Iowa City park to be named state preserve

A hidden gem of the Iowa City park system is about to receive a major recognition from the state.

Ryerson's Woods Park is on the verge of being designated a state preserve, which would protect its 49 acres from future development.

'This isn't just some woodland. This has some really, really neat stuff in it,” said Diana Horton, a botanist and professor emeritus at the University of Iowa who has helped lead the effort to get the preserve status.

Among that neat stuff are more than 180 native plant species, including a couple classified as endangered or threatened and another 11 that are considered rare, she said.

That's part of the reason the seven-member State Preserves Advisory Board, which counsels the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), voted in April to have Ryerson's Woods join the existing list of 95 preserves recognized by the state for their significant natural or cultural features.

The Iowa City Council in June approved a resolution for the dedication, and all that's left is for Gov. Terry Branstad to sign that to make it official. Mike Moran, Iowa City's parks and recreation director, expects that to happen sometime this summer at a ceremony at Ryerson's Woods.

The program protects 'some of the best examples of geology and the flora and fauna history, archaeology and scenic views,” said Daryl Howell, an environmental specialist with the DNR.

The land is protected in perpetuity, and a management plan determines how it is maintained.

Ryerson's Woods Park sits on the south side of Iowa City near the Johnson County Fairgrounds.

There's no playground, ball field or pond. A small shelter with a couple of picnic tables and a grill and some benches in the woods are the only traditional parklike amenities.

Instead, it's more of a nature area filled with numerous plant species that offer a palette of colors in the spring before green dominates in the summer

A dirt trail winds its way through the woods and, at about a mile of up-and-down hiking, provides a good workout to anyone who takes it.

'It was one of those things what was definitely a gem and people didn't realize” was there, Moran said of the park.

It was known among UI botanists, Horton said, and she became a frequent visitor in the mid-1990s.

'As I started going there, I realized, whoa, this really is something,” she said.

In 2009 she had an honors student, Sophia Krajewski, do a project on the woods that included collecting and analyzing specimens.

The number of native and rare species, and the eight different types of ferns, is exceptional for Iowa and compared with the other state preserves, Horton said.

Not everything found in Ryerson's Woods is good, however.

An additional 30 plant species are alien and a threat to the native plant life, Horton said. She recently found a few more invasive species along the edge of the parking lot that she believes came from someone dumping yard waste.

The process to get Ryerson's Woods named a state preserve started a few years ago, and Horton gets emotional talking about the pending designation.

'I guess I want it preserved so people can enjoy it for a really long time to come because it is special,” she said.