Join the Driftless Safari
Driftless Safari is a free, county-wide outdoor adventure running from Earth Day until Halloween. Driftless Safari helps participants get outside and explore the many natural treasures of Winneshiek County!
The 2025 Driftless Safari begins in spring 2025. When it begins, be sure to get your guidebook and register for free by clicking the button below.
Participants can pick-up a free Driftless Safari guidebook at Winneshiek County Conservation events or at a Winneshiek County Public Library May-October each year. Your guidebook will have information on the featured Driftless Safari sites, which you can visit in any order and at any time through the summer. On the Driftless Safari, adventurers explore Winneshiek County natural areas to find hidden rubbing posts. When you find a post, make a crayon rubbing in your Driftless Safari guidebook.
Who can go on Safari? ANYONE. Yep, we mean anyone! It doesn’t matter if you're young or old, from Winneshiek County or not. As long as you love to explore and want to know more about the treasures of Winneshiek County, you're more than welcome to join in!
The best part of Driftless Safari is that it gets you outside in new natural areas to explore and appreciate nature!
Guidebooks are distributed through the public libraries in Winneshiek County. When you get there, you'll need to fill out a paper registration form, or complete the online registration form, to get your guidebook. The library addresses are:
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Calmar Public Library - 101 S Washington Street
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Decorah Public Library - 202 Winnebago Street
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Decorah Visitor Center - 507 West Water Street
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Fort Atkinson Public Library - 302 3rd Street NW
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Ossian Public Library - 123 West Main Street
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Spillville Public Library - 201 Oak Street
You may also pick-up your free materials at a Winneshiek County Conservation event such as the Earth Day Festival in April, Winneshiek County Fair Booth in July, or other public outreach events.
Do you love exploring Winneshiek County parks? Want to learn more about what you find there? Visit the Winneshiek County Conservation YouTube Channel to check out the video series “Noting Nature” by Naturalist Larry Reis. Then, be like Larry and journal about the plants and animals you notice on your adventures in the parks! You can use the pages at the back of your guidebook or create your own journal.
Explore Past Safaris
Can we visit the sites from previous years? Of course! All Driftless Safari sites are places that you can visit any time! The posts won't be there any more, but you can still have plenty of fun exploring.
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2024: Guidebook Google Map
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2023: Guidebook Google Map - 2023 was a special year of celebration for Winneshiek County Conservation - our 65th anniversary! Enjoy all that Winneshiek County parks have to offer with this special edition of the Driftless Safari.
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2022: Guidebook Google Map
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2020: Guidebook Google Map
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2019: Guidebook Map Google Map
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2018: Guidebook Map Google Map
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2017: Guidebook Map Google Map
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2016: Guidebook Map Google Map
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2015: Guidebook Map Google Map
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Use these maps to help your explorations around the featured Safari sites.
During the summer of 2011, the Northeast Iowa Food & Fitness Initiative and other Winneshiek County organizations joined together to host Driftless Safari, a county-wide treasure hunt lasting from Memorial Day to Labor Day that created opportunities for families to play outside together. Based on a similar program developed in Lincoln, Nebraska, Driftless Safari is designed to get families and groups out of the house and exploring the natural, cultural, and historical treasures of Winneshiek County. Driftless Safari has continued since then under the coordination of Winneshiek County Conservation and with the help of generous partners and sponsors.
The goal of the Driftless Safari program is threefold:
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to help residents of and visitors to Winneshiek County engage in healthful physical activity.
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to increase awareness of and connectedness to the natural, historical, and cultural environments of Winneshiek County.
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to foster a sense of community engagement and environmental stewardship in participants.
Driftless Safari has been made possible over the years thanks to the vision, encouragement, and support of many:
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The partners and sponsors over the many years of Safari.
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The public libraries of Winneshiek County for being the face of Driftless Safari.
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AJ Perling of snowball creative services, Inc.
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Heidi Skildum for recognizing the value of the Safari program and working to bring it to Winneshiek County and Northeast Iowa.
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The original Safari based in Lincoln, Nebraska, for inspiring us with their innovative program.
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The families, adults, and children of Winneshiek County who make Safari a real adventure to be involved in! We couldn't do it without your enthusiastic participation.