2023 - YSS Ember Recovery Campus - Cambridge

Project Partners

• Iowa State University College of Design

• Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

• Story County Conservation Board

  
  

  
  

  
  

Grant award: $288,200 - WQI  

Total project: $576,400

Applicant/Partner Contributions: : $288,200  

Description
YSS has developed a 50-acre nature-based recovery campus in Central Iowa to provide crisis stabilization, youth shelters, and adolescent addiction treatment. This project is the result of a close collaboration with the ISU College of Design, the Story County Conservation Board, and Prudenterra.

The plan included:

• Preservation of existing prairie and forest.

• On site stormwater best management practices to improve water quality for runoff across over 50 acres of nearby land.

The project is currently in progress (July 2026).

Campus Key Conservation Practices

• A 2-acre pond to manage stormwater.

• Bioswales and native landscaping for natural filtration.

• 1.62 acres of native seed planting, including a sensory garden.