Facilities

Starr’s Cave Park and Preserve is a 184-acre state nature preserve and park area owned by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and managed by Des Moines County Conservation.

The area features two miles of scenic hiking trails, a segment of the Flint River Trail, and is a place rich with natural and cultural history.

Starr's Cave is home to Starr’s Cave Nature Center, the headquarters of Des Moines County Conservation’s award-winning Environmental Education Program, as well as the main Conservation Department Administration point.

Rock formations along Flint Creek in Starr’s Cave Park and Preserve are found nowhere else in the world. The bluffs are composed of limestone and dolomite and contain hints of the area’s past, frozen in time as fossils. These fossils include brachiopods, crinoids, cup coral, and gastropods.