State foraging calendar

Iowa Foraging Calendar

Iowa's landscape has been transformed more thoroughly by agriculture than almost any other state, with over 85% of the land in row crops, but the river systems that cross the state create foraging corridors of bottomland hardwood forest that remain highly productive. Morel hunting in Iowa's river-bottom woodlots, particularly along the Des Moines, Iowa, and Wapsipinicon rivers, is a major spring tradition that draws thousands of participants each year. Elderberries, wild plums, chokecherries, and gooseberries grow along fence lines, windbreaks, and the edges of the surviving natural areas, and pawpaws colonize the warmer south-facing river slopes. The Loess Hills along the Missouri River and the Driftless Area of northeast Iowa are the state's most intact natural landscapes and its best foraging habitat.

4 bioregions across Iowa