Photo: Iowa Department of Natural Resources
(Davis County, IA) -- A new wildlife area has opened to the public in southern Iowa's Davis County. The 500 acre Bell Branch Wildlife Area, five miles north of Bloomfield, off Highway 63, was acquired in June of this year from the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. The area consists of mostly oak and hickory timber, but there are also several man-made ponds, pasture, and grassland.
Jeff Glaw of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the area is a habitat for two rare bats, the Indiana bat and the Northern long-eared Bat, which can be seen during the summer. He says more than 250 bird species have been documented in the area, including 88 species of greatest conservation need, and four that are state-threatened species. Glaw says they've also seen some dragonfly species that have never been documented in Iowa before. There are also deer, and hunting will be allowed. He says visitors may also enjoy taking a hike, harvesting mushrooms, and nuts, and watching for different bird species.
There is currently one parking area in southeast corner of the property.
Glaw says the area is named after the Bell Branch Creek which runs thru the property. He says there's also a former railroad right-of-way, established in 1850s on the property.
“Having a new area of this size is pretty exciting. It will take some work, but it will be fun to watch it transition into the wildlife area that we want it to be,” said Jeff Glaw, wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “We are excited to get the forest wildlife stewardship and management plan in place and get to work. The CRP contract expires next year when we can begin managing it to eliminate the invasive Reed canary grass and begin work to converting CRP to prairie.”
The Iowa DNR purchased the land from the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation for $1.9 million, using a special federal funding source to support endangered species for bat habitat restoration. It had been appraised for $2.31 million. The DNR will continue to pay property taxes on Bell Branch Wildlife Area.
Bell Branch is adjacent to a 413-acre parcel to the north that is enrolled in the Iowa Habitat and Access Program (IHAP). The two combined areas total nearly 1,000 acres for public use.