EASTERN IOWA — Nearly 1,000 acres of timber, wetlands and prairie along the Clinton-Scott County line offer Iowa outdoor enthusiasts room to hunt, fish, paddle, hike and search for mushrooms.
Barber Creek Wildlife Area (Top photo courtesy of the Iowa DNR) lies largely within the Wapsipinicon River floodplain, where wetlands and old river channels create habitat for an unusually diverse collection of wildlife.
Great blue herons can be seen hunting in the shallow water, while trumpeter swans rest near taller vegetation and flocks of wood ducks lift away from approaching visitors. Iowa’s restored swan population has continued expanding, with the Iowa DNR reporting that trumpeter swans are increasingly appearing across the state.
“You can hunt pretty much everything in the state here,” said Nick McClimon, a wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR’s Maquoketa Unit. “Fishing can be good in the sloughs, too. If you like to paddle, the larger sloughs are good for a quiet, unique experience.”
Three parking lots provide access to Barber Creek. More than 250,000 Iowans live within 25 miles of the wildlife area, making it a convenient public destination for residents of the Quad Cities region and surrounding communities.
Barber Creek joins a broad network of public recreation areas across the state. Other Iowa properties offer similarly varied opportunities, including a large wildlife area near Interstate 35 with year-round public access and a Northern Iowa lake and marsh offering fishing, hunting and paddling.
The parking area along the north side of Barber Creek overlooks a 30-acre tract that was previously overtaken by volunteer trees. The parcel was planted with prairie species four years ago, and flowers such as goldenrod have begun appearing.
“We’re pretty aggressive on management to keep the willows and cottonwoods out of the grassland,” McClimon said.
Plentiful summer rainfall has kept the Wapsipinicon River and nearby wetlands high. A long, narrow oxbow runs along Barber Creek’s western boundary, mostly concealed by trees.
The oxbow reaches an estimated maximum depth of 10 feet and contains crappies, bluegills, northern pike and largemouth bass. It receives regular fishing pressure and can provide ice-fishing opportunities when winter conditions allow.
“It’s also a good spot to hunt wood ducks early in the season,” McClimon said.
Both the stream and wildlife area take their name from the Barber family, whose history in the area stretches back to its early homesteading days. The family sold the first parcel to the Iowa Conservation Commission during the 1970s.
The floodplain habitat and its proximity to the Wapsipinicon and Mississippi rivers also make Barber Creek important for reptiles and amphibians. Blanding’s turtles and central newts are among the species found there.
The Iowa DNR previously received grant funding to remove trees and expand grassland habitat for those species. Similar restoration efforts elsewhere have contributed to the recovery of threatened turtle populations in Iowa.
Annual surveys conducted through the DNR’s Multiple Species Inventory and Monitoring program have confirmed an extensive list of uncommon wildlife at Barber Creek.
That list includes the federally endangered Indiana bat and the tricolored bat, which has been considered for federal endangered-species protection. State-listed threatened or endangered wildlife found at the property includes red-shouldered hawks, Blanding’s turtles, central newts, rusty patched bumblebees and grass pickerel.
“Much of our habitat maintenance occurs in the winter because it allows us to get equipment on wet soils and it protects the northern long-eared bats and Indiana bats because those species will have migrated,” McClimon said.
Wildlife staff have also developed a forest stewardship plan intended to promote oak growth.
Two tree plantings on the eastern side of the property provide younger trees within the timber. The newest planting, supported through an Alliant Energy grant, includes swamp white oaks, sycamores, pin oaks, northern pecans and bottomland bur oaks.
An older planting of sycamores and oaks established during the 2010s is also doing well.
The Iowa DNR has partnered with a local Pheasants Forever chapter on additional habitat improvements, including removing trees beside a wetland on a small parcel north of the gravel road.