State guide

Iowa Nature Guide

Iowa sits in the heart of the Western Corn Belt, a state shaped almost entirely by the tallgrass prairie that once covered it and the two great rivers — the Missouri and the Mississippi — that border it east and west. Though row-crop agriculture replaced nearly all of the original prairie, remnants survive in the globally rare Loess Hills, in restored landscapes like Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, and along the bluffs and oxbows of the river valleys. The humid continental climate of USDA zones 4b through 6a delivers cold, open winters, an explosive spring waterfowl migration up both flyways, hot prairie summers, and a long, productive growing season famous for sweet corn.