Years ago bigfoot researchers from western states were surprised by the number of sighting reports from states like Iowa until they saw the sighting areas for themselves.

There is enough forest habitat in Iowa to sustain the full spectrum of native midwestern flora and fauna but it's not evenly distributed within the state.

The forest habitat becomes gradually more abundant as you move from the drier prairie environs of northwest Iowa towards the rainy southeast, closer to the Mississippi River. See the annual rain map below.

Every animal species in Iowa benefits from the corn farming even when the corn is not in season. Cornfields boost the abundance of animals, birds and insects that shelter in the forests during the day. Every herbivore, from mice to deer, forages for fallen corn throughout the year. Top level predators like bigfoots can exploit corn-boosted abundance even if corn is not a large part of their diet.

The leaders of this expedition are Betsy Krause and Lonnie Dunn. Both have attended several BFRO expeditions. To register for the 2026 Iowa BFRO expedition see the Expeditions FAQ page.

Iowa is the most sparsely populated state that borders the Mississippi River. Most of its three million human inhabitants are concentrated around a handful of urban areas. Everywhere else in Iowa is farmland and forest and widely scattered farm houses.

Large and small towns in Iowa are like small islands in a vast sea of agricultural fields and forests. 98% of the land has some type of plant on it, though nearly all of it has been altered by humans over the past 200 years.

In 2010 the most credible and accurate enviro-scientific organization in America, the U.S.Geological Survey said:

"Humans have altered the landscapes throughout much of the midwestern United States significantly since EuroAmerican settlement. Nowhere have landscape and habitat changes been more dramatic than in Iowa." (cite).

But in a state where biodiversity has diminished more over the past 200 years than in any other state, most herbivore species have thrived in the altered environment, especially deer.