West Pottawattamie County Soil and Water Conservation District	305 McKenzie Ave. Council Bluffs, Iowa 51503 (712) 328-2489 fax (712) 322-2987
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Welcome to West Pottawattamie County, Iowa The West Pottawattamie Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners have set up a Facebook page to communicate what we have going on and to answer your questions. Please take a minute to check out our page and join us as a friend. You can find us at “Westpottawattamie Swcd” Lake Manawa Survey Link Rain Barrel Workshops! The Conservation District is sponsoring two rain barrel workshops. 9:30 to 11:30 am, Saturday March 27^th or Saturday April 3^rdat the Council Bluffs Community Hall. Rain Barrel Workshop Flyer Save the Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 Western Iowa No-Till (WIN) Field Day Carstens 1880 Farm - near Shelby, Iowa. More information coming soon! Badger Ridge Hitchcock Nature Center near Crescent, Iowa Working with Low Impact Development – Steps for Success! After years of dealing with the consequences of conventional development failing when it comes to NPDES compliance along with the resulting flooding and erosion issues and the involvement of IDNR and EPA, a couple of western Iowa counties are poised to adopt Low Impact Development ordinances. The City of Omaha and Douglas and Sarpy County have already adopted Low Impact Development ordinances that are currently in a phase-in period. Given the impending changes facing our developers and realtors in the Council Bluffs and Omaha Metro Region the West Pottawattamie County Soil and Water Conservation District is hoping to help ease the transition from conventional to low impact development by continuing LID techniques education; facilitating information exchange between developers, realtors and the regulatory agencies; and continuing to provide access to local and national resource people who can teach the new ways. The first of our LID seminars for 2010 is being held March 4^th, from 8:30 to noon in Looft Hall on the Iowa Western Community College Campus in Council Bluffs. More information can be found by clicking this link, Working with Low Impact Development – Steps for Success! Lake Manawa Watershed Council Resources Page Contractors wishing to add or update their information click here: General Information andHistory of Pottawattamie County, IA Established - February 24, 1847 Organized - September 21, 1848 County Seat - Council Bluffs Courthouses - Council Bluffs and Avoca Pottawattamie County was a part of the Pottawattamie Purchase of 1847. The county was originally named after the Native American tribe that once existed and lived within the Iowa Territory. Pottawattamie is a traditional word meaning "Fire” or "Keepers of the Council Fires". The rapidly growing county seat known as Kanesville had a population of about 7,000 in 1851; mainly Mormons on their way from Nauvoo, Illinois to Utah. It was also an important outfitting town for gold seekers and others on their way to California and the West. Kanesville was renamed Council Bluffs on January 19, 1853. Avoca is the judicial seat of eastern Pottawattamie County. This town of 1,500 residents was founded in 1869. The Loess Hills of Pottawattamie County, IA The Loess (pronounced "luss") Hills of western Iowa were deposited in three stages during the last two major glaciations of the upper Midwest. When continental glaciers in the upper Midwest began melting, many rivers (including the Missouri) became conduits for vast quantities of melt-water. This melt-water contained fine grained sediment of silt, sand, and clay size. Strong winds created by air pressure gradients around glaciers swept some of this sediment out of the river floodplains and deposited it downwind creating the loess hills. Loess in Iowa is separated into stratigraphic units based on the time that it was deposited. Each unit has been given a name and can be distinguished by its distinct chemistry and physical composition. The lowest layer of Loess is called the Loveland Loess and was deposited 160,000 to 120,000 years ago as the glacial epoch known as the Illinoian was coming to an end. After the Illinoian glaciers melted, there was a hiatus of glacial activity for approximately 100,000 years, after which glaciers returned during a period known as the Wisconsinan. The middle layer of loess was deposited from 31,000 to 25,000 years ago during a major retreat of glaciers during the Wisconsinan glacial epoch and is known as the Pisgah Loess. The topmost layer of loess, called the Peoria Loess, resulted from major melting at the end of the Wisconsinan glacial epoch and was deposited between 25,000 and 12,500 years ago. This makes the Loess Hills some of the youngest natural landforms in Iowa! The Loess Hills were once home to many prehistoric species. Mammoths, mastodons, camels, bison, musk ox, ground sloth, three-toed horses, dire wolf, stag moose, and stilt-legged deer were among the animal fossils discovered in the Loess Hills. Today the Loess Hills are home to many different species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.