The Grassley/Harkin legislation provides $275,000 for completion of a year-long study by the Secretary of the Interior. It directs a review of options for the protection and interpretation of the area's natural, cultural and historical resources.
The study would include an analysis of the suitability and feasibility of designating the Loess Hills a part of the National Park System, a National Heritage Area, Heritage Corridor, or another designation as may be appropriate. The Interior Department is required to consult with local and state officials, landowners who would be affected, as well as interested public and private organizations in Iowa.
The Loess Hills study was one item considered for authorization this afternoon by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic Preservation and Recreation. Grassley, Harkin, Shirley Frederikson of Golden Hills Research, Conservation and Development in Oakland, Iowa, and Maurice Welte of the Loess Hills Alliance in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, all testified in favor of the Grassley/Harkin bill.
This initiative follows action last month by each senator to prompt a federal government review of the Loess Hills.
Grassley said he is advocating a federal study because of the initiative shown by the grassroots-based Loess Hills Alliance and the Iowa legislature. "The Interior Department can help consider the many models and alternatives that exist for preserving the Loess Hills, especially those that are driven by local and state leadership," he said. "My message today is that the Hills are a unique geographic area that deserves recognition."
The Loess Hills have natural distinctions which are found in only one other place in the world, China. Soil deposited by wind over many centuries formed the Loess Hills, which support several species of rare native prairie grass. The Hills are spread across 600,000 acres in Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, and Woodbury counties in Iowa.