Lake Red Rock (Knoxville)
Lake Red Rock is Iowa's largest lake and is just 10 minutes from Pella, known for its Dutch heritage and 15 minutes from Knoxville, Sprintcar Capital of the World. Lake Red Rock offers camping; shoreline fishing; interpretive programs and access to a paved 13-mile hiking/biking trail. White pelicans migrate through the lake area every spring and fall and large numbers of bald eagles are observed during winter months. A State wildlife management area provides refuge and public hunting.
Rathbun Lake (Centerville)
Over 700 campsites are available at this 11, 000-acre lake in the rolling hills of southern Iowa. Excellent fishing, hunting, sailing, state fish hatchery, and Restaurant and Inn, are major attractions.
Effigy Mounds National Monument (Harpers Ferry)
Prehistoric mounds are common from the plains of the Midwest to the Atlantic seaboard, but only in this general area was there a culture that regularly constructed mounds in the shape of mammals, birds, or reptiles. The monument contains 2, 526 acres with 195 mounds of which 31 are effigies. The others are conical, linear and compound. Eastern Woodland Indians built mounds from about 500 BC until the early European contact period.
Coralville Lake (Iowa City)
The Coralville Lake Project is comprised of five campgrounds and offers lake and river fishing, camping, boating, swimming and water-skiing. Several public golf courses are just a short drive from the Project. The environment is wooded. Coralville Lake is located very close to Iowa City/Coralville, which boasts the largest mall in Iowa.
Mississippi River Pools 11-22 (10 L&D) (Pleasant Valley)
23 developed recreation sites along 314 miles of the Mississippi River between Petosi, WI and Saverton, MO. There are several campgrounds and numerous day use sites. The more popular sites are Grant River, Blanding Landing, Pleasant Creek, Bulger's Hollow, Thomson Causeway, Fisherman's Corner, Clark's Ferry, Shady Creek and Blanchard Island. The Mississippi River Visitor's Center is located on Arsenal Island in Rock Island, Illinois at Locks and Dam 15, overlooking the Upper Mississippi River.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (Missouri Valley)
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is part of a network of refuges devoted to preserving and restoring increasingly scarce habitat for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. The refuge is comprised of 7, 823 acres and lies in the Missouri River Valley floodplain on a former meander of the Missouri River. Each year, especially during the fall, spectacular flights of ducks and geese mark the changing seasons along this traditional waterfowl flyway.
Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge (McGregor)
The "driftless area" of the Upper Midwest derives its name from the fact that it was unglaciated during the most recent glacial event about 12, 000 years ago. Glaciers surrounded but did not pass over this land. Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1989 to protect the Federally endangered Iowa Pleistocene snail and threatened northern monkshood plant.
Iowa Wetland Management District (Titonka)
The Iowa Wetland Management District is part of Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge and is very different from other wetland management districts. Under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (State), the State manages the waterfowl production areas (WPAs) in the district. This is a partnership that has been very beneficial to the Service.
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (Prairie City)
The Neal Smith National Wildife Refuge and Prairie Learning Center was created by an act of Congress in 1990, to re-construct tallgrass prairie and restore oak savanna on 8, 654 acres of the Walnut Creek watershed and to provide a major environmental education facility focusing on prairie, oak savanna, and human interaction.
Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge (Titonka)
Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937 to provide a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife. The actual slough is all that remains of a pre-glacial riverbed, and its name is derived from the connection or "union" of two watersheds: the Blue Earth River of Minnesota and the East Fork of the Des Moines River. The terrain is nearly flat, allowing the flow of the water to be determined by the direction of the wind at times.
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (West Branch)
Few Americans have known greater acclaim or more bitter criticism than Herbert Hoover. Born on August 10, 1874, Hoover was the son of a Quaker blacksmith, orphaned at an early age, and achieved international success as a mining engineer and world-wide gratitude as "The Great Humanitarian" who fed a billion people in 57 countries during and after World War I.
Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge (Wapello)
The Port Louisa National Wildlife Refuge comprises over 8, 373 acres, divided into four separate divisions: Big Timber, Louisa, Keithsburg, and Horseshoe Bend. Three divisions - Big Timber, Louisa, and Keithsburg - are located in the floodplain of the Mississippi River, while Horseshoe Bend is in the Iowa River floodplain. All divisions are within the famous Mississippi Flyway, one of the nation's most important migration routes.
Saylorville Lake (Johnston)
Ten miles to the north of Des Moines, Iowa, is Saylorville Lake, a 26, 000 acre (land and water) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake project. Construction of the flood control project began in 1965 and when completed in 1977, provided cities and towns downstream of the dam protection from the Des Moines River during periods of high water. Recreational opportunities abound on and around the 5, 500 acre lake.