Des Moines - On July 9, the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter released its Wildlife Connectivity Report at a virtual press conference, sounding the alarm on Iowa’s drastic loss of native habitat and calling for immediate action to reconnect the state’s fragmented ecosystems. Before European settlement, there were no written records of Iowa’s natural environment. Settlement began around 1833, and the state’s vast prairies, wetlands, and woodlands were quickly converted into farmland.