The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is moving closer to a reservation system for state-owned cabins and campgrounds. Sherry Arntzen of the State Parks Bureau says the next step is public meetings. She says they’re at a point where they want to talk about the research they’ve done, their website and public comments they’ve received. They’ve planned six public meetings across the state beginning tonight. Arntzen says the most critical part of the meetings will be discussion of the basic business rules for the reservation system. She says what they want to do is get the information out now so people can get a “good hard look at some of the decisions we have to make in order to finalize this framework.” She hopes for a couple of things from the meetings.She says she hopes people come out with an open mind and give feedback on the proposed system. And she says if people don’t like it, she hopes they’ll give ideas on how to do things better. The D-N-R is looking at having the system up and running in January 2006 for cabin rentals and sometime in February 2006 for camping. The public meetings are all at seven o’clock and these are the dates and locations:May 31, Gull Point State Park Lodge (Dickinson County);June 2, Pin Oak Marsh Lucas County Conservation Board office; June 7, Backbone State Park lodge (Delaware County); June 8, Pine Lake State Park lodge (Hardin County); June 9,Walnut Woods State Park Lodge (Polk County); June 14, Stanton Community Center (Montgomery County); June 16, Brighton Community Center (Washington County).
