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Story and Johnson counties to vote on conservation funding this election

A yard sign in Iowa City shows support for Johnson County's conservation bond on the ballot in the 2024 Election.
Natalie Dunlap
/
Iowa Public Radio
A yard sign in Iowa City shows support for Johnson County's conservation bond on the ballot in the 2024 Election.

Iowans in Johnson and Story counties will vote on conservation ballot measures during the Nov. 5 election to fund trail projects, campgrounds, park maintenance, water quality improvement and conservation education.

These measures ask voters whether to increase residents’ property taxes for bonds levied by a county or local government. In Story County, it’s expected to cost the average homeowner $2.60 a month, or $32 a year. In Johnson County the estimated annual increase in property taxes will be $7.09 per $100,000 of assessed taxable value, according to the bond’s website.

For these bonds to pass, they must win at least 60% of the vote.

The state of conservation funding

In 2010, Iowans voted to amend the state constitution to create the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund, as state lawmakers deemed that a dedicated funding source should be created to address the state’s natural resource needs, while reaping cleaner water, sustainable agriculture and economic benefits. Moneys would come from a mechanism of three-eighths of one percent of the next sales tax increase, but the fund has remained empty, as lawmakers haven’t raised the sales tax since 2008.

With limits on the budgets of county boards of supervisors, conservation boards want to secure their own sustainable funding for projects.

“When you look at impact, we might be 50% of the newsletter and 2% of the budget,” said Rich Leopold, director of Polk County Conservation, and previous director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “So, a lot of what we do just has really broad impact, and we work well with the other agencies within the county also and the state.”

Polk County has passed two conservation bonds, in 2012 and in 2021. The first referendum was the result of pent-up needs, Leopold said, such as trail and park upgrades, greenway establishment, water quality acquisitions and natural resource restoration.

“You had all of these things that the conservation board wanted to do, but no real mechanism to do it,” he said. “So because of that, the bond effort came underway.”

The first bond, for $50 million, passed with a little over 70% of the electorate. The money went towards projects including building the nature center in Jester Park, building new campgrounds and creating outdoor recreational opportunities.

“We were very successful, so that we now have over 3.1 million visitors a year to our parks and trails in Polk County. And the business community especially was behind doing more, as we've had a lot of expansion in Polk County — there's this mentality that if we don't do it now, it's not going to get done,” Leopold said.

Deciding it was time for another ballot initiative to continue this work, Polk County Conservation invited the Taxpayers Association of Central Iowa to examine their bond for any waste.

“They not only approved of what they saw, they endorsed our second ballot initiative for that bond,” he said.

The second bond passed with 81.3% of the electorate.

Though businesses and conservation are sometimes at odds when it comes to policy, Leopold said the business community was supportive of conservation efforts, because it attracts talent to the area.

“They are very interested in recruiting and retaining that vital workforce. And to do that, you have to have a friendly, safe, vibrant community, which includes natural resources and clean water.”

Story County’s conservation bond proposal

This is the first time Story County is proposing a conservation bond. The Story County Water and Land Legacy Bond is for $25 million that would be paid back over 20 years to tackle about 15 projects. Those include addressing E-coli issues at the beach of Hickory Grove Park, creating trail connections between Ames and McFarland Park and expanding the green belt along the Skunk River to buffer the farmland from the water – which would require land acquisition from farms along the river.

It is one of the things that that is a great equalizer among people. It doesn't matter what race, what religion, how much income you have, you know how old you are, how young you are, public lands are open to all, and so I don't apologize for public lands.
Jim Pease, board chair for Story County Conservation

“I really think that the public land is so important,” said Jim Pease, wildlife ecologist and board chair for Story County Conservation. “When you look across the history of the United States, I really think public land is a critical part of our history. It is one of the things that is a great equalizer among people. It doesn't matter what race, what religion, how much income you have, you know? How old you are, how young you are, public lands are open to all, and so I don't apologize for public lands.”

Pease said the green belt buffer would be a small amount of land that is not productive to the farms and often subject to flooding, and it will improve water quality for the community.

If the bond in Story County passes, there would be a project to deter geese from the water in Hickory Grove Park by creating a terrace with grass on the beach. This is aimed at improving water quality. It could also help fund more ADA compliant paths, kayak launchers and a fishing pier.
Rachel Cramer
/
Iowa Public Radio
If the bond in Story County passes, there would be a project to deter geese from the water in Hickory Grove Park by creating a terrace with grass on the beach. This is aimed at improving water quality. It could also help fund more ADA compliant paths, kayak launchers and a fishing pier.

“People are concerned about water quality in Iowa, be they urban, rural, somewhere in between, they're very concerned about it,” he said. “Doesn't matter what their income, whether they're blue or red or whatever, they're all concerned about water quality.”

Constructing an off-road trail from Ames to connect to where the High Trestle and Heart of Iowa trails meet in Slater is another aim of the bond. Pease said small towns have embraced these trails because of their economic impact.

“They're looking at what's happened to small towns like Slater and Huxley and Madrid, where a major trail has come through, and they're looking at and saying, 'Gee, can we have a piece of that action too?’” he said. “It's created new businesses. It creates some recreational ability for people in those small towns and brings people to town to spend money in those towns and revive the business community.”

Johnson County’s conservation bond proposal

Johnson County is putting forth its second conservation bond. The 2008 bond, which was the first county conservation bond passed in the state, passed with 60.8% in favor.

With the first round of funds, the county connected rural and urban communities with trails, did restoration work in parks and prairies and built wetlands along the Cedar River and Iowa River corridors. Brad Freidhof, conservation program manager and acting director for Johnson County Conservation, said the second bond, which is for $30 million, would support more trail connections and green belts.

“Joining other conservation leaders like Polk and Story counties, the more of these we can piece together, we're building a beautiful puzzle of strong conservation efforts in Iowa that are going to benefit us all. And so that's what we're excited about.”

To hear this conversation, listen to Talk of Iowa, hosted by Charity NebbeSam McIntosh produced this episode.

Natalie Dunlap is an award-winning digital producer and writer for Iowa Public Radio. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa. Since 2024, Dunlap has worked with IPR's talk team to bring news and features to IPR's digital audience.
Samantha McIntosh is a talk show producer at Iowa Public Radio. Prior to IPR, Samantha worked as a reporter for radio stations in southeast and west central Iowa under M&H Broadcasting, and before that she was a weekend music host for GO 96.3 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa