Mission Monday: Siouxland Bird Guide

Our mission at Golden Hills RC&D is to collaboratively develop and lead community, conservation, and cultural initiatives to improve our quality of life in rural western Iowa. Our "official" territory from our original organizational bylaws is an eight-county region in the southwestern portion of Iowa (Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby). In 2023, we added four more counties (Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, and Monona). Several projects extend beyond these 12 counties into more than 20 counties (learn more about where we work). ​

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Our goals are to develop industries in local communities that utilize local resources; ensure healthy natural resources that meet the needs of agriculture, industry, private use, and recreational facilities; promote and enhance art, culture and historic resources in rural communities; collaborate with local governments and organizations on projects that benefit the environment; and work on projects that fill gaps in community services to benefit people of southwest Iowa.

We accomplish these goals by focusing our work in five program areas: outdoor recreation and tourism, land stewardship, water resources, local foods, and arts and culture. Today's Mission Monday focus is Outdoor Recreation & Tourism.

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Golden Hills RC&D recently worked with the Loess Hills Audubon Society to update their Siouxland Bird Guide. The project was completed thanks to grant funding from Loess Hills Audubon Society, Iowa Audubon, Fund for Siouxland, and the Conservation Education Program,  a key provision of the Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Act of 1989.

Based out of Sioux City, the Loess Hills Audubon Society exists to educate individuals and the general public, to enjoy and promote birding, to support ornithology, and to be an advocate for wild areas and environmental issues. The Sioux City Chapter of the Audubon Society obtained a Provisional Charter from the National Audubon Society in 1973. The Sioux City Chapter of the Audubon Society was renamed the Loess Hills Audubon Society (LHAS) in the fall of 1981.

Loess Hills Audubon Society meets at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center in Sioux City the first Thursday of the month during the months of September through May at 7:00 P.M.

The first Siouxland Bird Guide was produced in 2003

The guide included brief descriptions of habitat

The original Siouxland Bird Guide checklist and map was compiled by T.J. Walker, Mark Brogie, Bill Huser, Jerry Probst and Bob Livermore in May 2003. The checklist also included a map of the northern Loess Hills landform which was produced by Golden Hills RC&D.  Birding areas and cultural features were added to the map through the work of a committee consisting of Bill and Dotty Zales, Bob Moritz, Chuck Johnson, Mary Cae Madden, Bill Huser, and Jody Moats.

LHAS President Rex Rundquist & Golden Hills RC&D Project Coordinator Seth Brooks

Twenty years after the publication of the original Siouxland Bird guide, Golden Hills RC&D collaborated with the Loess Hills Audubon Society to complete one of their chapter goals: to evaluate a possible update to Siouxland Bird Guide. ​​Bill Huser compiled an updated species list; he also updated habitat descriptions that were written by Bob Mortiz and Scott Moats for the original 2003 guide. Randy Williams provided an updated list of birding sites as well as excellent photos of birds and birding outings led by Loess Hills Audubon Society.

Golden Hills RC&D updated the map of the Siouxland area and handled the design of the brochure, which maintains the original design of the 2003 guide.

The new Siouxland Bird Guides are available at Loess Hills Audubon Society chapter meetings, the Golden Hills RC&D office in Oakland, and at area nature centers and visitor centers throughout the Siouxland area and along the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway.

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