Iowa Habitat & Watersheds:

Is Improvement Really This Easy?

When:          June 23, 2010 -  7:00 – 9:00 PM

                      June 24, 2010 -  8:00 AM- 12 Noon

Where:         Bridgestone Bandag Learning Center

                  2000 Bandag Drive

        Muscatine, Iowa (see map, inset)

Who:   Please join us as Tri-Rivers Conservation Foundation and Bridgestone Bandag hosts a workshop to highlight simple, inexpensive, and effective tools that improve water quality and habitat.  These tools are available to homeowners, schools, landscape companies, businesses, etc.

The Program:

Wednesday, June 23 (7:00-9:00 PM)

Thursday, June 24 (8:00- 11:00 AM)                                  

RSVP by June 21, 2010:  Mallory Smith at tri-rivers@lccb.org or 319-527-4530

Map of Bridgestone Bandag Learning Center on Muscatine Community College Campus

More Information:

When it rains it pours, but why the floods?   Why do I spend so much time on the lawn?   Join us to learn how we got ourselves into this mess and the simple, inexpensive, and effective tools that can improve water quality and habitat right in our own back yards (and front yards).   Tri-Rivers Conservation Foundation and Bridgestone Bandag invites homeowners, schools, landscape companies, and businesses to a workshop titled Iowa Habitat & Watersheds: Is Improvement Really This Easy? The Event will take place June 23 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm and June 24 from 8:00 am to 11 AM at the Bridgestone Bandag Learning Center, 2000 Bandag Drive, Muscatine. The event is free and open to the public.   Space is limited, so for more information or to reserve your place, contact Mallory Smith at tri-rivers@lccb.org or 319-527-4530.

On the evening on June 23 featured speaker Jim Patchett, from Conservation Design Forum, will give an inspiring presentation that explains the dynamics of landscape, lawn care, and water management in a new light.   You will come away with a better understanding of beautiful, inexpensive additions to your landscape that properly manage stormwater and enhance native Iowa plant and animal species. The presentation will be from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Bridgestone Bandag Learning Center, 2000 Bandag Drive, Muscatine.

Thursday morning’s session will show participants how to make the changes they want in the land they care for. From 8:00 to 11:00 am experts from around the state will provide hands on instruction regarding simple, inexpensive, and effective methods that improve water quality and habitat. We’ll spend some time on the grounds of the Bridgestone Bandag Learning Center with members of the Environmental and Facilities teams who will share their experiences converting “high dollar” turf to regain some of Iowa’s prairie heritage.

Bridgestone Bandag LLC is a division of Bridgestone Americas, Inc.  Bridgestone Americas, Inc, has nine locations certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council as Wildlife at Work, or Corporate Lands for Learning.  Bridgestone Bandag hopes to become the tenth Bridgestone Americas, Inc. certified site.  Successful attainment of the certification would allow Bridgestone Bandag to join long time member, Monsanto,  as a leader in corporate wildlife habitat enhancement in the greater Muscatine area.   Notably, the team at the Bridgestone Agricultural Tire Plant in Des Moines will begin their habitat and native landscape projects later this year.

Tri-Rivers Conservation Foundation, based in Louisa County, provides funds for the protection and enhancement of natural resources in the environmentally rich area of the confluences of the Cedar, Iowa and Mississippi Rivers. The group holds educational and fund raising events, co-publishes a quarterly newsletter known as Naturally Louisa County and leads the capital campaign for the Louisa Interpretive Center. More information can be found online at www.tri-rivers.org.

 Bridgestone Bandag Learning Center and Natural Habitat Area