Cold Water Spring State Preserve

Cold Water Spring State Preserve is a 60-acre (240,000 m2) parcel state preserve protecting a spring that issues from Cold Water Cave, an extensive cave system in Winneshiek County, Iowa and Fillmore County, Minnesota. The spring is a tributary of the Upper Iowa River. The cave system contains a large underground creek that courses around much of the cave's nearly 16 miles (26 km) of passages. The cave system has some unusual features such as its expansion rate, which is higher than most caves. It also has relatively low amounts of oxygen and high amounts of carbon dioxide. In 1987, the Cold Water Cave was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service. There are two entries; both are on private property. Coldwater Creek Wildlife Management Area is a state hunting ground near Bluffton, and is near to the cave system. The cave is located in the Driftless Area of Iowa and Minnesota, a region characterized by karst topography, which involves disappearing streams, blind valleys, sinkholes, caves, cold springs, and cold streams, all of which are present here.

43°26′28″N 91°57′37″W / 43.44111°N 91.96028°W / 43.44111; -91.96028 Cold Water Spring State Preserve is a 60-acre (240,000 m²) parcel state preserve protecting a spring that issues from Cold Water Cave, an extensive cave system in Winneshiek County, Iowa and Fillmore County, Minnesota. The spring is a tributary of the Upper Iowa River.

The cave system contains a large underground creek that courses around much of the cave's nearly 16 miles (26 km) of passages. The cave system has some unusual features such as its expansion rate, which is higher than most caves. It also has relatively low amounts of oxygen and high amounts of carbon dioxide. In 1987, the Cold Water Cave was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.^[1]

There are two entries; both are on private property.

Coldwater Creek Wildlife Management Area is a state hunting ground near Bluffton, and is near to the cave system.

The cave is located in the Driftless Area of Iowa and Minnesota, a region characterized by karst topography, which involves disappearing streams, blind valleys, sinkholes, caves, cold springs, and cold streams, all of which are present here.

Sources

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Cold Water Spring State Preserve Retrieved November 5, 2025
Karstpreserve.com, retrieved July 22, 2007
"Interview with John Ackerman" (PDF). July 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2006. Retrieved April 21, 2026.

References

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^ "National Natural Landmarks - National Natural Landmarks (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved March 21, 2019. Year designated: 1987

External links

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Exploring Iowa's Coldwater Cave Documentary produced by Iowa Public Television

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National Historic Sites	Herbert Hoover
National Monuments	Effigy Mounds
National Trails	Lewis and Clark Mormon Pioneer
National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River
Other	National Historic Landmarks National Natural Landmarks National Register of Historic Places

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beeds Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake Macbride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Lower Gar Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pillsbury Point Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island
State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River
State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake

Iowa Department of Natural Resources