A Half-Hour From Des Moines Is Iowa's Tallgrass Haven With Native Plants And Roaming Bison

Spanning 4,000 acres of prairieland, this Iowa refuge is home to bison, elk, and over 200 native plant species, which can be explored via its trails.
Hosted on MSN

Neal Smith refuge's welcome center will return. But it will be smaller

Over the last 35 years, more than 6,000 acres of native tallgrass prairie, oak savanna and sedge meadow have been gingerly restored for visitors, school kids and researchers about 30 minutes east of ...
Hosted on MSN

Monarch butterflies in full-force at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge

PRAIRIE CITY, Iowa — Monarch butterflies make a pit stop at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge on their migration journey to Mexico. Millions of monarch butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico ...
Des Moines Register

Iowa is home to one of the best wildlife refuges. See how the Neal Smith refuge ranked.

Established in 1990, the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge aims to protect, restore and manage the native ecosystems of tallgrass prairie that once covered 85% of Iowa The central Iowa wildlife ...
AOL

Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge sees first bison calves of 2026 birthing season

JASPER COUNTY, Iowa– The Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge has welcomed three new bison calves to its herd to start the 2026 birthing season. Two of the calves were born on Wednesday, with the third being ...
KCCI Des Moines

KCCI gets up close with bison at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge

NEW AT FIVE THE JASPER COUNTY BISON WERE BUSY OVER THE WEEKEND. THIS IS SO COOL! OUR CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, SUZANNE VEGA, CAPTURED THESE AMAZING CLIPS FROM THE NEAL SMITH WILDLIFE REFUGE NEAR ...
KETV Omaha

'One in a million': White bison calf born at Iowa refuge has died

The rare white bison calf born this spring at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge has died. Officials with the refuge in Prairie City shared the news on its Facebook page Wednesday. Only about 1 in 1 ...