Our Audubon Story
Winnebago County, Iowa – the location for Peat Works’ seminal efforts -- is not so very different than many other agricultural locations across Iowa, the United States and even globally. In short, agricultural development has unfortunately obliterated needed and critical wetland and habitat.
We want to reverse that trend in a tangible economic way. And we think projects Peat Works has undertaken can help do that.
We have embarked on a major prairie restoration project on this 3rd generation farmland. That goal is a complex and detailed process that will takes years to complete. We know that many support this type of initiative but have been kept from it because of needed equipment, financial resources and needed expertise. With no previous cookie cutter approach or standard formula for this restoration, we knew that an additional needed resource would be patience and perseverance. Working with the Iowa DNR, PeatWorks discovered that conventional efforts to recreate the desired wetlands could not succeed. But we did not give up! We have continued our mission and ours is the first partnering to our knowledge with the DNR that allows PeatWorks to harvest peat and to sell it to various industries to help meet the significant resources needed to accomplish our goal.
High Grade Hypnum Peat Moss
a by-product in creating wetlands
Our ongoing project has shown us that we can be successful as we are not only creating the desired wetlands but providing material for use in various green industries. And we are benefiting the local watershed district by being able to hold water from significant rain events.
