Watching Over Iowa's Wild Places
Iowa DNR's Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program
Part of the mission of Iowa Natives is to empower readers to preserve and protect our natural heritage. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) offers several opportunities for Iowans to give back to the land that raised them.
Across Iowa, hundreds of people lend their time to the Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program (VWMP). “I’m always impressed by the volunteers,” says Stephanie Shepherd, wildlife biologist with the Iowa DNR. “Some of them have been doing this work for decades.”
Shepherd leads the program, which trains volunteers to observe and document species vulnerable to environmental change. The data volunteers gather represents decades of Iowa’s changing landscapes and environmental conditions in detail. The data doesn’t just sit on a shelf—it drives real decisions. DNR biologists, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, use it to plan essential habitat protections and avoid vulnerable habitats.
A Chorus of Frogs and Toads
One of the VWMP’s oldest efforts, the Frog and Toad Call Survey, has been running since 1991. From chilly spring evenings to humid midsummer nights, volunteers drive quiet backroads and stand on watery edges, listening.
Each species has a distinct call, and volunteers record not only the presence but the intensity of those songs. Over three decades, their recordings have shaped a long-term portrait of how Iowa’s amphibians are responding to shifts in rainfall patterns, drought, and land use changes.
The Iowa DNR recently completed a thirty-year analysis of this data. Their newly-accepted research paper connects population shifts to environmental pressures. It’s a reminder that the smallest voices can speak volumes about ecosystem health.
Watching the Skies: Eagles, Ospreys, and Peregrine Falcons
Volunteers of the Bird Nest Monitoring Program keep watch over some of Iowa’s most majestic raptors: bald eagles, ospreys, and peregrine falcons. Assigned to specific nest sites, volunteers track activity, chick survival, and fledging numbers.
Thanks to these efforts, the state has a firsthand record of raptor recovery. “One volunteer documented a nest where four eaglets successfully fledged,” Shepherd recalls. “That’s an extremely rare occurrence.”
But not every season brings good news. In 2022, bald eagles across Iowa were struck by an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). “It was the first time our average fledging rate dropped below one chick per nest,” Shepherd says.
By 2023, recovery was evident, thanks in part to the volunteers who kept their binoculars trained on the sky. Hope now rests on ospreys and peregrine falcons following a similar path toward stability.
Echoes in the Night Sky: Monitoring Bats
On summer evenings, another team of volunteers takes to the roads. In partnership with Iowa State University, the VWMP’s Acoustic Bat Survey sends volunteers along designated routes to record the echolocation calls of bats in flight.
Back in the lab, scientists analyze the data to identify species and track their numbers. The findings are concerning: white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease deadly to bats, has caused steep declines in several species, particularly across eastern Iowa.
Two species are already endangered in Iowa—the Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat—and more are likely to follow. The recordings help scientists understand where populations are hanging on and how to protect key habitats.
For volunteers, it’s both science and wonder. Every recording represents a hidden world of bats darting through the night.
The Volunteers Behind the Data
The VWMP attracts people from every corner of Iowa—retirees, college students, farmers, and nature photographers among them. One veteran volunteer monitors 28 bald eagle nests across several counties. Others have been faithfully noting frog calls every spring since the mid-1990s.
“Many have told me it gives them purpose,” Shepherd says. Volunteers often describe subtle joys: hearing the first chorus frog after a long winter, spotting an osprey feeding its young, or watching a fledgling eagle take its first uncertain flight.
Why It Matters
For Shepherd, the greatest success of the program isn’t just the data, it’s the connection it provides. “Volunteers aren’t just helping conservation,” she says. “They’re remembering their place in the natural world.”
Through binoculars, field notes, and sound recordings, each volunteer plays a part in safeguarding Iowa’s biodiversity. And in return, they get something just as valuable: a deeper relationship with the wild places that make Iowa home.
To learn more or register for upcoming training sessions, visit the Iowa DNR Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring site.