DNR and Southeast Iowa Parks Progress Reports

Southeast Iowa Parks Supervisor Tom Basten addressed the attendees at the FOS Volunteer Recognition Dinner on March 9th. He announced that Iowa State Parks has defined 2019 as the Year of the Volunteer. Parks all over the state are seeking assistance from volunteers to "spruce-up" the parks in advance of the 2020 Celebration of 100 years of Iowa Parks. He thanked all the volunteers and assured us that DNR values greatly the help of volunteers. Volunteer hours reported to the state help our area Parks Supervisor to make the case to the legislature that the parks are supported by the local community. SO---reminder all you Friends of Shimek who see this FB page---we need you--and we need your volunteer hours reported to Jo Watson. When you clean up trails or around the campgrounds while you are there to camp or ride.

Forester John Byrd gave a Shimek State Forest Review for 2018 at the FOS Volunteer Recognition Dinner. He and his staff harvested timber on 119 acres, planted trees on 55 acres, and did stand improvement on 614 acres. In addition, in the Lick Creek Unit, they put out 404 ton of rock on the WWT, did maintenance on 12 miles of the trails including 2 re-routes and are currently completing a grant to add 1.1 new miles to the WWT to keep riders away from Highway 2. Due to the emerald ash borer damage, almost 100 dead ash trees have been cut in and around the 4 Shimek Forest campgrounds. The campgrounds hosted 1,433 guests in 1,227 nights of reservations. This is in addition to the wear on trails and facilities from thousands of day rides on the trails, either out of Shimek or by entering from nearby businesses. That's an impressive amount of work for the Shimek crew in 2018. We all owe them much appreciation for their hard work to preserve and protect Shimek Forest and especially for the support of the equestrian trails.