Irvine Prairie founder Cathy Irvine, right, assists a Union High School student during a field trip to the preserve on May 22. A total of 60 students from Craig Hemsath’s and Adam Sacquitne’s classes attended the annual spring planting day. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

IRVINE PRAIRIE – Roughly 60 Union high schoolers from Craig Hemsath’s science classes and Adam Sacquitne’s agriculture classes visited Irvine Prairie north of Dysart on May 22 as part of the annual spring planting day at the Tallgrass Prairie Center’s (TPC) prairie-in-progress.

More than 1,500 plugs were planted including blue flag iris, porcupine grass, spotted Joe Pye weed, and Virginia bunchflower.

“Our goal is to give the plants the best chance of establishing,” TPC staff wrote in a planning email shared with the newspaper ahead of the field trip. “These species play important roles in the prairie and are not often found in prairies planted from seed.”

According to TPC, over the last five years, more than 400 students from both Union and North Tama County schools have visited the prairie as part of a school field trip. It is TPC staff’s hope that in the ensuing years, many of those students will visit the preserve again as adults knowing the difference they made in bringing prairie back to Iowa’s landscape.

To stay abreast of all the happenings at Irvine Prairie including any public programming offerings, be sure to follow UNI’s Tallgrass Prairie Center on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tallgrassprairiecenter).

A screenshot from the Iowa Division Izaak Walton League via YouTube. Cathy Irvine, center, was honored with the League’s 2024 Iowa Honor Roll Award in absentia on April 20 as part of the organization’s annual state convention. Also pictured, Lisa McIntyre, vice president of the Iowa Division of IWL (top right) presenting the award to Irvine.

Irvine receives Izaak Walton League’s 2024 Iowa Honor Roll Award

Back on April 20, Irvine Prairie founder Cathy Irvine was honored during the Iowa Division Izaak Walton League of America’s 2024 state convention with an Iowa Honor Roll Award. The award is designed to recognize non-members who have achieved outstanding accomplishments involving conservation, public education, or publicity efforts in keeping with the League’s goals.

She was nominated for the honor by the Linn County IWL Chapter.

Irvine was presented with the award in absentia by Lisa McIntyre, vice president of the Iowa Division of IWL.

“[Irvine Prairie] is a learning place for all the schools. [Cathy Irvine] was a teacher … and so it was very important to her to get the kids outdoors – teach them about all the conservation,” McIntyre said as she introduced Irvine. “It’s still dear to her heart and, as you can tell, she is still out there, when she can, to plant. … She is still very [hands-on] in this project.”

While Irvine was unable to accept her award in person, IWL member Paul Jenkins visited her at Irvine Prairie last month as part of a commemorative video he made for each of this year’s honorees.

“When I heard that the Izaak Walton League had nominated me for an award in conservation, I was surprised and pleased – I have admired their work for many years from afar,” Irvine said while seated on her front porch facing Irvine Prairie’s original parcel just across the road.

Irvine continued, “I grew up knowing about the Izaak Walton League because one of my uncles was a very avid fisherman and he talked about all the work that was being done to restore rivers and conserve nature through the Izaak Walton League. … [Izaak Walton] was in my periphery but not right in the front of my consciousness at all times. But because I believe in how beautiful Iowa is – and all of the United States – I supported their work in thought if not in actual word.”

“Because we need to take care of what we have.”

Irvine’s full interview can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKZQjhGKHOk&feature=youtu.be