Getting to Know the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway

by | May 5, 2015

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of getting to know the Byway. John Mazzello, the Corridor Management Plan project coordinator, and I have been traveling the across the state holding public meetings. The input from individuals and professionals has been stellar! It has been fun getting to know the communities and see what they have to offer to residents and Byway travelers.

Where do I start with the scenery I have seen? The first day of traveling, everything looked all brown and yucky from winter’s cold. Then a good rain happened in the night and the next day it seemed all the buds on trees and bushes had sprung to life. The grass started greening too. For so many past springs, I have worked in an office and not really been able to witness the “Spring has Sprung” phenomenon!

I have seen many wetland restoration projects along the Byway. I especially like the one to the west of Tama near the Otter Creek Marsh and in the Iowa River Corridor Bird Conservation Area. This area is rich in Meskwaki Nation history and their love of this land. It has an interpretive site detailing the Meskwaki story. A mounted binocular allows you to see the birds and wildlife that inhabit the area up close without disturbing them.

Nearby in Toledo is a cow and calf sculpture high on a hillside that honors Norma “Duffy” Lyon, the lady who for years sculpted the Butter Cow at the Iowa State Fair. (Although Toledo is NOT on the Byway- it’s close enough and I just have loved the Butter Cow at the Iowa Sate Fair for years!)

The trip to Clinton was fun because we traveled across a bridge to Illinois and came back across it to see what people’s first impressions would be of Iowa. I liked that Clinton incorporated the “L” in the Lincoln Highway logo with the “L” in their town name. It is such a great river town and has a long lumber industry history. Many historic mansions are still intact from its heyday when Clinton had the most millionaires per capita due to the lumber industry.

In Western Iowa, we learned that Jesse James was rumored to have hid out in the hills recuperating after a shootout. Carroll County has a history of bootlegging operations tied to Al Capone. And Abraham Lincoln once owned land in Iowa. There are so many more stories that came to light during these meetings. I can’t wait for us to compile them and share them in a more formal way!

And every trip needs to include food. We ate at Sister’s Country Kitchen in Logan. My chef salad at lunch was so huge, that I had the rest for supper! I also had a sandwich at the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine that was very tasty. Wished I’d taken a picture of it, but I guess that means I’ll have to go back!

This is just a sampling of our experiences and I can’t wait to add to them. Tourist season and festivals are right around the corner! Let’s go explore the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway!

Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Corridor Management Planning

by | Apr 20, 2015

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John M. presenting in Grand Junction.

This spring, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway’s Corridor Management Planning process moves forward into the Lincoln Highway’s many communities.  We are holding a series of public meetings to introduce the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway, and the concept of a Corridor Management Plan, to residents around the state.

You may recall that a Corridor Management Plan (CMP) is a written document setting out a long-term plan for a byway and its important resources. The Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway’s original CMP was created before the Lincoln Highway was designated as an Iowa Byway, so it no longer reflects needs of Lincoln Highway communities and residents. The new revision of the CMP will reflect the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway as an active and thriving part of Iowa’s past and present heritage.

Upcoming public meetings are April 22 in Ames, April 23 in Toledo, April 25 in Marion, April 27 in Missouri Valley and Denison, April 28 in Carroll, and May 5 in Nevada.  Please visit www.prrcd.org/cmp to find out details about the meeting time and location in your area.

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State Center CMP meeting.

Previous meetings have already been held in State Center, Jefferson, Lowden, and Clinton.   Local residents, Lincoln Highway Association members, elected officials, business owners, and others came out to share their ideas on the Lincoln Highway’s important assets and their dreams for what the Lincoln Highway could be in the future. Each meeting featured great discussions and we are very appreciative for the time and energy of all attendees. We will be taking all these ideas and developing priorities for the whole byway and for future activities in each community.

As always, to stay informed about the latest CMP activities in your community, sign up for our email list (visit www.prrcd.org/cmp and click the blue “sign up” button), email me at lincolncmp@prrcd.org, or call me at 515-216-4005. Looking forward to seeing you at a community meeting soon!

Conservation Innovation Grant

by | Apr 17, 2015

Untitled-1The Iowa League of RC&DS received a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) and a REAP Conservation Education Grant to create two interpretive panels for each Iowa Byway describing an employed conservation method. “The CIG program is a voluntary program intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production”, according to the program’s website. “CIG enables the Natural Resources Conservation Service to work with other public and private entities to accelerate technology transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the Nation’s most pressing natural resource concerns.”

Some of the sites that were considered for these interpretive panels along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway were bogs, wetlands, prairies, and high tunnel towers. The location needed to be where travelers could pull safely off the road and visibly see the sign. It needed to be on or near a conservation practice site.

The two site selected along the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway were the Lincoln Prairie Park in Ogden and the West Beaver Creek, outside of Grand Junction, at the Lion’s Tree Park. The sign In Ogden educates the reader about the functions of a prairie and the importance of prairie plant root systems in filtering water. The sign at West Beaver Creek describes the effects buffers have on streams and the natural and man-made drains used to move water across (and under) the rolling landscape.

Untitled-2Both signs were tied to the Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway through the use of the Byway logo, photo of a Lincoln Highway concrete marker at the Lincoln Prairie Park, and a photo of the many generations of bridges located near the Lion’s Tree Park outside of Grand Junction.

Signs will soon be in the fabrication phase and installed mid-to-late summer. The panels will be installed on a weathered steel base with cutouts of prairie grass or wild flowers. This is in keeping with the Interpretive Plan design created by Schmeekle Reserve from Stephens Point, Wi. The company is creating an Interpretive Plan for each byway.

An event will be held at each location after installation and we will unveil the signs. Thanks to Kevin Griggs for writing the text and Jessica Johnson for her design work on the panels.