Two from Prairie Rivers Obtain Certified Professional Guide Titles

Two from Prairie Rivers Obtain Certified Professional Guide Titles

by | Sep 30, 2024

Two people from Prairie Rivers of Iowa (PRI) recently added Certified Professional Guide titles to their names through the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s Professional Guide Certification Program. Jeanie Hau, PRI’s byway Coordinator and Shellie Orngard, a Special Projects contractor, made presentations to State Tourism Specialist Diane Van Wyngarden as the final step in the certification process.

Jeanie Hau receives Professional Guide Certification

“To be able to share the stories of the people who have lived along our byways in the most interesting and engaging way possible was the reason I sought this certification.” Hau said.  Her presentation was about Charlie Reed and how the Lincoln Highway and the Jefferson Highways (which meet at the corner of where his farm was) enhanced his life and the people who he met at this crossing.

“I am committed to historic preservation along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa, and being able to tell the stories of the people and places along the Lincoln is the first step toward preservation,” Orngard said. Her presentation focused on the establishment and first decade of the Lincoln Highway, a story told through the traveling exhibit “Promise Road: How the Lincoln Highway Changed America,” she created in 2022 with funding from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

 

Shellie Orngard receives Certified Professional Guide

Professional Guide Certification candidates complete a training program of best practices to deliver quality experiences to visitors. The final certification process is conducted at each individual’s location of choice, where they must effectively demonstrate the professional guide practices most appropriate for their unique organization or attraction. Individuals who achieve Professional Guide Certification work to provide quality Iowa visitor experiences, and earn certification from Iowa State University.

Hau’s and Orngard’s names have been added to a statewide list of certified guides. To see the list or get more information about Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s professional guide training workshop and certification program, see https://go.iastate.edu/VAX4FG or contact ISU Extension Tourism Specialist, Diane Van Wyngarden at dvw@iastate.edu.

Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Sign Inventory Begins

Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Sign Inventory Begins

by | Nov 4, 2022

On a recent beautiful crisp fall morning, Prairie Rivers of Iowa staff and a volunteer set out to travel the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway through urban streets and gravel roads in Story and Boone counties. Byway Coordinator Jonathan Sherwood is starting a new project across all thirteen counties and 43 municipalities to inventory and assess the condition of the Byway’s signage. These signs are a critical part byway infrastructure and have historical significance as an evolution of what came before.

From the beginning of the Lincoln Highway, tools were needed to assist the traveler including guidebooks and signs along the route. In the early era of the established transcontinental route, signs were painted on telephone poles ad hoc by local councils and volunteers.

Today travelers along the historic route in Iowa rely on guidebooks, maps, and signage. These aids are thanks to the efforts of many individuals, organizations such as Prairie Rivers, and government agencies like the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT).

Lincoln Highway Activity Guide and Map
Lincoln Highway Vintage Style Telephone Pole Marker
Lincoln Highway National Heritage Byway Signage in Need of Repair After Tornado

Over time all the byway signs need to be maintained. The condition of the signs has ranged from excellent to vandalized, bent, and faded from the sun. Some signs are missing from their original location. The signs are always located at any turn with directional arrows. They are also located after any turn in the route where another sign confirms that the traveler is on the right path.

The inventory aims to improve the quality of the signage out on the roadway network, improve the life cycle of each sign from ordering, fabricating, installing, maintaining, and removing, improve the ability to budget for these key assets on a statewide basis, provide a tool for the decision maker to do signage related scenario planning.

The Iowa DOT has developed a geospatial program to maintain and update data on locations and conditions of signs statewide. Prairie Rivers’ staff are using iPads with ESRI’s ArcGIS Field Maps app loaded with IDOT data to wholly complete the survey. Previously condition reports were recorded based on individual needs, at specific times, in different districts or regions.

According to PRI staff, “This is a great way to see the byway while traveling down gravel roads at 25 mph, much like the original traveler in their Ford Model T.”

The project is expected to run through the fall and wrap up before road conditions deteriorate.

The project is expected to run through the fall and wrap up before road conditions deteriorate.
Lincoln Highway National heritage Byway in Woodbine Iowa
Lincoln Highway National Heritage Byway in Marshall County Iowa
Lincoln Highway Natiional heritage Byway in Carroll Iowa

The Strength and Power of Public Support

by | May 4, 2020

Public support can do wonderful things and we are witnessing its strength during this COVID-19 pandemic. We are seeing people come together as seamstresses make masks, distilleries make hand sanitizers, and manufacturers retool to make personal protective equipment (PPE). Social distancing, no large groups, and wearing masks are our new “normal.” Hopefully there will be a vaccine soon to eradicate this virus.

Re-reading the Winter edition of The Lincoln Highway Forum https://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/forum/, our attention was drawn to an article written in 1914 by Henry B. Joy, President of the Lincoln Highway Association. He talks about public support for the Lincoln Highway and commented that the Highway helped spur the improved road movement for two reasons: 1) It was a definite accomplishment with a “real, tangible goal towards which to work as well as crystallizing scattered efforts.” 2) It was a monumental tribute to “our martyred president.”

The 3,400 miles of road was in need of improvements and Carl Fisher, the idea man behind the Lincoln Highway,  had an initial cost estimate of $10,000,000. He and the Association began fundraising efforts. Initial funds of $300,000 come from a variety of sources including the President of the United States, state governors, US Senators and Representatives, large industrial organizations. and high dignitaries of many religious denominations. Among the most heartwarming donations were bags of pennies, nickles, and dimes from the school children in a small Nebraska town and seven cents from children in an Alaskan school.

Henry B. Joy in the official LHA Packard, in 1915 stuck in the “gumbo” near LaMoille, Iowa.

The Association appointed state, county, and local consuls (representatives) representing the “highest class of citizens in every community- bankers, clergymen and business men of all kinds”- to organize the Association on a local level as they raised funds, exerted political influence, and gave their time, energy, and money freely to carry out the work. The Association office then turned its attention to promotion as it felt this network was strong enough to encourage the necessary improvements on a local level.

We see these local efforts when, in 1915, the Tama community pooled their money to create a unique bridge with side panels that spell out “LINCOLN HIGHWAY”. In 2018-2019, they once again helped out by supplementing restoration funds for the same bridge. 

This is what Americans do. See a need and fill it. We give our time, talents, and money. We build roads. We make masks and donate them. We get groceries for someone at risk or in quarantine. We care for the sick. We rush into buildings to save lives. We will get through this COVID-19 pandemic and come out the other side as a more compassionate and cohesive nation and when we do, we will travel the Lincoln Highway- the road America built.

Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Spring 2020

Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Spring 2020

by | Feb 28, 2020

Monarch on a Swamp Milkweed by Carl Kurtz

There are signs of spring 2020 along the Lincoln Highway! In some places, snow has melted away and some flowers are busting through the soil. That means spring is just around the corner. Home and Garden Shows are being held in many communities across Iowa. Also Camping and Boating shows! These types of events get people excited for warmer weather and for the eventual summer.

Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Recreation and Camping Guide

  Also check our our Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Recreation and Camping brochure for ideas of where you can go along our route and enjoy the outdoors.  https://old.prrcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/10-18.UPD-Camp26RecBrochure.pdf What preparations are you making for spring? Cleaning closets? Raking the yard? Perusing garden catalogs and magazines? Getting your fishing gear ready? We all know that Thursday, March 19th is the first official day of spring, but, as Iowans, we know it can still snow in April and be chilly in May. What can we do in preparation in the meantime for the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway to get ready for spring? We know the Department of Transportation is tasked with handling the physical road repairs, but what can we do as a group or as an individual for the Byway? On my way to work today, I noticed some trash along the ditches and medians. Does your section of road have groups that participate in Adopt-A-Highway? If not, do you know of a group that could? Now I am not suggesting that you go into the median of a busy highway yourself to pick up trash without proper training or a safety vest, but if you are a landowner perhaps cleaning up your own ditch makes sense. (I know most do already.) If you live in the city, as I do now, ask your city how you can be part of a city-wide cleanup day. Perhaps there is a group that spruces up the entrance to your town to make it more inviting, not only for visitors, but for residents. This makes an impact on all and increases community pride. Some communities do a “swap” where leaders in one community go to another to view the community through “new eyes” as to what works well and what could be improved. Then leaders from that community go to the other and do the same type of review. Sometimes we don’t even notice things in our own back yard as we are accustomed to them. The official Iowa Byways sign for the Lincoln Highway Heritage BywayAre there buildings that could do with a fresh coat of paint? Every year Paint Iowa Beautiful offers, through a grant application process, a chance to obtain paint through their program. (Sorry the 2020 deadline has passed, but please remember this for next year.)

One of my spring goals is to finish the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway signage inventory. I know there are signs in 2 counties and 2 communities that I need to address. It’s been an on-going process for several years now. (There are 1200 signs across the state to monitor!)

Also on my list of to-do’s are to continue supporting attractions that are in need of restoration. Preston’s Station, Quirks’ Cabins, and a gas station in Montour are among the priorities. We are also planning several interpretive installations across the state that will increase education and promotion of the road.

Preston’s Station Historic District in Belle Plaine, Iowa taken by Mike Kelly

Let us know what spring events you have in the works and how we can help you promote them.

New Day for National Scenic Byway Designations!

by | Nov 19, 2019

The world of Byways changed on September 22, 2019 when “Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act of 2019” was signed into law. It passed out of the U.S House of Representatives on a vote of 404-19 earlier this year and then was passed unanimously in the Senate.  The President signed it on 9/22/19. The bill directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to restart the nomination process for National Scenic Byway status within 90 days of enactment, and to make a round of designations within one year.We are very grateful to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) for their leadership on the bill in the Senate and to Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) for their leadership in the House. See what other groups have to say about the passage of this bill and what it means for America at  https://www.scenic.org/blog/president-signs-national-scenic-byways-bill-into-law/Image result for image of congress

We, at the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway, are patiently waiting to see what the guidelines and nomination requirements are for this re-energized program. Only in Illinois is the Lincoln Highway a National Scenic Byway. The route in the states of Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, and half of Pennsylvania are state byways. The other states (New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California) have not designated their portion of the historic route as a byway. One must first be a state byway before becoming a national byway.

In Iowa, we have two National Scenic Byways- the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway and the Great River Road National Scenic Byway. The Loess Hills runs along the western edge of the state and the Great River Road is along the Mississippi River on the eastern edge of Iowa. The Lincoln Highway connects to both of them.

Now keep in mind that no funding was attached to this bill. This is only to take nominations and approve byways for this distinction. That does not mean that funding couldn’t happen in the future, but it was not part of this bill.

A Corridor Management Plan has been a requirement in the past. We completed ours in late 2016 and have been working hard to implement the projects identified in that process. Twenty interpretive panels in 8 communities have been created and we have plans for several more.  The route has also been promoted  in brochures, presentations, and at the Iowa State Fair. We have partnered with universities, government entities, other non-profits, and citizens to retain this historic road and its varied resources.

As we keep the momentum going, writing grants and planning projects, we desire to become a National Scenic Byway one day. We see the possibility on the horizon.