Descriptions of 17th, 18th and 19th Century Wildlife in Iowa............ A land "awash with white-tailed deer, beaver, wolves, bison, elk, black bear, passenger pigeons, prairie chickens, cranes, and swans"

Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet made the first well-documented expedition into Iowa in 1673, but very little was written about other expeditions until Lewis and Clark came to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Arriving in Iowa in 1804, the expedition traveled up the Missouri River, following the instructions of President Jefferson, to find the source of the river, document physical features, and make contact with local Native American tribes. The explorers found wildlife abundant, killing as many as five deer a day. They caught channel catfish near present-day Council Bluffs, where they found the creatures "verry common and easy taken." Near Onawa, Lewis described the number of pelicans seen as "almost in credible." Near Sioux City, Clark commented on "verry plentiful" beaver, "verry fat ducks," and plovers "of different kinds."
What did early Euro-Americans see when they arrived in Iowa? Forests covered eastern Iowa. Trees lined river and stream corridors in the state's interior and covered valleys in western Iowa. Prairies were abundant in central and western Iowa. Prairie potholes and meandering streams were found throughout Iowa's interior. More than 450 species of vertebrates lived in Iowa when the Europeans first arrived. Journals documented sightings of white-tailed deer, beaver, wolves, bison, elk, black bear, passenger pigeons, prairie chickens, cranes, and swans.
The United States began opening up the Midwest for settlement by signing treaties with local Native American groups as early as 1804. The Black Hawk Purchase of 1832 made it legal for settlers to move into territories west of the Mississippi. More than 1,500 Euro-Americans came to Iowa in the summer of 1833. Most newcomers came seeking land and were pleasantly surprised by Iowa's favorable climate, sufficient rainfall, generous growing season, abundance of timber, fertile land, and variety of wildlife.

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Impact of Settlement
The settlers began to create a life for themselves in Iowa. Land was cheap or free and could be acquired quickly. Euro-Americans first settled near the Mississippi because it was accessible by boat. Hardwood trees, such as oaks, provided logs for homes and furniture. Wood for fuel was abundant. Settlers knew how to break the dense roots in the prairie soil by the time the government opened Iowa for settlement, having already perfected these procedures in the Grand Prairie area in Illinois. Iowa's streams provided adequate water flow for operating grist and lumber mills. Wildlife was abundant and provided food and pelts for settlers.
Loss of Native Species
Bison, wolf, elk, white-tailed deer, beaver, and turkeys were extirpated (no longer found here, but have populations elsewhere). White-tailed deer were abundant in Iowa, even on the prairies of extreme northwestern Iowa....................... 200 deer could be seen in the early 1870s. But, they were gone from Iowa by 1900. Bison were not found in large herds in Iowa, but in scattered small groups, making them easier to kill. They were gone from the state before the market hunting of the vast herds in the West peaked. Whenever a bison was seen an attempt was made to kill it. All reports of bison in Iowa after 1860 involve a chase and end with the death of the bison.
Historic accounts of travelers through Iowa note that elk were more abundant on the prairie than bison, thus the town names Elkhorn, Elkhart, and Elk River. The winter of 1856-57 was very severe in Iowa, with deep snow and ice cover. Elk herded together and were killed in large numbers by settlers that year. Elk were not seen in Iowa in any number after that winter and were gone completely by 1871.
A bounty system was established for coyotes and wolves in Iowa in 1817. This was an attempt to eliminate these "vermin." This system, however, had a debatable effect. Many settlers "farmed" wolves, killing or trapping only the young of the year, leaving the adults to reproduce and make next year's income. One pelt (ears, lips, scalp) could be good for several bounties if presented in different ways in different counties. Drastic habitat changes probably affected wolves the most. They were absent from the state by the 1910s. Coyotes managed to adapt to changes in the landscape. Though their numbers were very low by the early 1900s, coyotes were sighted occasionally throughout Iowa by the mid-1900s. Populations have since recovered.
Two birds that inhabited Iowa are now extinct (a species no longer in existence)–the Carolina parakeet and the passenger pigeon. Iowa and eastern Nebraska were on the northwestern edge of the Carolina parakeet's range. It was a woodland species that lived throughout the eastern United States south to Florida. The upper Mississippi and Missouri River valleys were it's main habitats in Iowa. Birds gathered in large flocks and destroyed fruit and grain crops. It was killed as a pest and became increasingly scarce as forests were cleared. The last flock of 30 birds was in Florida in 1920. Early records indicated passenger pigeon flocks could number in the billions. Market hunters killed birds year round by any means possible–baiting them with alcohol-soaked grain, starting fires beneath their nests, or picking young pigeons off the ground when they fell out of trees. Birds were shipped east to markets and restaurants. Market hunting ended as soon as it was not profitable and tens of thousands of passenger pigeons remained in suitable habitat, but populations continued to decline. Apparently these birds needed to nest in the vast colonies in which they were found originally. The last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
Reintroduction programs, hunting and trapping laws, and habitat restoration projects initiated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and other organizations have brought deer, turkey, beaver, and river otters back to the state. They once again are common. Trumpeter swans, peregrine falcons, sharptail grouse, prairie chickens, and barn owls, although not so common, also have returned to Iowa through restoration programs.