A Jefferson family will be honored later this month for donating prairie land for conservation purposes.

Carroll and Karen Perkins recently donated 30 acres of prairie land to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.  Carroll says the land began as a cattle pasture.  Then in 1989, while living in California, Carroll received a call from Dan Towers with the Greene County Conservation Department, and Towers asked Carroll if he could do some controlled burning because he noticed native prairie grasses were growing.

Over the years, more prairie grasses grew and more undesirable plants and vegetation were eliminated.  In 2009, the land was designated as a state prairie preserve.  Just recently, Carroll donated the land that’s across from Seven Hills Park to the INHF.  He explains why he donated the land.

“I can go out there with my chainsaw and I can walk down the hills, I can do my work, but I’ve reached the age of 88 and it’s darn hard to get back up the hills.  So I’m turning it over to an organization that will hopefully take care of it the way I’ve wanted it cared for.”

Carroll admits there is work left to do before the prairie land is complete and he knows that the INHF has access to the funds and manpower needed to finish it.

Carroll and Karen Perkins will be part of 14 other land or land value donors in a ceremony at the State Capitol building in Des Moines on March 23rd.  The donations total more than $2.5 million.