Interested in Iowa’s enduring landscapes? Join us at the Freda Haffner Kettlehole State Preserve on Wednesday, July 15th at 9:00AM to learn from Dickinson County Conservation Board Naturalist Danika Cox as she details how glacial processes have created geologic features such as ‘Kettleholes’. As this event will be outdoors, attendees are encouraged to dress appropriately for weather. The event will include a short walk through the Preserve to the Kettlehole.

As a child, Danika Cox enjoyed camping, fishing, and spending time outdoors. Those early experiences inspired Danika to pursue a career that would allow her to share her passion for the natural world. During college, Danika participated in an AmeriCorps internship that set her on the path to becoming a naturalist. Danika has worked in this field for nearly 10 years and has spent the past three years with the Dickinson County Conservation Board as the Environmental Education Coordinator. In this role, Danika continues to share her passion for nature with the public as well as with her own family.

Freda Haffner Kettlehole is a 110-acre preserve containing the largest glacial “kettlehole” in Iowa, created by the melting of a block of glacial ice some 13,000 years ago. A highly diverse native prairie community is also found here. It is located 2 miles west of West Okoboji Lake, approximately 4.5 miles northwest of Milford in Dick­inson County. Once known as “Arend’s Kettle Hole” and the “Big Kettle,” the first 12.4 acres were given to the Iowa chapter of The Nature Conservancy in 1972 by local conservationist Freda Haffner. The area was dedicated as a biological and geological state preserve in 1976. 

The Freda Haffner Kettlehole as seen from above.