Monona County Conservation Board

05/21/2026

Camping Update for Memorial Weekend: Looking like a fairly enjoyable weekend to be camping, a chance of rain on Friday but Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all look rain free and in the 70s and 80s.

Peter's Park has roughly 20 sites available, Gray's Landing has 2 sites available as of this morning, Huff-Warner site availability is unknown currently, Gray's Landing well is operational now.

Reminder to park visitors: Help us keep our parks safe for everyone by observing the 5 mph speed limit and watching out for children. Swimming is only allowed at parks with a designated swim beach such as Peter's and Oldham's Parks. Swimmers are required to stay within the swim buoys and no vessels (including kayaks and SUPs) are allowed inside the swim areas. No pets are allowed on the swim beaches and no fishing is to occur in the swim area. No glass bottles are allowed on the beaches. Please help us keep the parks safe and enjoyable for all by following these and our other park rules.

We hope everyone has a great weekend and thank you for camping with us!

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05/14/2026

Are you an Iowa teacher looking to earn some continuing education credits through the AEA? Come to the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar May 29th-31st to earn 1 credit hour/15 instructor led hours.

Attending the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar is worth one unit of teacher continuing education through the AEA. Please click the link below to log in to the AEA portal.
PLEASE NOTE: If you don't already have an account, you will need to create one if you wish to earn license renewal credit. If you aren't a teacher or associated with a school district, then you should create an account as a Pay Customer. You will be able to register the day after you create the account.

Loess Hills Prairie Seminar - NWAEA education session id=56869
Approved for 1 credit hour/15 instructor led hours
Link for educators to register for the course with AEA: https://nwaea.escworks.com/catalog/session.aspx?session_id=56869

Registration for the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar is optional but helps keep you up to date on our event as the date get's closer. Registration for the seminar and additional information on what to expect can be found under the FAQs tab at https://www.loesshillsprairieseminar.com/

The Loess Hills Prairie Seminar is a free annual event. This event is a weekend event that focuses on the outdoors and conservationism. There are sessions taught by collegiate professors and local experts. Free camping is available at the event site.

05/14/2026

The 50th annual Loess Hills Prairie Seminar is rapidly approaching (May 29th -May 31st) and if you like the types of programs we offer, this is an entire weekend of similar programs that is free to the public to come and enjoy. This event is organized and supported primarily by MCCB, with our Naturalist Tyler Ruge planning the event out to make sure it appeals to as many people as possible.

The seminar is a free come and go event, meaning you can find programs on the schedule on our website to attend that interest you and you only need to attend those programs, not the whole weekend if you don't want to, though we recommend attending as much as possible. The seminar has some incredible people involved, many of whom are involved in the professional side of natural resources education or management, making this a fantastic opportunity for networking with like minded individuals.

Opportunities exist to order catered meals for the seminar, saving some of the headache of finding food on the prairie. Those meal orders close Monday May 18th at midnight, so don't delay, order today! Catered meals are optional, guests are welcome to pack a lunch or make use of the fire rings at the campsite, though there are only a few of those.

More details for attending, including tips for first time guests, and the link to meals and our merch store are available at https://www.loesshillsprairieseminar.com/

Any other questions can be directed to Tyler at [email protected] or 712-433-2400

The Loess Hills Prairie Seminar is a free annual event. This event is a weekend event that focuses on the outdoors and conservationism. There are sessions taught by collegiate professors and local experts. Free camping is available at the event site.

05/07/2026

Reminder: We have a meeting at the Monona County Conservation Board office in Onawa today at 7PM where parents and youth interested in the 4H Safety and Education in Shooting Sports can come and discuss the program with MCCB Naturalist and 4H SESS Coach Tyler Ruge and Monona County Extension County Youth Coordinator Haley Wachter. We are working to develop a shotgun group at the request of some of our club members and their parents, but are happy to answer questions to the other disciplines offered through the SESS program.

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05/07/2026

The 3D archery course at Whiting Woods is out and ready for the season, so take advantage of the awesome weather we've been having and run the course!

05/01/2026

Is your child interested in learning about marksmanship, self-discipline, and shooting safely and responsibly? Monona County 4H has a Safety and Education in the Shooting Sports (SESS) program, MCCB Naturalist Tyler Ruge is one of the two coaches and we offer shooting disciplines for Archery, Air Rifle, Shotgun, and .22 Rifle.

Youth participating in 4H shooting sports have the opportunity to learn life long skills that teach discipline, patience, and the value of practice. Shooting sports are unique in that they do not necessarily require great amounts of athleticism in order to be a good shooter/archer. Youth of a variety of physical levels can excel in this sport.

We have a meeting at the Monona County Conservation Board office in Onawa next Thursday at 7PM where parents and youth interested in the shooting sports can come and discuss the sport with SESS Coach Tyler and Monona County Extension County Youth Coordinator Haley Wachter. We are working to develop a shotgun group at the request of some of our club members and their parents. We currently do not have a .22 rifle club, but that can change if club members express interest. 4H SESS Archery and Air Rifle teams usually meet monthly on the first Sunday of the month, with archery occurring during the spring through fall, and air rifle occurring indoors during winter.

Youth must be at least 4th grade or equivalent to participate in archery and air rifle. Shotgun group members must be a minimum age of 11 to attend practice, 12 to participate in competitions. Youth do need to be signed up and registered with the county Monona County Extension office prior to attending practice. 4H does have the ability to provide some equipment for each discipline, so don't let a lack of equipment prevent your youth from trying out the sport.

Also, anyone 18+ interested in becoming either a volunteer or a discipline coach should contact the Monona County Extension office.

Questions can be directed to SESS Coach Tyler through this post or by contacting him through email ([email protected]) or phone (712-433-2400 or 712-431-6160).

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04/23/2026

Please be advised that our Hunter Education Field Day scheduled for this Saturday April 25th has been cancelled due to not reaching our minimum attendance goal. We greatly appreciate everyone who signed up for this weekend's field day and apologize for the inconvenience of cancelling. We will offer another hunter ed field day later this year, likely in August or September.

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04/21/2026

Park Announcements:
All Parks are open for camping
The road into Peter's Park is open to traffic
All shower houses, dump stations, and hydrants are on, with the exception of Grays Landing. Work continues on the well at Gray's at this time, so there is no water in the park. We will announce here when the water is on at Gray's.
Thank you all for your interest and patience as we get ready for another fantastic camping season!

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04/06/2026

Reminder: Program Offering!
Have you been looking for a Hunter Education Field Day to complete your Iowa Hunter Education certification? Sign up now to join us on Saturday April 25th from 9AM-12PM for our Hunter Education Field Day!
This field day will be lead by certified Hunter Ed instructors from MCCB and IA DNR staff.
This Field Day requires completion of one of the approved online course options for Iowa Hunter Education prior to the class, as well as preregistration on a first come, first served basis. This Field Day will have a classroom cap of 35 students.
The classroom portion of the event will take place at the Monona County Conservation Board Office and Arboretum grounds (318 E Iowa Onawa, IA 51040) from 9AM-12PM. Students will receive their certificates after successfully passing an exam at the end of the course. Parents/Guardians should expect to begin picking up students around 11:15-11:30AM.
We will offer an optional live fire activity at Graham Wetland (approximately ½ mile East of the MCCB Office on HWY 175) from approximately 12PM-1PM. Parents/Guardians are required to transport students to Graham Wetland. All supplies will be provided. We will be shooting shotguns at clay targets.
Questions about this event can be posted in the comments below or by contacting our office via phone (712)-433-2400 or email at [email protected]
Register by following the link here: https://license.gooutdoorsiowa.com/Event/ViewEvent.aspx?id=3826&searchText=&selectedtype=0&startDate=03%2F17%2F2026&endDate=11%2F17%2F2026&zipcode=&distancefrom=

01/26/2026

Our local bull elk was off highway 175 this morning between the drainage ditches!