(nature sounds) [Kohlsdorf] A stone's throw from the Des Moines River, one of the state's largest remaining continuous woodlands, Shimek State Forest, exudes roughly 9,500 acres of pristine natural beauty.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Championed in the 1930s as part of an unrealized federal Hawkeye National Forest, the land here, maintained by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, now offers extensive trails, camping, hunting, fishing, equestrian and other recreational activities centered on conservation and education.

♪♪ [John Byrd] We have a great opportunity here of our massive oak resource.

The CCC was vital in creating a lot of the habitat that was degraded pasture land.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] The Civilian Conservation Corps planted several acres of pine and native hardwoods here that remain to this day.

But it was the University of Iowa botanist and naturalist Dr. Bohumil Shimek who successfully petitioned the state legislature to purchase and, so far, protect the area for nearly a century.

♪♪ ♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] In 1950, the state officially named the forest in his honor.

Shimek's extensive cataloging of the diverse flora here still lends itself to an academic foundation for understanding Iowa's natural landscapes.

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