A donor is giving $300,000 to finance improvements at the Prairie Heritage Center in northwest Iowa.
The center showcases Iowa’s tall grass prairie and features live buffalo. It’s located just off Highway 10, between Sutherland and Peterson. Gregg Struve’s donation is in honor of his parents Dan and Jean Struve.
“My father was a county supervisor for 32 years here in O’Brien County and during his time the Prairie Heritage Center fundraising occurred to build the place in 2006. He was part of that, was very passionate that the center should be built down here in the southeast corner of O’Brien Country where it sits today,” Struve said.
Struve’s donation is split in two categories, with $200,000 creating an endowment and the other $100,000 going into a fund named after his parents.
There are nine miles of walking trails around the center, canoe access to the Little Sioux River and a building that houses educational displays about Iowa’s tall grass prairie. Abbie Parker, a naturalist with O’Brien County Conservation, said they are currently working on the design process for new exhibits.
“Hopefully an exhibit that will focus on the glacier times, you know, how our land was formed; Native American culture, which was super important to this area, and then how the prairie people got here as well,” she says ,”so having a sod house and a wagon that you can interact with as well as celebrating the flora and fauna of the local area as well as Iowa in general.”
Parker said they hope to start these projects in the spring of 2023. The center is open Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Saturday afternoons from 1-4.
(By Matt McWilliams, KICD, Spencer)