$20
Eastern Iowa, you’ve been asking us for years to bring Bite Sized Adventures to your neck of the woods, and we’re so excited to start offering some events this year!!!
The big migration is happening—join us for a field day dedicated to it! In our first eastern Iowa event of the year, we’ll be hitting up a Louisa County hidden gem that’s a hot spot for migrating birds, wetland species and more!
With over 1,000 acres of wetland habitat, Cone Marsh Wildlife Management Area sits just half an hour south of Iowa City, is the most diverse wetland in southeast Iowa and provides some of the best migratory bird watching in the whole state. Join us as we hike the trails through the park, where we’ll spend time spotting as many birds as we can (during peak migration time!), learn about the history and restoration of the area, and explore a fantastic public piece of habitat. After, we’ll travel to the Swinging Bridge in Columbus Junction, where we’ll enjoy lunch before crossing the famous swinging bridge and exploring the area. This event has it all, led by two super enthusiastic guides with deep knowledge of wetland habitats!
Registration is limited to 20 folks.
About your guides
Carolyn
I grew up on the South Side of Chicago but spent my weekends exploring the hollows of my family’s land in Driftless Wisconsin. I’d show up to school on Mondays smelling of campfire smoke, with burs in my hair, and with deer mandibles for show-and-tell.
After college, I earned a JD and Master of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law and my first job post-law school took me to Fairbanks, Alaska. I met my husband in Fairbanks, and we adventured under the aurora and the midnight sun with our sled dog, Ayla. In 2011, we moved to Iowa City, my husband being from eastern Iowa, and we’ve since had two kiddos. I’m in-house counsel for a large transportation company, I occasionally write about water quality issues in Iowa, and I’m an Iowa Master Naturalist and Iowa Master River Steward.
When not lawyering, I enjoy spending time with my family outside, particularly at our off-grid cabin northeast of Decorah. I have been an active board member for several conservation organizations, and currently serve as President of the Johnson County Conservation Board.
Louise
There is nothing I love more than spending time outdoors and sharing that experience with fellow nature enthusiasts. I was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska and moved to Iowa almost 5 years ago. Being fairly new to the area, I've enjoyed getting to see some of the critters we don't have up north including crayfish, pelicans, and turtles. I try to regularly find mini adventures outside my backdoor here in Eastern Iowa including ice skating on the nearest creek, paddle boarding on the Cedar River, or discovering a new early morning birding spot.
I have a degree in Enviromental Education from Western Washington University and spent my summers after college working as the assistant director of Camp Habitat, Fairbanks, Alaska's longest running children's ecology camp. I spent a little over a decade working at the Alaska Department Fish & Game's Arctic Marine Mammal Program doing stomach content analysis on ice seals. Since there are no marine mammals here in Iowa, I now work for the State Hygienic Laboratory limnology department doing all things fresh water.
I find equal excitement finding cranefly larvae in creeks as I do finding Sandhill cranes in the sky. I look forward to sharing that enthusiasm with all of you.