Nineteen Iowa BHA members, college students, and family members gathered on September 15th, 2024 at Wick's Wildlife Area outside of Story City, IA for a fence removal project. The goal of the project was to remove as much fence as possible to improve access to the small section of the South Skunk River located in the northwest corner of the parcel, as well as mitigating the hazards downed fenceline can have to hunters and their dogs.
In just 4 hours, members of IA BHA and partnered with the Iowa DNR to removed 1000 feet of 5 strand barbed wire, 300 feet of woven wire fence, 50 steel T posts, and one gate. Some of the kids that attended helped collect seeds from native plants to help repopulate different areas at a later date. The removal was larger than the Department had estimated would be able to be accomplished, and more vehicles and trailers were brought in to accommodate the material removal. Volunteers were event faced with multi-layered fences in some locations. These were areas where downed fencing was build on top of rather than being removed. (OnX Hunt GPS photo shows teal line where fenceline was removed).
This work day was a continuation of a habitat improvement project started at Wicks in 2023 as an invasive species removal project by the Iowa BHA Chapter. Established as a public Wildlife Area in 2019, Wicks Wildlife Area offers public access for fishing and bowhunting, with access to the water and a mixture of crop and deciduous tree cover. The parcel is 55 total ares.