2023 - demonstration of urban conservation practices AT NE Iowa Community college -
CALMAR & PEOSTA

Project Partners

• NE Iowa Community college

Grant award: $16,113 - WQI  

Total project: $34,468              

Applicant/Partner Contributions: $20,355 

Summary
Northeast Iowa Community College converted turf grass areas into prairie and tree plantings on their Calmar and Peosta campuses. This project improves water quality by reducing stormwater and nutrient runoff. The sites will also provide opportunities to educate students, visitors and staff about the benefits of native Iowa species.

Description
The purpose of this project was to improve water quality by reducing stormwater and nutrient runoff at Northeast Iowa Community Colleges at both the Calmar and Peosta campuses. AmeriCorps students helped lead this effort.

The project converted turf areas into prairies at both locations.  A shelterbelt was also established at the Calmar location to re-establish trees lost during straight-line winds in July 2022. Over 100 trees were lost on campus during this single windstorm event. 

The Calmar campus is in the Turkey River Watershed, and the Peosta campus is in the Whitewater Creek Watershed.

The converted areas in Calmar were turf surrounded by sidewalks, all of which accelerate storm runoff. The converted areas in Peosta contained turf and a few trees and are surrounded by a parking lot. At the Calmar campus, a seed mix was used to establish a prairie meadow, and live plants were selected to create pocket prairies in the middle of campus where there is a high level of foot traffic.

The Peosta campus converted seven parking islands to native pocket prairies with live plants. The Peosta parking islands are by the entrance of the newly renovated NICC Conference Center. 

The prairie plantings and shelter belt allow stormwater to more effectively reduce and filter runoff, reintroduce native species to the campus, and provide opportunities to educate students, visitors and staff/faculty about the benefits of native plants.

Between the two campuses, the college has ~3,512 enrolled students and ~734 visitors annually. The newly renovated conference center on the Peosta Campus can host up to 350 visitors at events and now serves as a gathering place for the community with a dozen large events per year and numerous smaller events. The two campuses are already hubs to distribute information across an extensive audience including students, faculty, staff, community members, and professionals. Through collaborative outreach and education efforts, the hope is that these demonstration practices may be more widely adopted. 

Project Status
Completed

Practices
Practices were installed at both the Calmar and Peosta campuses. On the Calmar campus two areas were converted to natives using live native prairie plants (550 square feet) and 1 acre was converted to natives via a native seeding mix. One additional area was converted to a tree shelter belt. On the Peosta Campus, seven parking islands were converted to natives with live plugs (1155 square feet).