Conservation board starts LSWA upgrades

With the Cherokee County Conservation Board assuming management of the Little Sioux Wildlife Area in July, several upgrades and repairs are scheduled to bring the wilderness area into compliance within the existing  county parks system.

The LSWA Club held a long-time lease with the county on the property and had transitioned the land into its own operation, replete with locked entry gates and “Private Property-Members Only” signage that prevented the general public from access to the county-owned park and its outdoor amities.

At CCCB Director Laura Jones’s and former director Chad Brown’s recommendations, the county learned that the existing lease violated Iowa Code that stipulates county conservation boards manage county-owned parks and wilderness areas.

The LSWA Club fought the CCCB on the matter, wishing to keep control of the land, and the issue played out for several months as Supervisors Rick Mongan and Duane Mummert supported  the LSWA. Ultimately, the Supervisors voted to terminate the lease and turn control of the property to the CCCB.

Although the CCCB can’t give full details at this time because of liability concerns, some of the planned upgrades and repairs include:

• Several electrical areas that are not up to code. Examples of deficiencies include uncovered junction boxes, no GFCIs on outdoor outlets, or outdated equipment. Currently, all electrical has been turned off. An electrician will be brought in to update electrical where needed.
• The vault toilets on site are not acceptable since they are not made from sanitizable surfaces and have not been cleaned at regular intervals. As of right now, they are permanently closed.  The CCCB goal is to get bathrooms on site that are suitable for regular cleaning and are ADA accessible.
• The one well on site is non-potable water and cannot provide high volumes of water necessary to feed any building or campground. 
• The goal for the shooting range is to install standard protocol items like signage for range rules and a sign-in/sign-out log for range users. Range guidelines require perimeter safety fencing and/or lateral berms to keep users from accidentally walking onto the range when it's in use. There are several trails on the property that come close to the range that will need to be permanently closed for safety.
• Several structures on the property will need updating or need to be torn down as they have not seen regular maintenance.

According to Director Jones, the goal is to address as many of these items as CCCB/county employees  can with limited funds. Since budgets are made the December prior to the current fiscal year, nothing has been budgeted specifically for the LSWA project. Hopefully, the range will be open for use some time this fall, definitely in time for the October Rendezvous.  

The CCCB board members still have decisions to make on the development of this area, as they've only decided what to do in the immediate future and that was to close the property on July 25 so staff and professionals could quickly and efficiently make some updates to prepare for a small open window this fall.