Biology professor Kirk Larsen (right) makes an important point about the visibility of Luther’s natural areas: because students live in such close proximity to them, they can’t help but learn about ecology.
LUTHER PHOTO BUREAU
“We have some restoration, like the Yvlisaker Slope clearing we’re doing— turning that into oak savanna—and students are saying why? So it’s an opportunity to educate them that it’s part of the historic landscape of northeast Iowa, and we’re tying to restore that,” Larsen says. “Everybody sees Anderson Prairie—they see us burning it in the spring, or they see us burning Gateway Prairie when they’re sitting up in the Union eating dinner and see all these big flames, so they poke their heads out: What’s going on? There’s actually a lot of learning associated with having these areas right on campus.”
LUTHER’S NAMED NATURAL AREAS INCLUDE:
Aikman Prairie Anderson Prairie Flying Squirrel Forest Freeport Marsh Gateway Prairie Hawk Hill Hickory Ridge Woods Hoslett Field Study Area Jewell Field Lionberger Preserve Norski Bottoms Norski Hill/Slope
COLIN BETTS PHOTO
Roslien Woodlands South Park Spilde Woods Sunflower Summit West River Corridor
During professor of anthropology Colin Betts’s Archeological Field Methods course, Molly Kline ’12 and Haaken Hagen-Atwell, son of LIS public services coordinator Eddie Atwell, excavate a test unit in Lionberger Preserve to look for evidence of prehistoric habitations. From their preliminary work, the site appears to have been a small campsite that was periodically used around 2,000 years ago.
In addition to a better appreciation of the natural world in general, Beth Lynch, associate professor of biology, says students learn to particularly appreciate this place, northeast Iowa. “It would be easy to overlook the particulars of this place in the classroom, where examples from other parts of the world dominate textbooks, lessons, and readings.” But learning
the cultural, entomological, artistic, prehistoric, agricultural, and botanical history of this place keeps students connected to it. And this connection changes them. As Lynch reflects (Agora, Spring 2011): “This practice of attention to the natural world is transformative. It pulls us beyond the physical limits of our bodies, beyond the confusion of
human relationships and social mores, out into the world of damp soil, chilly breezes, muddy rivers, lichens on tree bark, and kettles of turkey vultures soaring on a warm updraft. This attention to the world beyond fills us with wonder, love, and sorrow.”
Fall 2015 Luther Alumni Magazine
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