Meetings

Summer Break!

Back in September 2026 - at Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center

During Summers, be sure to check our Upcoming Outings page or our Calendar page to join us at some of the best birding locations in Siouxland! Events are still in the works, but the dates are set!

Amie Adams on Iowa Naturalist Olaf Wolden

thursday, september 3, 2026

7:00 pm

dorothy pecaut nature center, sioux city, ia

Amie Adams is a writer and editor creating at the intersection of nature, place and history. Her work is rooted in the Midwest—where diverse ecologies persist in a fragmented landscape. Amie earned an MFA in Creative Writing and is a certified Iowa Master Naturalist. She is the founding editor of the grassroots literary journal Iowa Field Guides and author of The Observer: The Life and Writings of B.O. Wolden. 

Join us for a presentation on little-known Iowa naturalist B.O. Wolden. Born in Emmet County in northwest Iowa in 1886, Olaf lived through a time when the Iowa landscape was changing rapidly.

Throughout his lifetime, Olaf studied plants, birds, and the landscape of his home and wrote about them for four decades. Amie will present on her Iowa Master Naturalist project—compiling an anthology of Wolden's work and writing an accompanying biography. Together, we will consider the rich history of the Iowa landscape, its flora and fauna, and the legacy of a naturalist and writer who loved both this land and its inhabitants.

Books will be for sale at the event. 

Book Blurb: Olaf Wolden was one of those rare people who knew his home place with an intimacy most of us can only aspire to, and he shared a bond with all the beings he lived among, a bond that can be difficult to find in our modern age. A naturalist in every sense of the word, Olaf had a personal devotion to tracking bird migrations and flower bloomings, a scientific drive to catalogue mosses and lichens with exacting precision, and a desire to share his passion for the natural world with others. 

From 1930-1968, he contributed a column titled Nature Notes to The Estherville Daily News where he shared musings and observations about the natural world. Olaf's story reaches back to the mid-19th century, a time when northwest Iowa was a wilder place than the one we have today. The Observer tells the story of Olaf's childhood in Island Grove and his development as a naturalist and botanist. Readers will experience Olaf's love of nature in his own words through a curated selection of his Nature Notes and an accompanying biography. Purchase at amieadams.space/store. All proceeds go to Emmet County Conservation. 

a list of our previous programs

Thank you to our presenters!

A Look at our past programs during the 2025-2026 season.

• Daniel A Soluk, PhD — Conserving an endangered dragonfly, 4 September 2025

• Thane Dinsdale — Birding in Newfoundland, 2 October 2025

• Brian Buckmeier and Darren Maurer — Dinosaurs of Hell Creek, 6 November 2025

• LHAS Member and Friends Holiday Slide Show with Paul Roisen, 4 December 2025

• Danielle Metzger — Native Gardens in the Home Landscape (LHWO), 8 January 2026

• Tucker Lutter — Wildlife of Siouxland: the Past, Present, and Future, 5 February 2026

• John Buntsma — Why Garden? Explore the Benefits of Gardening (ISU Extension), 5 March 2026

• Jillian Murphy — Cutaneous Water Loss in Nestling Songbirds (USD Research Student), 9 April 2026

• Bill Huser and Jerry Probst - Siouxland’s Challenging Bird Identification, 7 May 2026

A Look at our past programs during the 2024-2025 season.

• Steve Backus — Antartica, 5 September 2024 Zoom presentation

• Victoria DeVos — Rediscover Plymouth County Conservation, 3 October 2024

• Rod Tondreau — Western Prairie Plants in Iowa, 7 November 2024

• Loess Hills Audubon Members and Friends Holiday Photo and Video Show with Traveler’s Tales with Randall Williams, 5 December 2024

• Matt Anderson — Cartoonist and Conservationist Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling, 9 January 2025

• Brian Hazlett and Ryan Allen — Campfire Tales at the Midpoint of Winter, 6 February 2025

• Vicki Baker — Wastewater Treatment Past, Present, and Future, 6 March 2025

• Mark Dixon — Floodplain Forests along the Missouri River: Past, Present, and Future, 3 April 2025

• Ty Smedes — Eagle Hunters of Mongolia, 1 May 2025