AMES, Iowa — Iowa Learning Farms, in partnership with the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and Conservation Learning Group (CLG), is hosting a free virtual field day on returning oxbows on Iowa’s landscape on Thursday, January 21 at 1 p.m. CST.

Restoring oxbows creates a multitude of benefits to the landscape including improving water quality, offering flood storage capabilities and providing crucial wildlife habitat to a wide range of creatures including endangered species like the Topeka Shiner. Join us for a virtual tour of a restored oxbow and live conversation with Karen Wilke, Iowa Freshwater Specialist & Boone River Project Director for The Nature Conservancy, Jeff Pudenz, Greene County landowner, Darrick Weissenfluh, private lands fish and wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dylan Osterhaus and Sam Leberg, Research Assistants at Iowa State University.

“Building off our ILF webinar about oxbows, this virtual tour will dive deeper into the site characteristics, survey, design, and monitoring aspects of oxbow restorations,” noted Wilke. “Find out how simple restorations can be and how abundant of an opportunity we have with oxbows!”

To participate in the live virtual field day at 1:00 pm CST on January 21, click this URL: https://iastate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUpduihpj8iE9ZHcjpsenc2DWQILG41wg0D or visit www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/events and click “Join Live Virtual Field Day”.

Or, join from a dial-in phone line:

Dial: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 876 9923

Meeting ID: 914 1198 4892

The field day will be recorded and archived on the ILF website so that it can be watched at any time. The archive will be available at https://www.iowalearningfarms.org/page/events.

Participants may be eligible for a Certified Crop Adviser board-approved continuing education unit (CEU). Information about how to apply to receive the credit (if approved) will be provided at the end of the live field day.