Friends of Hickory Hill Park

Dedicated to preserving Hickory Hill Park as a natural sanctuary for Iowa City.

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Flash Flooding Washes out Trails

The flash flood on June 15 washed out several trails and bridges in the park. Subsequent storms also brought down many trees. Friends of Hickory Hill Park is working with the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department to formulate a recovery plan. This will include volunteer work by Friends to assist with trail repair and small tree removal. If you are interested in volunteering or if you would like to contribute funds toward our work, please e-mail us a info@hickoryhillpark.org.

Please exercise caution when you are hiking in the park.

Matching Grant to Benefit Park Stewardship

FHHP is pleased to announce the Dollar-forDollar Matching Grant to support stewardship in the park.

An anonymous donor will match all donations made to the FHHP-Stewardship Fund before August 1, 2010, dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000 . The goal is to raise $40,000 to fund longterm restoration and conservation efforts in the park and in the Dickens Preserve. Stewardship activities include prairie reconstruction, woodland and streambank restoration, and invasive species control.

To have your donation matched, please contribute to FHHP-LEAF before July 30, 2010.

Prairie restoration is just one aspect of management that will be supported through the stewardship fund.

afterburn3

View of the Transvaal Managment Unit in the northeast section of the park. This area was burned on April 10 with assistance from Liz Maas and a 10-member Americorps team based out of Vinton, Iowa.

2010 in 2010

Help us meet our goal of 2,010 hours of volunteer work in the park this year. In 2009 FFHP contributed 1,700 hours.

As of May 1, FHHP has provided 1350 hours of volunteer work. Special thanks to University of Iowa Environmental Science students for their 340 hours of service and to the Americorp Team
for 800 hours of service. Both groups were supervised by FHHP members.

Prairie Fire

Two successful prescribed burns were conducted in the park on April 10: the main
(8-acre prairie) and the Transvaal management unit, both in north Hickory Hill Park.

A third burn at the Regina prairie site, east of the detention dam, was completed on April 12.

To view a map of the work site, including prairie sites,click here.

Watch video of the burns that took place in Hickory Hill Park in 2009 by clicking one of the links below:

Volunteers learn why and how we use fire in the park with Mike Fallon.

Starting the burn perimeter.

Volunteers dragging the fire .

THANK YOU!

FHHP wishes to thank Jan Weissmiller and Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City for their donation of $370 to FHHP's Land Acquistion and Enhancement Fund!The donation represent 20% of all sales of Bill Witt's Enchanted by Prairie from October through December 2009. Prairie Lights is a longtime supporter of FHHP and we are grateful for their generosity!

Contact

Friends of Hickory Hill Park
P.O. Box 3439
Iowa City, IA 52244-3439
Phone: (319) 466-0908
Email

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