The Iowa Natural Resource Commission Thursday approved the state’s purchase of a former Boy Scout camp that covers nearly 1,800 acres in the Loess Hills of western Iowa.
DNR Land and Water Bureau Chief Travis Baker, spoke before the vote. “This is a really unique opportunity, a really unique land purchase, really outside the scope of what we normally get a chance to work on,” he says. The DNR is purchasing the property from the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation for $5.1 million, $3 million less than the appraised value. “Lots of people in the room and on the phone have been a part of a really unique opportunity here, and probably most important, a real win for natural resources for conservation, for public access,” Baker says.
The DNR says the land acquisition will protect one of the largest contiguous regions of forest in western Iowa and result in more than 100 miles of connected public hiking trails. The former Little Sioux Scout Ranch is at the heart of the property with a 20-acre lake. Four Boy Scouts died when a tornado hit the camp in 2003. A memorial to those scouts will remain.
Baker says the DNR will close on the property this summer and it will be open to the public this fall. The purchase is funded by a $4.6 million dollar U.S.D.A. Forest Legacy Grant and $500,000 from the REAP Open Spaces funding.
(By Rachel Cramer, Iowa Public Radio)