Established by an act of Congress on September 5, 1990, the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge had its beginnings as Walnut Creek National Wildlife Refuge. The project was undertaken with the support and encouragement of Congressman Neal Smith. The Refuge, 20 miles east of Des Moines, Iowa, was created from farm land. Congressmen Smith's vision was to bring back a small part of Iowa's native tallgrass prairie and emphasize research and environmental education. Since there was no pre-existing public support and, in fact, negative local feelings for a large scale ecosystem recovery project (valuable farm land was being taken out of production), the reconstruction effort required citizen support and the assistance of many volunteers. The refuge Project Leader asked a few supporters to form a Friends Group. The leaders of this early group were Penny Thomsen and Robin Fortney. They assembled lists of individuals, contacted conservation organizations, and held their first board meeting on November 17, 1993. From this small beginning of a handful of members and a start-up grant, the Friends of the Prairie Learning Center has grown to around 260 members. Within the spacious 40,000 square feet visitor center and refuge office building, the Friends run a large bookstore. Proceeds from bookstore sales, along with membership fees and donations support multiple refuge activities and major projects. In the late fall of each year, the board has its annual budget meeting. Prior to the meeting, the refuge staff develops and prioritizes their needs from the Friends for the next calendar year. With this process, the board and staff know how much each event or program has for funding. Because no one can predict unforeseen opportunities, a small reserve is designated for miscellaneous needs.
Projects: The refuge's Project Bluestem needed to be rewritten and transferred from a 500-page workbook to an interactive web-based CD. The Friends provided $8000 to not only buy the computer software and supplies used to produce the CD, but also to provide money to develop and produce an accompanying plant identification wheel. A Friends member knowledgeable in web-based software monitored the project and provided technical assistance to the staff during the conversion. Through the bookstore, this educational program is offered to other refuges and educators throughout the Midwest, with over 150 programs purchased so far. Additional information on Project Bluestem can be found at http://www.tallgrass.org/educators.html
Annual Activities: The Friends have purchased rare prairie seed, herbariums for the research lab, journal subscriptions, irrigation pipe for the prairie production plots, and other equipment for biologists and environmental education. Each year, the Friends provide $2000 stipends for three to five biology and public use interns, and this year, an Operations intern was added. These nine-week programs provide staff with needed hands during the spring and summer months. The biology interns work directly with the refuge biologist to assist with resource monitoring, greenhouse and production plot planting and maintenance, and invasive control. The public use interns assist, lead and develop environmental education programs for some of the 15,000 school, scout, and summer day care groups that visit the refuge. All interns are required to keep a daily journal of their thoughts and activities, and these journals reflect growth and understanding of the importance of the refuge system. To see past articles from the interns visit www.tallgrass.org/InternArt.pdf Funding for food, entertainment, speakers, and prizes has been provided at special events such as:
Each year, the Friends invite Congressman Leonard Boswell to a Refuge event. Congressmen Boswell's participation has ranged from dedicating a new exhibit, passing out the awards at the state Jr. Duck Stamp contest to planting prairie plants at our Earth Day event. He is a big supporter of the Refuge and the refuge system, thanks in part, to the Friends providing updates and refuge information. This is just a brief description of the Friends of the Prairie Learning Center's support activities. Like many Friends Groups, this group, as well as its board members, is made up of volunteers and no paid staff. The bookstore manager and all the people who order the inventory, stock the shelves and staff the store are all dedicated volunteers. For additional information about Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge and Friends of the Prairie Learning Center, please visit us at http://www.tallgrass.org.
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