DES MOINES – The National Park Service has awarded grant funding to the State Historical Society of Iowa for preservation work at the Blood Run National Historic Landmark in Iowa.
The funding comes from NPS' Semiquincentennial Grant Program (SGP) commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Iowa is one of two states west of the Mississippi River to receive funding during this round of SGP grants.
“Iowans have a strong connection to the history of the land we call Iowa, dating back to the time of its earliest inhabitants,” State Historic Sites Manager Michael Plummer said. “We thank the National Park Service for this award and we are proud to work with sovereign tribal nations to restore Blood Run to its natural state.”
The $77,000 NPS grant will support a survey of plant and animal life, removal of a foundation that prevents the natural flow of a spring, and the removal of a stand of alder trees inappropriately planted in the bottomlands between the spring and Blood Run Creek. Ultimately, the spring will be returned to its natural, unaltered state.
Blood Run is one of seven historic sites owned by the State Historical Society of Iowa. Located on 183 acres near Larchwood, Iowa, it is the largest known and most complex site associated with participants in the Oneota tradition, ancestors of several present-day sovereign tribal nations. The site is operated in partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Today, several sovereign tribal nations who descend from the Oneota have deep cultural connections to the land and their ancestors buried at Blood Run. They are the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, and Otoe-Missouria Tribe.
The State Historical Society of Iowa has been a trustee of Iowa’s historical legacy since 1857. With a dual mission of preservation and education, it maintains a museum, two research centers, and seven historic sites. The society preserves and provides access to Iowa’s historical resources through a variety of statewide programs, exhibitions and projects while serving as an advocate for Iowa’s past and connector to the future. The society is part of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services. Follow the State Historical Society of Iowa on Facebook and Instagram.