Voters in Story and Johnson counties approved conservation bonds to help fund new trails, support wildlife and improve water quality. The bonds received nearly 80% of the vote; they needed 60% to pass.
In Story County, it’s expected to cost the median household $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.
The $25 million Story County Water and Land Legacy Bond passed with 78% of the vote. This was the first time Story County proposed a conservation bond.
Jim Pease, chair of the Story County Conservation Board, said the new funding will support over a dozen projects in the next two decades. Near the front of the line are improvements to the recently acquired Deppe Family Conservation Area, where new trails, picnic shelters and parking will be added.
“It says to us how important parks and wild places and wild things are to the people of Story County and to people in general,” Pease said.
Future Story County projects include a bike trail between Ames and Slater, where the High Trestle and Heart of Iowa trails meet, and expanding the green belt along the Skunk River to protect water quality and habitat for wildlife.
Pease said the passage of the bonds shows that people want more opportunities for outdoor recreation and that they value Iowa's native ecosystems.
“Iowa is one of the most altered states in the union. The prairies, woodlands and wetlands that were once here have been tremendously altered to make a very strong agricultural state and a very altered state from the nature that was here.”
In Johnson County, 78% of voters approved a $30 million conservation bond. Residents passed a similar measure in 2008 with 61% of the vote.
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. On an episode of Talk of Iowa before the vote, 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.
Why conservation bonds exist
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 1% 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 passed conservation bonds in 2012 and in 2021.
