Download Amana Colonies People and the Land

Amana Colonies People and the Land:
How Culture and Nature Create Place
Curriculum Guide
Map courtesy United States Geological Survey
Lily Lake: A Native Species Oasis
Thank you to Tarena Toy, Amana Elementary, for sharing the idea for this lesson.
Goal:
Students will understand how the Lily Lake in Amana was formed, the biodiversity in and around the
lake, the difference between native and introduced species, and the roles native species play in their
environment.
Introduction:
The Lily Lake near Middle Amana has long been a popular tourist attraction, particularly in the summer,
when the American lotus that carpets the top of the lake blooms. The lotuses are the most visible of an
astonishing variety of native Iowa plants that live in and around the Lily Lake. A study of the lake found a
number of native animals, including frogs, birds, Eastern chipmunks, muskrats, and snapping turtles,
snakes, and 201 native plant species in and around the lake.
A mix of natural and human influences has shaped the lake. The existing marshy lowland filled with
water from the mill race after a break in the levee in about 1870. The lake was used to store water used
to power the turbines at the dam in Amana. When river levels were low the control gate at the
downstream end of the lake could be closed at night to impound water for use the following day. The
lake also served as a source of ice for Middle Amana and Amana before electric refrigeration, and as a
place for recreation.
Bordered on two sides by a road and the mill race and adjacent to marshy land, the shores of the Lily
Lake were protected from the plowing and tiling that altered much of the native prairie in the Amana
Colonies. Though it has been regularly mowed, many native species remain, providing habitat for native
and introduced animal species and helping maintain water quality by slowing runoff.
Insects, fish, mammals, reptiles, birds, and terrestrial and aquatic plants thrive in the lake's waters and
on its shore and interact to form a complicated web. Plants produce seed and foliage that many animals
eat. Animals spread the seed to new locations through their digestive tracts and in their fur, feathers, or
feet. Burrowing animals tunneling to create their homes, and others digging to find food, aerate the soil.
The vegetation and prodigious roots of prairie plants hold the soil in place and slow runoff, reducing
erosion.
The prairie remnant and lake contrast sharply with the nearby crop and pasture lands. Those landscapes
have one or two plant species, planted in rows, and a handful of animal species. Erosion has been
reduced by buffer strips planted along streams and ditches, but tiling has increased the drainage of
water, shrinking marsh and wetland habitats. The Amana Society is reintroducing some wetlands and
prairies into its lands. Near High Amana there is a wetland reserve that has supported the reintroduction
of trumpeter swans in Iowa. Alongside the Kolonieweg, to the east of the Lily Lake, a new prairie has
been planted, and a handful of remnant prairies are being protected and rejuvenated elsewhere in the
valley. All of these lands increase the resiliency and biodiversity of Amana Society lands.
The Lily Lake can be visited easily by school groups. A parking area on the north side of the lake, just off
220th Trail, can accommodate school buses. The new prairie can be viewed by walking a short distance
along the trail on the eastern side of the lake.
Materials:
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Photos of native Iowa flora and fauna
Websites and/or books about Iowa's natural history
Blank white cardstock for photos/drawings
Lined paper
Map of Amana
Lesson Steps:
1. Explain how the Lily Lake was formed and why native plants and animals are numerous there,
relative to the surrounding farmland. Show students the map of the Amana Colonies and point
out where the lake is located.
2. Show students a sampling of photos of native species and talk about why they live near the lake
and what role they play in that ecosystem.
3. Have students choose an animal or plant to write about. They will use the internet or library to
research their subject.
4. Students will print out a picture or make a drawing of their species, then write about what type
of habitat it requires, what food it eats or what eats it, and what effect it has on the ecosystem.
Encourage students to use scientific terminology, such as predator, prey, food chain, etc.
Younger students can start with the writing prompt, "I was walking around the Lily Lake and I
saw a …"
Extensions:
1. Students can present their plant or animal to the whole class or to small groups.
2. All of the student projects can be gathered together and bound with o-rings into a Lily Lake
book.
3. Students can write a diary entry, "A day in the life of a muskrat at the Lily Pond" and describe
the day using the five senses: "I see," "I hear," "I taste/eat," and "I feel." The diary entries could
be put together in a book and students could talk about how the species interact.
4. The class could make a website with tabs for different types of species, such as plants or
animals. The students could describe their species habits, or use a first person approach and
describe a typical day.
Additional Resources:
Iowa Association of Naturalists pamphlet series (www.iowanaturalists.org/resource_booklets.htm)
Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Biodiversity of Iowa; Aquatic Habitats CD (To request a FREE
copy, email [email protected])
Mark Müller, Wetlands in Your Pocket: A Guide to Common Plants and Animals of Midwestern Wetlands
(Iowa City, University of Iowa Press, 2005)
Christine Taliga, Restoration Ecologist and Land Stewardship Program Director, Iowa Valley RC&D, “Lily
Lake Study” (see Student Resources)
Iowa CORE Standards, Essential Concepts, and Essential Skills addressed by this lesson:
K-5 Writing
• #2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and
accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• #7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating
understanding of the subject under investigation.
6-12 Writing
• #2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and
accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
• #4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate
to task, purpose, and audience.
• #7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating
understanding of the subject under investigation.
• #8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy
of each source, and integrate the information while
• #10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter
time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
K-2 Science as Inquiry
• Ask questions about objects, organisms, and events in the environment.
• Plan and conduct simple investigations.
6-8 Science as Inquiry
• Understand that different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations.
• Use evidence to develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models.
3-5 Science as Inquiry
• Identify and generate questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
• Recognize that scientists perform different types of investigations.
• Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.
K-2 Life Science
• Understand and apply knowledge of the characteristics of living things and how living things are both
similar to and different from each other and from non-living things.
• Understand and apply knowledge of the basic needs of plants and animals and how they interact with
each other and their physical environment.
• Understand and apply knowledge of ways to help take care of the environment.
6-8 Life Science
• Understand and apply knowledge of interdependency of organisms, changes in environmental conditions,
and survival of individuals and species and the cycling of matter and energy in ecosystems.
3-5 Life Science
• Understand and apply knowledge of organisms and their environments, including structures,
characteristics, and adaptations of organisms that allow them to function and survive within their
habitats; how individual organisms are influenced by internal and external factors; the relationships
among living and non-living factors in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
• Understand and apply knowledge of environmental stewardship.
9-12 Life Science
• Understand and apply knowledge of the interdependence of organisms.
K-2 Geography
• Understand how geographic processes and human actions modify the environment and how the
environment affects humans.
3-5 and 6-8 Geography
• Understand how physical processes and human actions modify the environment and how the
environment affects humans.
9-12 Geography
• Understand how human actions modify the environment and how the environment affects humans.
• Understand relationships between soil, climate, plant and animal life affect the distributions of
ecosystems.
• Understand the importance of ecosystems in understanding the environment.
• Understand social, cultural and economic processes shape the features of places.
• Understand the effects of human and physical changes in ecosystems both locally and globally.
3-5 History
• Understand the effect of economic needs and wants on individual and group decisions
• Understand the effects of geographic factors on historical events.
6-8 History
• Understand the effects of geographic factors on historical events.