Friends of Hickory Hill Park

Dedicated to preserving Hickory Hill Park as a natural sanctuary for Iowa City.

Rendezvous at Ralston Creek

Rendezvous at Ralston Creek
Anonymous - Sat Aug 11, 2012 @ 04:04PM
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Upcoming event about Ralston Creek, which flows through Hickory Hill Park!  Keep reading for more information.

Every time you cross a creek on the east side of Iowa City, it is Ralston Creek.   Draining 8.9 square miles, this creek and its watershed are a mirror of the history of Iowa City, our values as a community, and our relations with nature.   The creek is marked by centuries of human contact, as well as dangerous floods.  What does it have to tell us about what Iowa Citians have valued over time? –  mineral springs or real estate, high ground versus wetlands, plums, berries, timber, coal, railroads and industry, sewage disposal, visual aesthetics, suburban development?

The “Rendezvous at Ralston Creek” will be the first of a series of monthly nature walks sponsored by the Johnson County Heritage Trust.  The leader will be Laura Rigal, professor of American Studies and English, who is writing a book about Ralston Creek. 

The walk will begin with a short talk by Professor Rigal at the Hickory Hill Park, Bloomington Street Shelter house at 9 am, Sunday, August 19.  People will then proceed up the creek to the nearby Flood Impoundment, built in ­­­­­­­­­1983, where Professor Rigal will talk about the effects of the Impoundment on Creek ecology.  The walk, talk, and question period will end at 10:30.

The event is free and open to the public, not just Johnson County Heritage Trust members, though contributions are welcome.

Sign up for the walk by calling the Johnson County Heritage Trust office at 338-7030 or Bob Sayre at 338-1428 – or just come to the Shelter house.   For further information go to the Trust website,

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