Website Maintenance Alert
Website will be offline for maintenance starting Friday, September 3rd through Sunday, September 5th.  Please Contact Lesley Sweet at Knapp Properties via e-mail (Lesley.Sweet@knappproperties.com) or by phone at 515-515-222-5222.  

Monthly Board meeting moves to Johnston Library
The monthly board meeting are moving to the Johnston Library. Meetings are the 4th Tuesday of each month and start promptly at 6:30pm.  Agenda. 

Suspicious Activity and Vandalism in the Area
From the Johnston Police Department: It appears that most incidents that have occurred are the work of some bored teenagers. There have been a couple of houses egged, some realty signs removed and placed in other yards, the park picnic table and play yard sign were thrown into the pond and there have been reports of some teenage kids dressed in black running around at night. Please let your neighborhood people know that this has been occurring since school let out and ask them to be cognizant of what their own kids are doing and to contact the Johnston Police Department if they see something or someone that appears that they might be up to no good.

Inger Lamb Hired
The board has unanimously approved the hiring of Inger Lamb from Prairie Landscapes to renovate the associations prairie conservation area. We recognize that the conservation area has not lived up to our aesthetic expectations so we are excited about the knowledge and expertise that Inger brings with her and we are looking forward to the improvements she will be able to provide to our prairie area. If you are not familiar with Inger or her work you can learn more about her at www.iowaprairienetwork.org or view a scrapbook of her work at http://picasaweb.google.com/Prairie.Landscapes.of.Iowa.LLC.

Part of the renovation project will include the elimination of eight of the nine existing mulched planting beds that currently line the conservation trail. These beds provided limited enhancement to the prairie area and proved to be of significant expense to maintain. Inger will also be spraying and spot mowing the entire prairie area to eliminate unwanted growth which she will then replace with 600 native plantings followed by heavy native seeding. We can expect to see an almost immediate visual improvement to the prairie area which will only continue to progress as the plants and seeding take hold. Once the plantings become fully established they will not only visually enhance the area but they are expected to provide better erosion control and significantly reduce the prairie' s yearly maintenance costs.

The board is very excited about this project and we are confident that you will not be disappointed in the results.

Prairie Conservation Update - 8/29/2010
A date is in the works to set up a walk through the prairie area with Inger.  The intent is to allow her the opportunity to educate those in attendance of what is truly native Iowa plants and what is not, as well as cover what we can expect to see in the future.  We will get the word out as soon as we can using as many media options possible so that all interested residents can attend.  The information will be communicated as soon as the date is set.  

Prairie Conservation Update - 7/6/2010
On July 1 the board met with our priarie Specialist, Inger Lamb, on-site and toured the prairie area.  Inger walked us through the planting process and answered all of our questions.  Inger assured us that dispite its current apprearance, the prairie plantings are progressing nicely and should start to produce some initial flowering towards the end of the month.

We realize that many of you are frustrated, as we are, with the prairie's current condition but we ask for your patience and understanding during this renovation process.  Inger has a wealth of knowledge and experience and we are confident that everyone will be pleased with the end result.

Inger reminded us that it will take about 2-3 years for the plantings and prairie to reach full maturity and that we are currently in the "ugly duckling" stage of that process but it will gradually develop into a self sustaining, visual attraction that we are trying to achieve.

In the interim we ask that you refain from pulling or weeding anything in the prairie are so as to not unwittingly disturb anything that was intentionally planted or allowed to remain there.  Inger's crew will be providing regular upkeep and maintenance and will handle any necessary weeding or plant removal.

Prairie Conservation Update - 6/7/2010
Everything that wasn't native was mowed, and will be sprayed out as it tries to recover. The daylilies are by the big drain intake with some staying in the beds. All the conetainer plants have been planted a long the path. They looked great and will grow rapidly with all this heat and rain. Would expect in the coming weeks, to see some seedling germination happening and would expect flowers in the next month or so.

Prairie Conservation Update - 5/25/2010
It was discovered that the initial seed that was used in the conservation area was not native and therefore didn't take well, leading to a lot of weeds and erosion problems. We are now putting in "historic" vegetation, that lived here without assistance and therefore can do so again.

Last week a lot of the plants that were in the beds were moved. Some of the daylilies have been moved within the conservation area near the big drain in the SE corner. The sage plants have been relocated to the east entrance bed.

Native seed mix has been put down.  The seed mix was developed with two things in mind. 1) A lot of species so something is happy regardless of the environment. 2) Emphasis on species with a broad range of moisture tolerance so both drought and super wet conditions are tolerated. The actual native plants are marked with little flags and will not be destroyed.

Half of the conservation area has been mowed and the north half will get mowed in the coming days. Next steps:  Round-up will be sprayed on the cut plants that are not native. After the mowing is complete, 600 cone-tainers native plants will be put in the conservation area along the pathway. By putting in the cone-tainer plants there will be some blooming yet this summer. By next year, there will be much more blooming and by year three, it should be closer to the final look. It has been suggested that we do a regular burn of the prairie, but probably due to the newer seed and plants it probably will be in 2012.

Monument Lighting
We are working with the electrician to get the monument lit again. 

Open Committee Position
We have one open committee position on the Architectural Committee. If you are interested in joining this committee, please sumit a short paragraph of your applicable experience, knowledge, and interests. Everyone has something valuable to offer the Association. Please send your information to Lesley Sweet with Knapp Properties at 515-222-5222 or by e-mail (Lesley.Sweet@knappproperties.com).

Neighborhood Watch Program
The board is considering starting a neighborhood watch program.  Find out more information regarding the CARE Program.  Also check out the Top Ten Johnston Crime Prevention Tips on how to prevent crime and how to receive email notifications, E-LERTs of any law enforcement related alerts the Johnston Police Department puts out regarding activity in our specific neighborhood or development. 
If interested in starting a neighborhood watch program or questions about any of these programs, please contact Lt. Lynn Aswegan at
515-252-1363 or laswegan@police.ci.johnston.ia.us .