Hosted by Raccoon River Watershed Association
Event focuses on human role in creating healthy Raccoon River ecosystem
PERRY – The Raccoon River Watershed Association (RRWA), a nonprofit organization supporting a safe, healthy Raccoon River, will announce grants totaling over $5000 to students at Drake and Buena Vista Universities at the organization’s annual “Life in the Raccoon River” conference to be held at the Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa, on Friday and Saturday.
The funds will be used to expand upon the work of last year’s recipient, Drake University student, Andrew Rupiper. Andrew studied insects in the river near Jefferson following the unfortunate oil spill early last year. The 2014 grant will support benthic macro invertebrate and water chemistry studies up and down the Raccoon River
The theme of the conference is “People of the Watershed.” Friday evening at 7 pm nature photographer Ty Smedes will give a slide show “Eagles of Iowa.” Saturday morning speakers starting at 9 am include Mary Skopec–geology of the river, Cherie Haury-Artz–archaeology, and Steve Witmer–history of the people of the watershed. Saturday afternoon at 2 pm there will be a showing of a biography of Aldo Leopold called Green Fire. The event is free and open to the public.
This is an official “Aldo Leopold Weekend” event registered with the Aldo Leopold Foundation. Professor Leopold would be proud of the folks from his home state who are carrying on his dream of protecting “creation.”
A complete schedule for the event is available at http://www.northraccoon.org
About the RRWA: The RRWA is a self-supporting, all-volunteer, non-profit made up of an average of 250 members, 90 percent of which are from the Raccoon Watershed. Board members come from Storm Lake, Lake City, Jefferson, Perry and the Des Moines area. Over the past nine years the RRWA has hosted river clean-ups, water quality testing, paddling events, educational programs and research. The organization has given grants of over $10,000 to students under the guidance of their professors to study life in the Raccoon River. (Donations are tax deductible.)
