The quiet season

This outdoor classroom at Linn-Mar Community Schools is relatively quiet in the winter. But during warmer weather, birds, butterflies and students enjoy the prairie, wetland and interpretive trails. 

The Living Roadway Trust Fund encourages the use of outdoor classrooms in teaching and learning and provides funding for their establishment. The Linn-Mar project, which received LRTF funding in the 90s, also serves as low-maintenance landscaping on the school grounds.

 
 
Roadside Opportunities

The native grasses and wildflowers of Iowa's original prairie landscape are well-adapted for use on roadsides. Hardy and beautiful, native roadsides offer aesthetic, economic, environmental, and educational opportunities. Establishing prairie plants in roadside rights-of-way:
 
  • provides low-maintenance weed and erosion control
  • reduces surface runoff and erosion by improving infiltration
  • reduces snow drifting and winter glare
  • ensures sustainability by increasing species diversity
  • enhances wildlife habitat
  • beautifies the landscape by providing
    ever changing color and texture
    throughout the year
  • preserves our natural heritage

Support Iowa's Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) program

The state of Iowa invests in the enhancement and protection of its natural and cultural resources through REAP. The annual REAP appropriation is set by the legislature, and is supplemented by sales of natural resource license plates. The Living Roadway Trust Fund is one of many beneficiaries of the program.  Iowa citizens are the biggest beneficiaries, and have several opportunities to ensure REAP's success. Visit REAP to learn more, or click the license plate for information about purchasing natural resource plates.
 

 
Click here to view this native Iowa plant life.
  Scientific Name:
    Gentianopsis crinita

  Common Name:
    Fringed Gentian

  Height:
    16"

  Bloom Month:
    Aug Oct Sep

  Bloom Color:
    Blue

 
Native Plants
 
The Iowa DOT's
2012 Wildflower Calendar
is available
here.
HomeLRTFIRVMGrant ApplicationResearchProjectsNative PlantsKids & EducationContact