About our Projects

RC&D Councils seek and coordinate assistance from a variety of public and private sources. Assistance may include coordinating technical help from a government agency or private consultant: planning a financing package for a project that includes donations, loans, grants or cost-sharing; or bringing together diverse groups to achieve common goals. What follows below is a brief synopsis about completed, ongoing, and future projects undertaken by the RC&D. Please feel free to browse, read the synopsis and click on the highlighted text to find more in-depth information.

Hungry Canyons Alliance

The Hungry Canyons Alliance develops regional solutions to stream channel erosion and degradation in the loess region of western Iowa. This initiative has united local leaders in the 22-county area to cooperatively plan, fund, and implement channel stabilization projects. Since 1991, $3.8 million has been provided by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and $4.77 million through state appropriations for use in streambed stabilization. Member counties receiving Hungry Canyons Funds have provided 20 percent of the cost of structures.

Loess Hills National Scenic Byway

Deep loess soils are found in corrugated hills in seven counties adjacent to the Missouri River. The Loess Hills National Scenic Byway travels 220 miles through seven counties, two-dozen communities, and beautiful and unique scenery. To improve travelers' understanding of the area and to increase tourism, the Golden Hills RC&D worked with the Western Iowa Tourism Region and the National Park Service to produce a Byway Guidebook and install 42 interpretive panels along the route.

Community Services

The Golden Hills RC&D has sponsored a variety of projects in small rural communities in western Iowa. Some of the projects have been economic development for small businesses or community improvement projects. One of the most visible of these projects is the Wabash Trace Nature Trail. This project provided technical and financial assistance for natural resource and economic development along the 63-mile multi-use trail used annually by 30,000 visitors. Other examples include: restrooms and park improvement in Farragut; organizational assistance for a Historical Park in Lewis; start-up assistance for a business operated by physically challenged individuals and cabins at a county park.

Technology Services

Populations and resources in rural areas are very often the last to benefit from the application of technological advances and innovations. In Iowa, the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology at the local level to address rural issues is in the early stages of development. The importance of sound natural resource management to the economic and social well being of rural communities and areas underscores the enormous potential of GIS as a decision-making tool for resource managers, public officials, and business owners. That being the case, Golden Hills RC&D, an organization deeply concerned with the human environment and natural resources in rural Iowa, has developed the expertise and acquired the technical and material support necessary to serve as a regional source of GIS assistance.

Western Iowa Grape Growers

Today, many people in the Loess Hills and western Iowa are seeking new ways to live on the land. Adding diversity to a farm or putting in an acre or two of grapes on a small homestead offers new opportunities for landowners. As a perennial crop, grapes prevent erosion of the loess soils and offer added income for the landowner.

A vineyard can produce an average of three tons of grapes per acre. One ton of grapes can make up to 150 gallons of wine. Depending upon the grape, common or premium, a grower may earn between $800 and $1500 per ton of grapes harvested.

Loess Hills Economic Development Projects

This diverse category of projects has had projects ranging from attempting to identify market-based products and profit-making ventures utilizing a significant amount of Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginian) and other invasive woody vegetation growing in the Loess Hills region of western Iowa to self-guided drive at your own pace tours of artists studios in western Iowa.

Loess Hills Invasive Species Projects

Projects focused primarily on the challenges to reducing woody vegetation and restoring a more natural fire regime in the Loess Hills to studying and documenting the extent of the Bur Oak savanna in western Iowa as well as providing incentives to restore prairie areas in the Loess Hills.