Curious Iowa: How are official state symbols designated?

Iowa’s neighbors to the north have a host of official state symbols. Fittingly, Wisconsin’s state dance is the Polka and its state dairy product is cheese. Minnesota’s state sport is ice hockey and its official grain is wild rice.

But Iowa has far fewer symbols — in fact, it’s the state with the fewest official symbols. But the lack of symbols hasn’t been from a lack of trying. In recent years, the Iowa Legislature has turned down proposals for a state fish, insect, butterfly and horse, to name a few.

One curious Iowan from Cedar Rapids wondered how official state flora and fauna are designated. They asked Curious Iowa, a Gazette series that responds to readers’ questions about our state and how it works, to find the answer.

How are official state symbols designated?

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The Iowa Legislature has to pass a bill to designate an official state symbol. This means the proposal will need to successfully pass through the Iowa House and Iowa Senate before it is sent to the governor’s desk. There have been proposals in the Iowa Legislature this year that would designate the American cream draft horse as Iowa’s horse and the Iowa darter as the state fish.

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For years, Sen. Annette Sweeney, R-Alden, has been championing the American cream draft horse. This Legislative session, it passed through subcommittees in the Iowa Senate and House. But Sweeney told The Gazette that she doesn’t “see it in the cards” to pass this year.

“We’re fine in the Senate, (the Iowa House is) just very hesitant and not wanting to add another state whatever that might be, a rock or a bird.” Sweeney said.

The American cream draft horse is significant because it is the only breed of draft horse to originate in America. Plus, the breed was developed in Iowa.

The foundational mare, Old Granny’s, creamy complexion was a surprise to local farmers, Barb Homrighaus told The Gazette. Homrighaus’ grandfather raised American creams in Iowa from 1925 to 1945. Today, Homrighaus is the committee chair for associate membership for the American Cream Draft Horse Association.

“The foundational mare was purchased at a farm sale in Story County and then was on farms in Hamilton County northeast of Jewell where it became obvious that this one purchase mare, with all the attributes today associated with American cream drafts, kept having foals that matched her, no matter what the sire was.” Homrighaus said.

In 1944, the American Cream Draft Horse Association was granted certification by the state of Iowa as an association for a breed of horses. At that time, there were 200 registered creams, but more were not registered. Homrighaus estimated that there are several hundred American creams in Iowa today.

Official symbols tell the story of each state, and Sweeney told The Gazette that making the American cream Iowa’s official horse would honor the state’s agricultural heritage. By 1900, Iowa was a national leader in producing draft horses.

Homrighaus hopes to see the American cream become the official horse of Iowa, and sees tourism possibilities.

“When someone says Tennessee Walker, it doesn’t harm the state of Tennessee ... I don’t see what harm recognizing (the American cream) causes.” Homrighaus said. “I see it as a point of pride.”

Sweeney said she plans to introduce the bill again.

What are Iowa’s state symbols?

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In 1847, the Iowa General Assembly adopted the state seal. The seal shows an eagle holding a ribbon with the motto, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain” in its mouth. Below the eagle, a citizen soldier stands in the middle of a wheat field, surrounded by farming and industry equipment. The Mississippi River is in the background of the seal.

According to the Smithsonian, the inspiration for state symbols came from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The Congress of Representative Women proposed the idea for a “National Garland of Flowers,” for which each state and territory would choose a flower to represent itself.

On Aug. 4, 1895, the Des Moines Register reported that goldenrod had become the official state flower of Nebraska. It joked, “Wish Iowa had adopted it first. We may have to accept the corn tassel yet, or the bloom of the potato vine.” Two years later, Iowa declared the wild rose its official flower, although it did not designate a specific species of wild rose.

The May 12, 1897 edition of the Estherville Daily News reported that the decision to choose a state flower “seems to have been brought about because that flower has been used to decorate the expensive silver set which the state is supplying to the battleship Iowa.”

Some lawmakers thought the decision was “premature as the women of the state” had not “signified a desire for a state flower, and the wild rose may not be their choice.” But it was decided anyway.

In 1921, Iowa adopted a state flag, 75 years after it became the 29th state. It was designed by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt, from Knoxville. According to previous reporting from The Gazette, the flag’s colors stand for courage (red), purity (white), and loyalty, justice and truth (blue).

In 1926, Kentucky became the first to designate a state bird. It chose the Northern Cardinal. Iowa followed in March 1933, choosing the American Goldfinch by recommendation of the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union. It was chosen because of its prevalence in the state year-round.

The April 17, 1933 edition of The Gazette joked that the hen should have been chosen.

“No, sir, the hen ought to be Iowa’s official bird. She’s earned the distinction. She looks the part. Plain folk — plain official bird! Moreover, if it ever came to the point where we’d have to cash in on our official bird — well, did you ever try to peddle a goldfinch?”

In 1958, 13,970 Iowans attending the state fair voted for the black maple to become Iowa’s state tree. There was a failed attempt to make the apple Iowa’s tree, but in 1961, the oak was designated as the official Iowa state tree. The geode was chosen as Iowa’s rock in 1967 in an effort to promote tourism. Limestone and fossil coral were considered.

What proposed state symbols haven’t made the cut?

There have been a few proposed state butterflies over the years: the monarch, tiger swallowtail, and the regal fritillary. More than a decade ago, Nathan Brockman, director of entomology at Reiman Gardens, became the driving force behind efforts to secure the title for the regal fritillary, one of Iowa’s largest native butterflies.

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To do this, Brockman partnered with Iowa Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell to write a bill. The bill, which was introduced again this year, aims to “raise awareness of all native butterflies and insects in the state.”

“In the public sphere, there was definitely a lot of comments that came out of, why are they wasting their time doing this sort of a bill when we have important issues that need to be addressed,” Brockman said. “And for those, I always came back with, sometimes we just need fun bills that people can actually all get behind so that we’re not fighting about every single thing that goes through.”

Throughout our state’s history, Iowans have shared the perspective that state symbols are not a good use of legislators’ time. Others point to state symbols as a way for Iowans of all ages to learn about the legislative process.

Brockman said when committees debated the bill, some misunderstood it, and thought that it would create environmental protections for the regal fritillary. (It wouldn’t.) Others pushed back, wondering why a more well known butterfly, like the monarch, wasn’t chosen.

“This is a great chance for us to bring attention to another species that isn’t the species that everyone already knows,” Brockman said. Plus, the monarch is a state symbol in seven states.

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Why did Brockman choose the regal fritillary? It has a fascinating life cycle and is a prairie endemic species.

“They can be found across the state, not in a lot of urban areas, and not in a lot of areas where there’s not prairie remaining ... they need habitat.” Brockman said. “But it doesn’t mean that sometimes when they’re doing their big flights around that you won’t see one fly into a large urban area. It does happen. It’s just rare.”

The regal fritillary feeds on birds foot and prairie violets and has one generation in a year. In contrast, monarchs have multiple generations in a year.

In the fall, female regal fritillaries dive bomb into tall grass prairies, searching for where their host plants, the birds foot violet or prairie violet, has died back. That’s where they lay eggs.

“So just chemical volatiles said, come lay your egg here, a plant will come back later,” Brockman said.

Once the female lays eggs, it crawls back up out of the tall grass prairie and flies to another location to lay more eggs. When the eggs hatch, the caterpillar eats its egg and goes into its winter diapause stage — think of that as insect hibernation.

“So talk about a tough Iowa kid. Gets one meal and has to wait till spring to get another meal,” Brockman said.

In the spring, the birds foot violet and prairie violet start growing up again and the caterpillars will get their first meal that isn’t their egg. Regals go through six instars, or phases of molting, instead of five instars like most butterfly species. Then, they pupate, form their chrysalises, and emerge in early summer.

After male and female butterflies mate, the males die off and eventually the females will lay more eggs in the fall.

When Brockman identified the regal fritillary as his pick for official state butterfly, it was officially listed as a species of concern. That means it didn’t have protections tied to it.

“... I didn’t want it to become an issue that, oh, you’re picking this butterfly because it needs conservation help and that’s the whole point of doing it.” Brockman said. “It helps anytime something is talked about, right? Look how well our bald eagles are doing right now when a country uses it as a symbol and they actually work to bring bald eagles back.”

Brockman said he anticipates the regal fritillary will be listed higher on the upcoming Iowa endangered species list.

Environmental writer Kara Grady is now leading efforts on securing the regal fritillary as a state symbol. An online petition in support of the regal fritillary is circulating.

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Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com