Leopold Center 20th Anniversary Celebration Conference -- Pre-Conference Tours

ATTENTION: There is still plenty of room in all of the tours -- sign up today!

Pre-Conference tours will be available Tuesday, July 10. Participants can register for a wide variety of full day and half day tours. These tours highlight some of the Leopold Center's work throughout Iowa. The full-day tours will depart from the Scheman Building at 7:30 a.m.; cost includes transportation, lunch and afternoon treats. Half-day morning tours will leave at 8:00 a.m.The Half-day afternoon tour leaves at 1:00 pm. Half Day tours include transportation, water and snacks. Space is limited, so register early.

To download a printable version of the pre-conference tours, please click here!

A Look at the Culture in Agri-culture: Tours of the Whiterock Conservancy and The Homestead
FULL DAY TOUR ($35.00)

Explore what could become Iowa's largest nature preserve and research center -- more than 5,000 acres of rolling pastures, timbered bluffs and patches of native prairie and oak savannah along the banks of the Middle Raccoon River near Coon Rapids. Established in 2005, the conservancy seeks to manage land in ways that are friendly to wildlife and native plants, while incorporating sustainable agricultural practices such as rotational grazing. Whiterock was chosen as one of Iowa's first three ''Great Places'' and offers a variety of low-impact recreation activities including biking, bird-watching, canoeing, stargazing, camping and horseback riding.

Morning activities and lunch will be held at Whiterock in the historic Garst barn. The tour will then travel to The Homestead near Runnells. This unique community provides training and support for adults with autism. The community operates a chemical-free apple orchard and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and sells produce to restaurants and the public.

More about Whiterock Conservancy
www.whiterockconservancy.org

More about the Leopold Center project at The Homestead
http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/nwl/2000/2000-4-leoletter/orchard.htm

The Homestead
www.thehomestead.org

Homemade Pie, Dairy-Fresh Ice Cream... Heaven in Iowa!
FULL DAY TOUR ($35.00)

The Leopold Center has been a key force behind development of a stronger local food economy in northeast Iowa. Last year, 27 institutional food buyers in Black Hawk County purchased $671,000 in local foods from nearby farms and processors. On this tour you will meet the farmers, grocery owners, restaurant managers and processors who are building new economic relationships around local foods.

This tour includes stops at Roots Market in Cedar Falls and Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy in Hudson. Lunch will be provided at Rudy's Tacos, the site of some of Iowa's pioneering local food meals, followed by a special treat on the way back to Ames.

More about the UNI Local Food Project
http://www.uni.edu/ceee/foodproject/

Hansen's Farm Fresh Dairy
http://www.hansendairy.com

Water Quality is Everybody's Job: From Streamside Buffers to Urban Rain Gardens
HALF DAY TOUR ($20.00)

This morning tour will include landscape-scale solutions for water quality improvement as well as pocket plantings in urban areas with the same goals in mind. At the nationally recognized Bear Creek Watershed, you'll see one of the nation's oldest riparian research projects established by the Leopold Center's Agroecology Issue Team in 1990. Mature streamside plantings have transformed the area, adding wildlife habitat, diversity and now a potential source for biomass. In a unique partnership, Iowa State University researchers worked with eight farmland owners to restore both sides of Bear Creek.

On a much smaller scale in an urban setting, homeowners also can help improve water quality by planting rain gardens. You'll visit a newly planted demonstration garden on land owned by the City of Ames. Rain gardens use native species that can tolerate both drought and brief periods of flooding. They serve to filter many urban pollutants and help redirect storm water.

More about the Bear Creek project and buffers
http://www.buffer.forestry.iastate.edu

More about the Ames Rain Garden project
http://www.prrcd.org/RainGardenInformation.htm

Biomass for Biofutures - Homegrown Industry for Iowa?
HALF DAY TOUR ($20.00)

This morning tour includes a visit to the Biomass Energy Conversion Center (BECON) in Nevada followed by a field crop walk. At BECON we will see and learn about new technologies for products and processes beyond corn ethanol and learn about key biomass issues that influence Iowa's bioeconomy choices. Following the processing we'll re-board the bus and head out to the land for a walking tour of possible future biomass crops. We'll look at plots with different kinds of crops that may form the backbone of our Iowa biomass future, and learn about what it may take for farmers to grow them..

More about BECON
http://www.energy.iastate.edu/becon/

Matt Liebman and alternative cropping
http://www.plantsciences.iastate.edu/newsletter/2007-04/cusp.html

Black Soil and Purple Lips: Growing & Enjoying the Fruits of the Land
HALF DAY TOUR ($20.00)

Most of the gratifying things in life demand so little - family, friends, food and the "nectar of the gods"... wine. Join us as we learn the latest in on-farm viticulture research and then taste the end products at a local organic winery. Surely this is evidence that the simple things satisfy best.

This afternoon tour will take us a short distance north of Ames. During the first part of the tour we will stop at the Iowa State University Horticulture Research Station to see grape cultivar trials and various management techniques. Then we will travel to a commercial production facility at Prairie Moon Winery. Here we will experience first-hand the production intricacies of a successful vineyard - from soil to bottle.

ISU Viticulture Research
http://viticulture.hort.iastate.edu/

Prairie Moon Winery
http://www.prairiemoonwinery.com/