TRUMPETER SWANS AT CLEAR LAKE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS/CLEAR CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS LAKE AREA OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

                     By Ron Andrews, Trumpeter Swan Restoration
                          Iowa Department of Nautural Resources

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources began an effort to restore Trumpeter Swans to Iowa in 1995.  In 1992, before Clear Creek Elementary was built, as well as much of the prairie restoration and other latest developments to the Lake Area Outdoor Classroom, a breeding pair of trumpeter swans was placed on site.  These trumpeters were donated to us by trumpeter swan cooperator Gary Barrett of Armstrong, Iowa.  Although unexpected, because of the late arrival of this breeder pair to this site, these swans laid 3 eggs, one of which hatched.  The learning center has the renown status of being the first breeder site that both the DNR and a school district has had in the history of this state.  The cygnet hatched is the first of over 600 swans that we have handled in the state restoration effort.  That cygnet is currently with a breeder male on one of our partner sites in Buena Vista County. 
The fenced-in Outdoor Classroom has become a transitional site for holding swans temporarily, as we move them from site to site to release them to the wild.  I would guess that over 150 different trumpeters have been on this site over the past 8 years.  Many of these have come from our numerous nation wide partners which includes over 25 states including Alaska and over a dozen zoos throughout the nation.  The Outdoor Classroom has been a crucial part of the DNR's  trumpeter swan restoration effort, particularly as a transition site.  Because of the trumpeter swan connection, students at Clear Creek as well as the Clear Lake Community have been connected nationwide with swan cooperators throughout the U.S. and Canada. 
The newly dug out wetland with the swans thereon give us the opportunity to "Trumpet the Causes and Many Values of Wetlands,"  not only for endangered plants and animals, but for flood reduction, and nature's natural filters for many pollutinants that pass through a watershed

 
If you have questions about the Clear Lake Outdoor Classroom call Susan Boatman @ 641-357-5288.  If you have questions about Trumpeter Swans Restoration, call Ron Andrews, DNR Trumpeter Swan Restoration or click iowadnr.com