Burr Oak Wildlife Area County Preserve

Beautiful place and great hunting ground with thousands of acres

This place wasn't that hard to find. It sits right off county road F15. Just north of the town of Marengo, Iowa. The problem is access. It's roughly 30 acres big. No parking. No entrance. No nothing. But it does offer trees. Burr Oak trees and many of them. There are others there too. On a small slope within eye shot of the nearby Iowa River. It's a place you go to trudge through a forest. You have to make your own path as there are none. I saw many squirrels and a doe with 2 fawns. But not much else. In my opinion its worth a look if only for what Iowa used to look like back in the 1880s. Best of all No hunting permitted here.

Small area. Thick woods.

If you're looking for mature mesic woodlands in Iowa, then definitely visit this park. But you should know that it isn't well managed from an ecological or recreation standpoint - there are no official trails, no evidence of prescribed burning or timber management, and only one sign saying the name of the place. Also, no parking lot, so your options are to park on ths gravel road by the sign or at the public hunting ground across the highway.

There are incredibly old and massive oaks, hickories, and other hardwoods. However, the understory is in the early stages of colonization by invasive plants (autumn olives, multiflora rose, bush honeysuckle), and it is thick and impenetrable in many places - all signs of hands-off "management". This would be a good place to forage for wild mushrooms and berries as I saw gooseberries, various blackberry species, and persimmon.

Iowa County Conservation Board needs to put in more effort into this preserve if they want to PRESERVE its value to the community and local ecosystem. Just having 28 acres of unattended land isn't enough.

Lastly, please wear orange during the fall deer season - the neighbors have a food plot and deer stand right on the southwest property line.

Tried to go here to use the trails and they were overgrown and totally unmarked. Gave up rather than get covered with a thousand wood ticks.