Michael Osterholm is just a guy who grew up fly-fishing in Iowa. You probably wouldn't know that about him if you happened to see him on Oprah or the national news. That's where you'll find him talking about something a little more sobering, like the avian flu or some other new and scary infectious disease.
Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, is the go-to guy on complicated topics like this. Until recently, he was associate director of the Department of Homeland Security's National Center for Food Protection and Defense. His book on bioterrorism, "Living Terrors," was on The New York Times best-seller list in 2001. And that's the short bio.
When Osterholm needs a little therapy himself, he leaves his office at the University of Minnesota and heads to Iowa's Allamakee County. It's here the native has 98 acres of trout streams, prairie and hillside oak savannahs. He calls the property "Prairie Song Farm."
Osterholm is the first to admit he didn't have a grand plan when he bought this marginal land. Its beauty today belies five years of tough restoration. And he's still not finished.
The restoration has been taken in phases. Step one was an easement with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. Osterholm's easement is unique in that it doesn't just state what can't be done on this land in the future; it stresses how it must be maintained.
"We wanted to preserve the work we've done with this land," he explains. "So this easement spells out a series of requirements for whoever may own the property in the future. They will have to maintain the prairies and other elements of the land as laid out."
Of all the work Osterholm has done—restoring prairie, creating hillside oak savannahs, improving wildlife habitat—the thing that really gets your attention is Brook Creek.
This stream was lost in 1950, when the previous owner ditched in the 1,400-foot meandering stream to make way for a corn field. Osterholm, along with a cast of government agencies and private conservation groups, worked with aerial photos of the property from 1949 to put the stream back.
"That stream is back in a very real way. There's a large aquatic insect population and native fish. It's just amazing. You'd never know the stream had ever been moved," he says.
The native brook trout that once resided in the stream will be stocked there again in 2008. This stream will not be fished. "There are very few streams here where the native brook trout survive," says Osterholm. "We will be helping to rebuild that level."
Two other streams on the property—Duck Creek and Waterlook Creek—also had extensive work. Years of erosion from the uplands had left 10- to 15-foot-high dirt banks. Each year this dirt sloughed off, filling the streams. The streambanks went through extensive stabilization work and are now planted in prairie grasses. Today they provide what Osterholm describes as "incredible" catch-and-release fishing.
While fishing is what ties it all together, Osterholm says the property is such a beautiful lesson in how Mother Nature can survive and re-emerge.
"Last year we saw more than 120 species of birds and more types of wildlife than you can name. This has turned into a major habitat for wildlife."
Native plants have also come back to the valleys. One species, evening campion, is endangered in Minnesota and has never been seen in Iowa.
"This plant survived 150 years of pounding and came back once we gave it the right growth conditions. The resilience of nature is just so remarkable."
The peace and therapy this spot provides inspired a log home so Osterholm could spend more time here.
"If you like to sleep with your windows open you'd better be able to sleep with a little noise, because it's never quiet here," he laughs. "The birds start at 4:30 a.m., and they are still going into the night. We hear the stream as it flows through, and that is just beautiful. Truly, all of your senses find something here—sight, sound, smell, touch. It's a place we treasure."