Visiting the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge

Saturday, Linda and I met for breakfast at the Des Moines landmark Waveland Cafe. A smallish "greasy spoon" class diner complete with counter stool seating and a Coffee Mug Club, this place seems to always be doin' bustling business. We saw but didn't try the dinner plate sized pancakes; I've since read that their apple cinnamon pancakes are quite tasty. Fueled for a day of roaming across the countryside, we set sail east for the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge to check out Buffalo Day.

Overcast skies didn't deter a nice assortment of families and retired folk from coming out to see what's happening at the refuge. We took a brief look around the learning center and caught the bus tour around some of the grounds. Our guide had only been on site a few weeks but clearly had a great deal of knowledge about the flora and fauna and the progress the Fish and Wildlife Service have had with this project. Along they wa, we saw the three elk in my photo resting on a hilltop. Several other members of the herd under the trees down along the creek. We did see some of the forty-seven member buffalo herd but were too far away to get a decent photo.

The buffalo currently at the refuge are not the original herd. The genetics of the old herd were recognized as containing cow; they didn't get into how they recognized the contamination but it must have been apparent that the old herd wasn't as pure a strain as the current herd. The current herd is from a national bison herd that has genetics as clean as any around. In the interest of protecting that population, smaller herd groups are being distributed to other locations. While that may make our herd more "authentic," I can't help wondering what happened to the old herd. Hmmm...

Back at the learning center, we wandered the various displays and came face to face with the badger in the photo. His head is probably at least four feet tall and can be found around a corner in a maze teaching about what's lurking under the surface of the prairie. The displays were interesting and engaging, even for an old guy like me.

We stepped outside and walked the longer trail through some of the prairie restoration near the learning center. Over the two mile walk, we saw several interesting plants and saw and heard several birds taking advantage of the protected status at the refuge. The pheasants and deer better enjoy it while it lasts; in the fall season, hunting these two is allowed on portions of refuge land.