What Is "Bird Friendly Iowa"?

A statewide bird habitat conservation and educational outreach program created by a partnership of Iowa conservation organizations. The flagship outreach and action program of Bird Friendly Iowa is called "Bird Friendly City", similar to the Arbor Day Foundation's "Tree City USA" program. Other states have recently initiated programs called "Bird City" or "Bird Town" programs, with "Bird City Wisconsin" being recognized as the national leader.

Bird Friendly Iowa ---

1.  Works with communities, organizations and citizens to create and enhance essential habitats that support birds
2.  Educates citizens about the importance of birds and healthy ecosystems
3.  Provides public recognition for those who work for sustainable solutions for birds

Bird Friendly Iowa was envisioned by its partners as a program which could promote birds and habitat conservation in a variety of public and private locations across the entire landscape. In 2020 the program expanded to include counties who compete with others to be ranked highly and to be designated as bird friendly counties. We hope that these counties can partner with cities in their area to make the program even more robust.

A REAP grant for 2022 has allowed us to contract with a part-time coordinator to help support this growth. Trees Forever serves as administrative support for this effort.