Drake University and Polk County Conservation will work together on the Brown’s Woods restoration and oak regeneration project. The initiative aims to increase carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation through ecological restoration in Brown’s Woods, a 486-acre forest in West Des Moines. A collaboration between Microsoft and the Society for Ecological Restoration will help provide funding for the project. Drake students will help measure the project’s progress throughout the coming year. Students are creating a pre-management bird, bat and amphibian inventory and cataloging tree species composition across plots within the Brown’s Woods management site. In the winter, students will build a pre-management carbon model. During post-management, students will measure the same variables and detect differences to understand the progress of the regeneration efforts at the site. They will also coordinate and assist with oak and native understory plantings.