History Of The Iowa Cooperative Fish And Wildlife Unit

Iowa is filled with astounding places such as the Mississippi river, the Wildlife Refugee and the Indian creek. All of these natural resources and wildlife are slowly getting turned into farming and agriculture. Although, both are extremely beneficial and important to our society, there needs to be a balance between the too. The organization that is trying to preserve this balance between wildlife and agriculture is the Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit. The organization goes along with Iowa States mission and vision because they are trying to make the world a better place and they are putting technology to work. The organization was created at Iowa State University but its ideas spread throughout the state and the nation. The goals

The organization was established in 1932 at Iowa State College, currently called Iowa State University. The person that is behind the idea of creating an organization to preserve Iowa’s nature was political cartoonist, J.N. “Ding” Darling. Darling was very passionate about this cause because he could see that Iowa’s nature was slowly diminishing due to farming. His ideas of preserving Iowa’s natural resources but at the same time boosting Iowa’s crop production directly coincides with the Iowa state mission. Darling saw an issue and put in the work to see results and change. He ultimately became the first chairmen of the Iowa Fish and Game. He was so dedicated that he pledged $9,000 of his own money during the depression. Although, he was the first to recognize the problem there

One project that they are currently working on is figuring out ways to help the amphibian population thrive as it is diminishing in Iowa and across the globe. The two main causes to their decline are habitat loss and contamination. In the state of Iowa the conversion from wetlands, their habitat, to farmland is the cause for their population decline. The Iowa Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Unit has radio tracked 72 leopard frogs. After they finished tracking them they euthanized and analyzed them for pesticide content. This project is still in continuation as they continue to look at the affects of both chemicals and land change. They hope to use this information so they can share it around the world, which is exactly what the Iowa States mission and vision