From Coon Rapids to Des Moines, the Middle Raccoon River forms the southwestern-most edge of the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin glacier, which was present in Iowa until roughly 12,000 years ago.

The terminal moraine, where the glacier stopped, forms the split between two major landforms in Iowa: the Des Moines Lobe (recently glaciated) and the Southern Iowa Drift Plain (last glaciated over 500,000 years ago). At Whiterock Conservancy, spend a day hiking the hills of the Southern Iowa Drift Plain on the south side of the river and check out a prairie-covered kame (remnant of the terminal moraine)

The 4,300-acre contiguous property of Whiterock Conservancy straddles two very interesting ecological margins: the Des Moines Lobe/Southern Iowa Drift Plain land-form boundary and the upland river-bottom lands surrounding the Middle Raccoon River. Unique ecological communities are present on the property, from the sand prairies covering Cretaceous Dakota sandstone outcrops and wetland seeps perched on the Middle Raccoon River floodplain to the upland oak-dominated woodlands and ridge-top savannas.

The diversity on the landscape is complemented by another unique aspect of the property: its enormity. WRC is the third largest contiguous tracts of land owned by conservation-based organization or agency in Iowa (next to Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge and Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt) and serves as one of the largest land gifts in the Midwest to date. Our lands are a treasure and asset to our state, providing ecosystem services as well as space for wildlife habitat, a working farm, and recreational and educational pursuits for Iowa residents and visitors.

Five predominant plant communities are found at Whiterock:

• Cool-season Grassland Pasture
  
• Prairie
  
• Oak Forest
  
• Oak Savanna
  
• Wetland

With its variety of habitats, Whiterock Conservancy is home to many sensitive species, from white-tailed deer to turkey vultures, from bald eagles to great blue herons, and from coyotes to muskrats, the conservancy is teeming with wild creatures.