On Common Ground, aims to promote stewardship of Iowa’s Loess Hills by fostering greater awareness of and appreciation for this exceptional natural landscape.

Inspired by a foray held at Mount St. Helens in 2005, a diverse set of 24 naturalists and artists convened for a weekend in the northern Loess Hills in fall 2021. During this encampment, the group manned a prairie burn and witnessed the majesty of a bison herd.

Publication of an anthology of twenty- three ensuing works (poems and essays) penned by seventeen participants plus artwork and color photography is anticipated in August 2023. Local writers Bill Zales, Scott Moats, and Norma Wilson will grace this book alongside pieces by Connie Mutel, Dan O’Brien, John Price, and Patrick Hicks. A video documentary is also in the works.

The status and further expectations of the On Common Ground project will be presented at the February Loess Hills Audubon meeting.

Funding for On Common Ground was awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Iowa DNR REAP Conservation Education Program, and the local Margaret Ann Martin Everist Foundation.

For additional information, please have a look at: BCU’s Center for Prairie Studies Facebook page.

LHAS Board Meeting begins at 6:00 PM with Brian’s program beginning at 7:00 PM.

The Loess Hills Audubon Society exists to educate individuals and the public to enjoy and promote birding, to support ornithology and to be an advocate for wild areas and environmental issues. The Loess Hills Audubon Society is a chapter of the National Audubon Society.