The mild late winter’s only one factor that may be signaling a bumper year this year for Iowa parks campgrounds. Last year’s third-busiest campground at Wilson Island — near Omaha — already is busy with visitors according to park Manager Chris Anunson, who doesn’t get winters off. The park is open year-round and camping and hunting. In legal hunting seasons, there’s no special permit required to hunt in the park and anglers on the Missouri River often pull their boats up in the park, too. But he says it’s popular with hundreds of campers every year because it’s just over 20 miles from the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro. He’s seeing increased camping among all kinds of park users, from tent campers to those who come in $250,000 rigs. He says a lot of families, seeing the way gas prices are rising, have made parks one of their vacation points. He says they can’t afford a big vacation so they’ll spend several weekends at a local park and he thinks that kind of park usage is on the rise. And there are things to do year-round, including camping even at this time of year. People do that, he chuckles, especially the Boy Scouts who come for winter camps at the two youth-camp areas in the recreation area. Last weekend’s mild weather brought many campers, and in the fall he says a lot of people come out for a weekend to watch the eagles and snow geese migrate — as he notes the De Soto National Wildlife Refuge is just up the river. As the world gets more hi-tech and inter-connected all the time, he says plenty of people are looking for a way to get away from it all, and bring their families along. To learn more about the Wilson Island Recreation Area and see a complete list of parks including those open year-round, see the DNR website www.iowadnr.com/parks/state_park_list/index.html