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Ready to learn about local ecology!

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River's Park Edge and its partners are pleased to offer all visitors a fun, educational challenge to locate ecological clues thoughout the park.
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Water

Pottawattamie County’s biggest aquatic ecosystem is also America’s longest river — the Missouri. This river has helped shape the land and its floodplain. Seasonal flooding has also provided the nutrients that made this area ideal for farming. The richness of Iowa’s soils means that the aquatic ecosystems found here are rich in natural plant and animal life, such as the Blackbird Marsh.

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What else can I find?

River's Park Edge is home to many points of interest. But if you found this information interesting, keep seeking out more clues.

The world is woven together by watersheds, which are areas of land that drain into aquatic ecosystems.

Iowa is connected to the rest of the world by our watersheds. Some of the different aquatic ecosystems in Iowa are:

Lentic ecosystems (still water)

  • Wetlands (including fens and seeps)
  • Ponds
  • Seasonal pools
  • Lakes

Lotic ecosystems (flowing water)

  • Creeks (including seasonal streams)
  • Rivers
  • Springs

Read more about our diverse aquatic habitats from the Iowa Conservation Education Coalition.

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