Past Announcements Elizabeth gets a Neat Job! Elizabeth Hill was hired by the newly-formed Whiterock Conservancy, which oversees monitoring, management, and research on a 4,400-acre property along the Middle Raccoon River in Guthrie and Carrol counties. Elizabeth will serve as the ecologist for the land trust, implementing water-quality and long-term ecological-monitoring, working on a rotational-grazing study and restoration projects, and creating educational materials about the preserved land. ENSP Students Find Rare Turtles Undergraduate researchers Hank Vogel and Elizabeth Hill, working with professor Keith Summerville, documented that both Blanding's Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii), and the Ornate Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata) are living and reproducing in nearby Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt. Both species are listed as Threatened in Iowa, and their discovery helps to establish the ecological value of this county conservation area. More information. ENSP Student Wins Fulbright Congratulations to Jessica Ernst on winning a Fulbright Scholarship! Look how our newly planted prairie is blooming! Thanks to all who worked so hard to get this planted on Drake's campus! ENSP Students Receive Sigma Xi Grant Elizabeth Hill and Ashley Wick received a grant from the scientific honor socitey Sigma Xi to study the effects of soil nutrient stock and carbon ammendment on native prairie forbs. They hope to publish their results, and present their work at the Iowa Prairie Conference in the fall. ENSP Student Receives Prestigious Udall Scholarship Renae Steichen, Junior Environmental Policy major, won a $5000 Udall Scholarship for her academic and service work, as well as her commitment to and potential for making significant contributions to the field. This is Renae's second Udall Scholarship! For more info on the Udall, go to: http://www.udall.gov/ Congratulations, Renae! Senior capstone Projects in 2005 were highly successful. The group working on lead remediation provided the Polk County Health Department with GIS maps of county residences requiring lead treatment, analysis, and obtained commitments for the donation of supplies and labor to deal with the remaining problem areas. The group working on water quality with the Iowa Environmental Council helped to jump-start a long-term monitoring project on Fourmile Creek. They collected information on nutrient loading, pollution inputs, and biotic indices at numerous sites along the stream, and analyzed the results. This picture shows Hailey and Jason sampling for macroinvertebrates. In 2006, seniors are working on invasive species mitigation in Des Moines parks, sustainability issues at Drake, and the rehabilitation of a threatened prairie fringed orchid. Bird Watching at the Great Ape Trust On April 17th students in Tom Rosburg's field ornithology class as well as Bio and ENSP faculty participated in a bird count at the Great Ape Trust in south western DM. Students recorded approzimately 35 species on the grounds and were generously given some time to observe the orangutans that are part of the behavioral and cognitive research that is ongoing at the Trust. Recent Undergraduate Research Presentations Ashley Wick presented her research on butterfly movement at the annual Iowa Academy of Sciences conference in Mount Vernon, attended by scientists from all major colleges and universities in Iowa, as well as some many researchers from Minnesota and other states. Scott Anderson, Ashley Wick, and Renae Steichen all also made presentations at the Second Annual Drake University Conference on Undergraduate Research in the Sciences. To see some of the undergraduate research going on at Drake, check out our research page. Check out the pics from Pelican Day! A wolf at Les Lynn's Intensive Wolf Study course in northern Minnesota where Drake ENSP students have spent their winter breaks, and Les demonstrating the local dialect. Students in Keith Summerville's FYS and Ecology classes participated in a controlled burn along with Thomas Rosburg (Biology). Burning is an important management tool used to restore tallgrass prairie throughout Iowa. ENSP stresses student involvement in a variety of field activities; students participated in all aspects of the burn. Director:  Thomas Rosburg Drake University Environmental Science and Policy Program 2507 Univ\ ersity Ave Des Moines, IA 50311 Last updated October February 27, 2006