Prairie Island Field Station History SMU’s new Prairie Island Field Station is home to GSS’s natural resources and application development staff. The field station sits on the shore of a major Mississippi River backwater. The location is protected by the Winona flood control levee, but affords easy river access. The Prairie Island is a River Island, connected to Winona via the current levee system. The Island is home to parks, the Winona campground, fishing and river access, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Upper Mississippi Refuge, and a handful of residents. It sits in the middle of the Mississippi River’s floodplain. On a normal day, eagles, osprey, and waterfowl are common sights. It is a unique location for a field station.
The Chapter operated their lodge till October 2002 when it sold the building to the Polish Heritage Society. The Society operated the building as their gathering place and as a rental facility until September 2010 when SMU purchased it as their new field station. Today it begins its new chapter in its rich conservation history. GSS’s natural resources program is only the first of what SMU hopes to be a rich legacy of environmental science, outdoor student engagement, and community enrichment.
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The current building was built by the Will Dilg Chapter of the Izaak Walton League. Their original building sat in Aghaming Park across the River’s main channel from downtown Winona. However, after many years of flooding the Chapter decided to move their lodge. They worked out a lease with the City of Winona’s Latch Board to lease Latch park land for the lodge’s construction. The Latch land history dates back to the early 1900, with John Latch, a successful Winona businessman that purchased much of the river property in Winona’s vicinity. Those lands were given to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wisconsin DNR, and the City for use as park and refuge lands. In 1951 the Will Dilg Chapter constructed the current building as their new chapter house. The view across the river is as it was then. The league used the facility for their many meetings. It was the common gathering place for sportsmen of all interests. They help fly tying seminars, sessions on how to build a bow, or custom fletching your arrows. Members would regularly show their slides or home movies of vacations, hunts, or fishing trips. It was where Winona’s outdoor conservationist and sportsmen met, regularly bringing their sons to meetings as an introduction to outdoor sporting and conservation philosophy.