Iowa State University
OP-T2-20: Wildlife Habitat

The University has significant holdings of woodland and to a limited extent prairie used for teaching, research and student experiencial learning. The university has introduced several new no-mow areas and low impact storm water management in the past 5 years which provide for habitat diversity and reduce impact. Additionally, the university has a small man-made lake which has several improvements to address water quality that has resulted in greater diversity of invertebrates living in the lake and enhanced student learning. The habitat supports extensive wildlife diversity due to proximity of campus; hawks, fox, wild turkey, geese, raccoons, squirrels have all been observed within the central campus environment, in addition to more commonly urbanized wildlife such as song birds, deer, rabbits and insects. Wildlife is removed from campus only after posing a threat to humans, causing damage to buildings and/or infrastructure or potential harm to themselves due to the urbanized environment.