Iowa’s 25-year wildlife action plan open for public comments

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is seeking feedback on its 25-year wildlife action plan, which must be reviewed every 10 years per federal law.

The action plan, according to DNR, is a strategy for how the department will conserve wildlife in the state. It was last updated and reviewed in 2015, but was initially approved in 2006.

A draft version of the 2025 update to the plan is available for review on the DNR’s website and public comments will be accepted on the plan through Dec. 5.

The wildlife plan includes an overview of wildlife and conservation in the state, species of greatest concern, research, conservation priorities, a cost-benefit analysis and more.

The 2025 draft chapters have updates of wildlife statistics. For example, public conservation lands accounted for 1.7 percent of land area in the state in 2004, 2.48 percent in 2015 and 2.5 percent this year.

The new version also updates the species of greatest conservation need in Iowa. Subcommittees of the Iowa Wildlife Action Plan working group evaluated 1,601 species and determined there were 799 species of greatest conservation need. The 2025 list included bumble bees, moths and plants that were previously not considered.

The initial plan outlined six “vision elements,” with a goal of Iowa recognizing these visions at the end of the 25-year plan, or in 2030.

The 2025 draft version includes “implementation highlights” of the six vision elements. Listed below are the six vision elements, followed by DNR’s interpretation of how the visions have been implemented over the past 20 years.

The visions express hope that by 2030, Iowa will have:

“Viable wildlife populations” that are “compatible” with modern landscapes and human tolerance.

Inventories and monitoring programs in the state show that some species, like the Olympia marble butterfly and the starhead topminnow were spotted in Iowa after decades of absence. Some reintroduction programs for species like peregrine falcons, trumpeter swans and osprey, have been “highly successful” in the state, as have citizen scientist monitoring programs.

“Healthy ecosystems” incorporating “diverse, native” habitats that can sustain wildlife populations.

The state has improved bird conservation areas, led stream restoration projects for freshwater mussels, “enhanced and expanded” native prairies for butterflies and mapped species of greatest conservation need.

Communities that are developed with “adaptive ecological management principles.”

The department employs land management plans that try to “recreate prairie ecosystems” which once comprised more than 80 percent of Iowa’s landscape. The chapter said restoring native ecosystems for specific species is difficult with “much of the landscape being used for agriculture.” The department also works to maintain the native landscapes by controlling invasive species.

More Iowans who participate in “wildlife-associated recreation.”

DNR continues to expand wildlife-associated recreation opportunities by maintaining access to public land and other programming, including a recent effort to engage birding communities in the state.

Iowans who respect wildlife and advocate for the conservation of wildlife and habitats.

DNR works to provide outdoor recreation opportunities for Iowans. Part of this includes the department’s online atlases for public and private hunting lands.

“Stable, permanent funding” for the management of wildlife, at a level “adequate to achieve the visions” laid out in the plan.

The chapter said “funding has never been dedicated to wildlife conservation at a level adequate to achieve plan goals,” but partnerships, like the DNR license plates and the Chickadee Checkoff have enabled some larger-scale projects.

Current funding is $127M short of $165M annual cost

The 2025 draft also calls for a marketing campaign to persuade Iowans, lawmakers and other leaders to fund the plan.

According to the cost-benefit analysis included in the plan, implementation of the Iowa Wildlife Action Plan would cost about $165 million annually. This funding would allow the department to increase the amount of permanently protected acres in Iowa to 4 percent and continue habitat protection, management, survey and research activities.

Under that estimate, annual funding is $127 million short, according to the 2025 draft plan.

The latest version of the plan said the original action plan, with its goal of permanent protection for 4 percent of Iowa’s land, required an annual rate — via conservation easements and land acquisitions — of 31,600 acres per year. The actual rate has been between 8,350 to 13,934 acres annually. If the current rate of land protection continues, the 4 percent goal would be achievable in 2055, but not 2030.

The plan said the cost of land and “varied” federal funding, has impacted the state’s ability to protect land.

2023 figures included in the 2025 draft of the plan found the outdoor recreation sector had more than $2.19 billion in wages over 46,000 jobs. Outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, target shooting and wildlife watching contributed nearly $2 billion in economic development in 2024.

The draft plan said the “conclusion is clear” that conservation is a “solid investment for Iowa.”

“As implementation of the Iowa Wildlife Action Plan continues, more benefits will be seen across the state for wildlife as well as for the people who enjoy outdoor recreation and who value wildlife and wild spaces,” the 2025 draft said.

This article was first published by Iowa Capital Dispatch.