Image courtesy of Greene Co Conservation

The Greene County Historical Society and the Friends of Greene County, IA Parks are teaming up for a public event on Saturday.

According to the Historical Society, the two groups are inviting everyone to visit a “jewel of the prairie” with a nature walk through the Tipton Prairie on Saturday at 9:30am. Organizers say Thomas Rosburg, who is a biology professor at Drake University and a prairie expert, will lead their program. The Historical Society points out that Rosburg has surveyed the local prairie area, and has identified native plants and taken soil samples and is drafting a management plan to eliminate invasive non-native plant species without using chemicals. 

Friends of the Greene County Parks Member Chris Henning says Greene County Conservation owns the four-acre Tipton Prairie, which is home to more than 180 species of native plants and she advocates that this natural area is one of if not the best virgin prairies left in the state.

Saturday’s program begins at the entrance of the prairie, which is south of Cooper and before the Atkins Bridge over the Raccoon River on County Road E-57.