosaurs alternated as sea floor and sea coast that year is and marking the waters final

retreat the Mesozoic one hundred sixty five million years span is represented by a mere 10 days on our calendar. Christmas Day marks. 65 million years ago the Senate Zoellick era began containing the age of mammals and the rise of humanity. It is represented by the last week of the year around 8:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve a major geological process of the Senate so I gather I was launched a great ice age. Between one and a half and two million years ago a climatic change occurred forming great sheets of ice and snow called glaciers in northern Canada over many thousands of years these glaciers move slowly to the south carrying soil plant material and rocks that were left behind as the glaciers melted. Geology is currently recognized for major glacial stages separated by

warming period. They all of us just call the Nebraskan state one point two million years ago the Kansan glacial stage began. Then came the Illinois plates. Finally about 60 to 80 thousand years ago the Wisconsin and glacial stage began. Geologists regard the 10 to 14 thousand years between the Wisconsin ins retreat and the present as an interglacial stage dubbed the Holocene period which means recent time. Massive layers of foundation bedrock born of sea and lava countless tons of glacial ice abrasive power of wind and water with these tools and materials time sculpted the modern Iowa landscape into eight major landform regions. But as the last glacier wasted away the first subtle touch of a new sculptor was felt. Human beings had come to the land between two

rivers. Archaeology with often conflicting and changing theories is the study of prehistoric humans. Yet there are generally accepted patterns. The first known Iowans appeared around 12000 years ago late Ice Age hunters called Clovis people because their artifacts were initially found near Clovis New Mexico. Along with similar groups. They are known as paleo Indians. Grouped into small bands. They hunted large mammals mammoth horse and camel. As many ice age animals became extinct. They roamed the Midwest living off vast herds of bison. Approximately eighty four hundred years ago paleo Indians were replaced by archaic foragers nomadic groups who hunted elk wolf coyote smaller animals birds and the seemingly endless bison.

People further expanded their diet with herbs berries and other plant material. Between 500 and 200 B.C. a new culture originating in the eastern woodlands was replacing the archaic lifestyle in Iowa. The woodland tradition known for its use of pottery and mountain building saw the rise and decline of an extensive trade network and the evolution toward a more settled lifestyle increasingly dependent on horticulture around 980 the woodland people were developing several smaller distinct cultural patterns as new forms of pottery crops and lifestyles spread into Iowa from the east. This was the late prehistoric parrot inhabited by the ancestors of Native American groups found in the Midwest by early Euro-Americans. A last look at our calendar allows a quick perspective on Iowa's natural history

5 billion years. The start of the pre-Cambrian era. Five hundred and seventy million years ago was the beginning of the Paleozoic Era. Two hundred and thirty million years back marked the start of the Mesozoic era. And finally the Senate was starting a mere 65 million years ago human habitation is represented by slight seconds before midnight December thirty first. Five billion years of heritage is a lot to swallow in 10 minutes. But it's a foundation that can be built upon as we focus on a river in each quadrant of the state. The remainder of this program will be spent in or near the Valley of the lower Des Moines River. One simple request before we begin open your mind to the totality of each area. Don't be overly concerned with specific facts. Let the river flow through your mind tell its own story. Impressions

will emerge rich in color and complexity. The Des Moines River actually begins in southern Minnesota following southeasterly five hundred forty miles across Iowa born of the recent Wisconsin glacier. The Rivers spent its youth carrying glacial melt water. Unlike earlier glacial stages the Wisconsin uncovered only north central Iowa with the peninsula of ice called the Des Moines low after the city that marks its and gone a mere fourteen thousand years. And I believe in geological time high altitude photography still shows the demoing lobes glacial signature other signs closer to Earth betray Iowa's glacial inheritance in this area. Geologist Jean C. Pryor. We're standing here at Colo bog which is one of six or seven principal Wagner marsh areas found on the Des Moines Lo which

had been extensively studied by geologists interested in unraveling the glacial origins of this part of Violet's landscape. So much of the area that we call a Des Moines lobe has been converted to intensive cultivated farm fields that there are not too many places where you can come to see what the terrain looks like in more or less its natural state what its natural vegetative cover look like. This is as far south east as the glacial ice from the Wisconsin period was able to get it really was running out of gas by the time it got to about this point. And as a result the ice just stagnated. And the result is you get this irregular landscape of alternating ridges hilly isolated hummocks interspersed with vog such as we see here at Colo vog. This is the type that we refer to as Nawin cattle topography where you get

little knobs or hello locks of higher land interspersed with these long under the oppressions that we refer to as kettles. And this is a good example of a little kettle lake or a bog that has lots of wetland vegetation in it. It's also a very good habitat for lots of water fall which we're observing here today. To the geologist marshy areas like that at Colo bog tell the story of the glacier that formed them. To the wildlife biologist they represent ideal habitats for waterfowl and one strain. Many of these areas make excellent farmland. It's the idea of perspectives. One major perspective apparent in the way we deal with our natural heritage is utilization. That is we tend to think of ways we can use the environment and its resources. For industry recreation and the

support of our lifestyle. Human utilization of this area is not exclusive to our modern culture. Well pretty historically and in the early history of Iowa of course most of the settlements were along the river at the rivers with the main routes of transportation. And in terms of farmers and early gardeners the soils on the river terraces were much easier to work in the upland soils because the eroding power of spring floods often reveals evidence of early human occupation of the valley. Acting upon such clues archaeologists begin to dig in earnest discovering more about these early Iowans. An archaeological dig along the demoing north of Broome. The side built up like a layer cake. And as this site was accumulating was the fan was accumulating. Human beings that is prehistoric Indians lived on these surfaces and they

deposited trash and they left fireplaces. They carried out their economic activities like killing animals and butchering animals and eating clams and so forth. So we find on these surfaces is our record of these occupations and another site nearby. A site like this along the Des Moines River at Logan sport is sort of an archive you might say of the human history of the area and the prehistory. In this one place for example along this Cut Bank there's evidence both prehistoric Native Americans living here and also you know American settlers from the 19th century. Both Dr. Ben and Dr. Grant are investigating the archaeology of the sailor. An example of how modern Iowans utilize this valley. The dam and related works can trace their heritage. U.S. Flood Control Act of

1938. Construction began in 65 and finished in 75 at a cost of ninety nine million dollars. Resulting in a project that provides flood control water storage recreation and wildlife habitat. And in a mixed blessing sort of way it provides cultural resources. For while the waters of Sailor of the lake also known as the Des Moines River extend 54 miles upstream at maximum capacity eroding inundated land and destroying potential archaeological sites. This area has been protected from plow and bulldozer. The lapping waters of several buildings have exposed an arcade or woodland trash pit and fire pit. This site is. One of perhaps 500 or more archaeological sites that have been identified in the entire Centerville reservoir.

That is the reservoir from above Boone Iowa all the way to the dam here. And even below the dam. There is a fascinating yet sketchy story told by such sites and the artifacts they bear. Yet some impressions help us to know and appreciate these early people. Was there was a primitive technology the technology of making a stone tool is actually rather complex you have to know where to obtain certain kinds of stone how it can be fractured how you can control that fracture how you can shape what kind of tools you need for particular purposes in hunting or in preparing the skins for clothing or other objects. People who live in simple societies live very close to the land. They have a one to one relationship with that land they are in fact a part of that land. And if they take it as their totem the hawk. They are actually. They would tend to function as the hawk

in that society in fact they are the hawk. And the same goes for a bear or a muskrat or anything else. If you become. Your totem. You are sensually becoming part of the environment you are inseparable from it. You look at the environment as an alien resource that we have to work against. And I think that we can learn something from Native Americans and other people throughout the world about being a part of nature and thinking more of those sorts of factors. We see past people's doing things differently than we do and we can compare other societies to ourselves. One would hope that maybe we could understand from their mistakes but I don't know that that'll happen all the time I think more will. We'll just learn how to deal with our own problems in our own time. In the capital city the raccoon meets the dim or. The Raccoon River Valley was also shaped by demoing low beltline and in fact.

Defines much of this place your southwestern boundary. Including its final southernmost advance by the raccoon flows past the governor's mansion on terrace hill here. Looking across the raccoon Valley travels back over half a million years from Iowa's youngest landscape. To Iowa's oldest the southern Iowa drift playing. The Des Moines River makes a similar leap in time as it flows through the city. Child of the massive Kansan glacier. Southern Iowa once resembled the Des Moines. But 600000 years of molding by wind and water created a vast ocean of land. Flat troughs and river low lying. Rolling heavy swells of hill. Southeast of Des Moines. The river valley forms the shoreline for a kind of manmade ocean like Red Rock. Another December of the far reaches us Flood Control Act of 930 yet the Army Corps of Engineers began construction in one thousand sixty.

Nine years and eighty eight million dollars later flood control for a farm in town and come to the lower demoing Valley. Officials estimate the project will have paid for itself and prevented flood damages by 1990 Red Rock Lake is the second largest lake to be found in the state of Iowa. Get a number of problems out here though. Red Rock is actually a large sink for a lot of the eroded soils that come off of agricultural lands in the state. They come down the Des Moines River and eventually wind up here at Lake Red Rock. What Red Rock is slowly filling in with sediment. And that's going to continue to occur over the next few decades until land use practices change in Iowa. Essentially what's happening here is we're receiving some of I was prying agricultural lands that are eroded from the farm. Now 150 years ago we wouldn't have need for such a project is like Red Rock

actually back back in the 1840s and 1830 is almost 85 percent of the state was covered by what we call tall grass prairie. The tall grass prairie was a flood control reservoir in itself. It was a dry reservoir because when the spring floods the spring rains rather would flow on to the landscape. The prairie vegetation as well as the deep rich prairie soils would hold that water and then slowly release it to the tributaries which flowed into the major river courses in Iowa. That's kind of interesting to think that because of man's alterations of the landscape here and I will over the last 150 years ago we need projects like like Red Rock another massive alteration of the landscape. Besides flood control Red Rock is a haven for anglers campers and others. And thanks to cooperative efforts by federal state and local agencies it

is also quoting McGlothlin and island of wildlife habitat in a bast sea of farmland among its many residents. The federally endangered Indiana bat an American bald eagle Red Rock Lake is important to boaters and duck hunters. And obviously you can find a lot of people out here at times of the year enjoying the fine scenery the sight seers or people enjoying the wildlife in the area. Birders gladdest room Red Rock. The Eastern Bluebirds found throughout the United States or throughout the eastern United States east of the Rocky Mountains. When you get out there you have a mountain Bluebird and the Western Blue Bird these little birds like to nest in holes and trees. And with the cutting of so much of the timber especially in these agricultural states there just are not enough homes for them.

It's so little they ask. Just a little hole in a tree to in their stand. And so when they can't get that. We've been giving them boxes and the Conservation Commission their. Park rangers have been putting out boxes in the state parks which has made a great deal of difference. These boxes are very simply made and they don't cost a lot to make and unless unless we have people all over the state helping the Bluebirds we're going to lose them being conditioned period runs about 12 to 14 days and then they stay in the NE asked about 16 days. They. Are now at pin feather stage and this is the right time to ban them. You don't wait until they are fully feathered they're still sort of in the idiot stage you see.

What I call that yet it states they aren't real bright and alert yet as soon as they get all those lovely blue feathers on then they will be very alert and you do not do not want to bother banding them then because they will fly out of the box before they're ready. He's got a bellyful. Good parents height provides protection for the Bluebird unavailable to ground nesters the Woodcock has an admirable solution. Can you see her in this picture now. She certainly is a perfect picture of camouflage. And you notice how the eyes are set up sort of near the top of the head. She read quite an unusual little bird. And by the way they're hunted too. They're good eating strange little birds and of course you can't even see her bill she's got it so tough down there that Baylor's as long as my finger.

Can you get the eggs. They something though. Do you see their big gay eggs. Now Robin a would be half that size. They're good sized chicks they can run around missions they dry off. See she didn't bring it it just sort of pressed down grass the magnificent great blue heron rare and graceful inhabitant of Iowa waters at Red Rock conspicuous by their absence in the early 70s. A small rookery of thirty five to forty nests was decimated by pesticides in the food chain. The herons abandoned perhaps moving south through this rookery at rap unlike regardless of man's impact. It's a hard life. Spring's storms of Wrath when left only six nests out of thirty one thousand nine hundred four

from a distance out of respect for their meager foothold. The great blues are still a sight of wonder. During our next program we'll continue to explore the environment of the Des Moines River.

Well dig for fossils amidst Iowas cold deposits where swamps once covered the line discover the importance of the Des Moines River and bringing new plants and animals into Iowa and speculate on the development of one of the state's most interesting and beautiful rocks. The Iowa Geode next time on the land between two rivers. The preceding program was made possible through a grant from the Kennedy

Lindstrom foundation incorporated a charitable trust Mason City Iowa.