Faces in the Stones
Raised on a farm near the south end of this park, her parents preserved natural prairie. She was mentored by Louis Pammel and earned a doctorate from Iowa State College, the first woman to do so. Hayden became the head of the plant collection at Iowa State College and provided the research foundation for modern prairie preservation in Iowa.
Moving with his family to Iowa in the `850s, Lacey grew up in Mahaska County. He served as a Major in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, practiced law, and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1888. His legacy is the writing and passage of many environmental laws that are still important today. They include the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act of 1894, the Lacey Bird Act of 1900 (the first major U.S. conservation law), and the Antiquities Act of 1906 (allowing establishment of National Monuments).
Shimek earned a degree in engineering at the University of Iowa but pursued his real passion in the natural sciences. A collector and keen observer all his life, he turned that skill to teaching others in the outdoors. He became a professor of botany at the University of Iowa and directed Lakeside Laboratory at Lake Okoboji. He believed strongly that people best understand the natural world by bing in it and, as a result, is considered Iowa's first environmental educator.
A native of Burlington, Leopold wrote the first text on Game Management. He created Iowa's first statewide wildlife survey and the nation's first department of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin. Leopold is considered the father of wildlife management and of the modern conservation movement. He authored "A Sand County Almanac."
Madson grew up in Ames, graduated from Ames High and Iowa State College, and became an outdoor writer. He edited and wrote for the "Iowa Conservationist" and many other outdoor magazines, the Des Moines Register, and for Winchester/Olin Firearms. Authoring books on tallgrass prairies and the Mississippi River, Madson collected the stories of people and the natural world and told them famously in his articles and books.
Errington was a professor of animal ecology at Iowa State College, and was best known for his studies on predator-prey interactions and their population dynamics. He was particularly known for his studies in wetlands and advocated for their protection and for all wild areas. His books helped bridge the gap between science and the public, helping the public understand basic ecology.
Darling was editorial cartoonist for the Des Moines Register for most of the first half of the 20th Century. Widely syndicated, he won two Pulitzer Prizes for his cartoons, many of which highlighted conservation issues. He was the first Head of the U.S. Biological Survey (Now U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and founded the Federal Duck Stamp program and the Cooperative Wildlife Research Units program. He was instrumental in establishing the Iowa Conservation Commission (now Iowa DNR.)
Considered the "Dean" of Iowa Naturalists, "Sy" graduated from Iowa State College in forestry. He went on the become a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) Camp Superintendent in the 1930s, was a WWII veteran, and became a biologist for the Soil Conservation Service. He was a master at spreading his knowledge of conservation and the outdoors with adults and children, continuing this well into retirement.
Widely recognized as the founder of the Iowa State Park system, Pammel helped establish the Iowa State Board of Conservation in 1917. In his role as president, he helped establish 38 State Parks in Iowa. He served as a professor of bacteriology, mycology and plant pathology at Iowa State College and mentored many aspiring scientists, including Ada Hayden and Gorge Washington Carver.
Erv Klaas was first a meticulous scientist, one whose early research on the impacts of DDT on the eggs of birds helped bring about the national ban on use of that chemical in 1972. He came to Iowa State in 1975 and served as Professor of Animal Ecology and Leader of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit until he retired on December 31, 1999. At Iowa State, Dr. Klaas guided graduate students on pesticide impacts on wildlife, waterfowl energetics and ecology, and wild turkey survival and habitat analysis. As a U.S. F & W employee, he helped research and design what became the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, Iowa. He was appointed Professor Emeritus of Animal Ecology when he retired from ISU in 1999. In 2001, fellow wildlife professionals in the Iowa Chapter of The Wildlife Society elected him to their prestigious Hall of Fame.
Though retired from ISU, Erv continued actively contributing to the community, to Iowa, and to the nation. Erv helped organize the community-wide effort to acquire Hallett's quarry as a new, wild park for the City of Ames. It culminated in the passage of the bond issue by a record 86 percent “yes” vote and the creation of Ada Hayden Heritage Park. The name for the park, in fact, was largely Erv’s idea to honor Dr. Hayden and her connection to Ames and ISU. Without Erv, in fact, we very well might not have Ada Hayden Heritage Park.
In 2009, Erv determined the need for a Friends group to help support the park, gathered together a founding Board, wrote the Articles of Incorporation, and in 2010 the Friends of Ada Hayden Heritage Park (FAHHP) was officially born as a 501c3 non-profit organization. Erv served as founding President of the group through 2018. His guidance and incredible energy led to our hiring summer interns and to summer and fall interpretive programs at the park.