Making pristine areas available for enjoyment a balancing act

Making Iowa's few remaining pristine natural and cultural areas more accessible to the public could change - and some would say degrade - the very character that makes them worth preserving in the first place.

“By improving access, we increase the number of people who can enjoy our most special places. But the paradox is, we also change the experience of being there,” said Mark Edwards, who retired June 24 after 30 years as trails coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources.

Parks managers have long struggled with this paradox, which surfaced recently in an embarrassing manner at Effigy Mounds National Monument just north of here.

Longtime Effigy Mounds Superintendent Phyllis Ewing was relieved of her duties in May after it was discovered that an elevated boardwalk trail intended to improve public access had been constructed without legally required authorization on or near ancient Indian burial mounds.

Ewing took full responsibility for the failure to secure required environmental and cultural impact statements. She and her staff, she said, had failed to maintain the proper balance between the Park Service's dual missions to preserve natural and cultural resources and to make them available for the education and enjoyment of the public.

The DNR's Edwards said one of his most challenging tasks was constructing a trail and deck overlooking one of the most spectacular views in the state at Pikes Peak State Park near McGregor.

Edwards said he had misgivings about the project but gradually came to believe it was justified, in part because the plant and animal communities healed themselves after the construction. “The blueberries have come back. The five-lined skinks (a rare lizard) are still there,” he said.

In Edwards' opinion, however, the elevated trails at Effigy Mounds were not justified.

“They are altering nature and disturbing sacred ground, It didn't make any sense. You don't do things like that. I don't understand how it could happen,” he said.

“The job of a natural area manager is not to get everyone everywhere,” Edwards said.

Fragile ecosystems

A case in point is the 775-acre Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge, which protects the endangered Iowa Pleistocene snail and the threatened northern monkshood plant in several northeast Iowa tracts featuring algific talus slopes.

Those rare ecosystems, preternaturally cooled in summer by air passing over ice in underground fissures, are so fragile that they must be closed to human entry, said Tim Yager, manager of the McGregor District of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

The McGregor District, which includes pools 9, 10 and 11 of the Mississippi, stretching from Genoa, Wis., to Dubuque, hosts an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year, many of whom are roaring up and down the river in power boats on this midsummer holiday weekend.

“We struggle with how to manage the increasing number of visitors,” Yager said. “We want them to come, but we want them to be cognizant of their effect on the natural resources,” he said.

At times, he said, that means excluding people from certain parts of the refuge, such as closed areas during the fall waterfowl migration.

“There's always that fine line between preservation and access,” said Jon Stravers, who does much of his bird research for the Audubon Society in the Upper Mississippi refuge and in the Effigy Mounds complex.

“Whoa, look out if you're on the river over the Fourth,” Stravers said. “Here they come - every imaginable noisy toy.”

Stravers, who hiked at Pikes Peak long before the advent of the viewing deck, said he personally does not like to look at concrete and railings. “When I first saw it, I thought, ‘Oh man, we've lost something.' But it's such a beautiful view, and now even people in wheelchairs can enjoy it,” he said.

Effigy Mounds preservation

Stravers said he thinks the Effigy Mounds managers went overboard with the elevated boardwalks. He said he much prefers the solitude of the spectacular Marching Bears mounds group at the south unit.

“It takes a lot of effort to get there on steep, barely improved trails, and you never see anyone or hear anything but nature,” he said.

That's mostly by plan, said Sandra Washington, planning and compliance director for the National Park Service's regional office in Omaha.

“The south unit couldn't handle high visitor pressure, but we're also trying to maintain room for solitude and contemplation” befitting the site's spiritual character, she said.

Referring to the Park Service's dual mission, Washington said, “It's preservation first, then public enjoyment.”

With one-of-a-kind resources like Effigy mounds, Washington said, “we have to look hard at altering something that can never be regained in order to provide access.”

The Parks Service, she said, has “no prohibitions against wheelchairs in the wilderness, but that does not mean we are paving the trails.”

Making Iowa's few remaining pristine natural and cultural areas more accessible to the public could change - and some would say degrade - the very character that makes them worth preserving in the first place.

“By improving access, we increase the number of people who can enjoy our most special places. But the paradox is, we also change the experience of being there,” said Mark Edwards, who retired June 24 after 30 years as trails coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources.

Parks managers have long struggled with this paradox, which surfaced recently in an embarrassing manner at Effigy Mounds National Monument just north of here.

Longtime Effigy Mounds Superintendent Phyllis Ewing was relieved of her duties in May after it was discovered that an elevated boardwalk trail intended to improve public access had been constructed without legally required authorization on or near ancient Indian burial mounds.

Ewing took full responsibility for the failure to secure required environmental and cultural impact statements. She and her staff, she said, had failed to maintain the proper balance between the Park Service's dual missions to preserve natural and cultural resources and to make them available for the education and enjoyment of the public.

The DNR's Edwards said one of his most challenging tasks was constructing a trail and deck overlooking one of the most spectacular views in the state at Pikes Peak State Park near McGregor.

Edwards said he had misgivings about the project but gradually came to believe it was justified, in part because the plant and animal communities healed themselves after the construction. “The blueberries have come back. The five-lined skinks (a rare lizard) are still there,” he said.

In Edwards' opinion, however, the elevated trails at Effigy Mounds were not justified.

“They are altering nature and disturbing sacred ground, It didn't make any sense. You don't do things like that. I don't understand how it could happen,” he said.

“The job of a natural area manager is not to get everyone everywhere,” Edwards said.

Fragile ecosystems

A case in point is the 775-acre Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge, which protects the endangered Iowa Pleistocene snail and the threatened northern monkshood plant in several northeast Iowa tracts featuring algific talus slopes.

Those rare ecosystems, preternaturally cooled in summer by air passing over ice in underground fissures, are so fragile that they must be closed to human entry, said Tim Yager, manager of the McGregor District of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

The McGregor District, which includes pools 9, 10 and 11 of the Mississippi, stretching from Genoa, Wis., to Dubuque, hosts an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year, many of whom are roaring up and down the river in power boats on this midsummer holiday weekend.

“We struggle with how to manage the increasing number of visitors,” Yager said. “We want them to come, but we want them to be cognizant of their effect on the natural resources,” he said.

At times, he said, that means excluding people from certain parts of the refuge, such as closed areas during the fall waterfowl migration.

“There's always that fine line between preservation and access,” said Jon Stravers, who does much of his bird research for the Audubon Society in the Upper Mississippi refuge and in the Effigy Mounds complex.

“Whoa, look out if you're on the river over the Fourth,” Stravers said. “Here they come - every imaginable noisy toy.”

Stravers, who hiked at Pikes Peak long before the advent of the viewing deck, said he personally does not like to look at concrete and railings. “When I first saw it, I thought, ‘Oh man, we've lost something.' But it's such a beautiful view, and now even people in wheelchairs can enjoy it,” he said.

Effigy Mounds preservation

Stravers said he thinks the Effigy Mounds managers went overboard with the elevated boardwalks. He said he much prefers the solitude of the spectacular Marching Bears mounds group at the south unit.

“It takes a lot of effort to get there on steep, barely improved trails, and you never see anyone or hear anything but nature,” he said.

That's mostly by plan, said Sandra Washington, planning and compliance director for the National Park Service's regional office in Omaha.

“The south unit couldn't handle high visitor pressure, but we're also trying to maintain room for solitude and contemplation” befitting the site's spiritual character, she said.

Referring to the Park Service's dual mission, Washington said, “It's preservation first, then public enjoyment.”

With one-of-a-kind resources like Effigy mounds, Washington said, “we have to look hard at altering something that can never be regained in order to provide access.”

The Parks Service, she said, has “no prohibitions against wheelchairs in the wilderness, but that does not mean we are paving the trails.”Making Iowa's few remaining pristine natural and cultural areas more accessible to the public could change - and some would say degrade - the very character that makes them worth preserving in the first place.

“By improving access, we increase the number of people who can enjoy our most special places. But the paradox is, we also change the experience of being there,” said Mark Edwards, who retired June 24 after 30 years as trails coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources.

Parks managers have long struggled with this paradox, which surfaced recently in an embarrassing manner at Effigy Mounds National Monument just north of here.

Longtime Effigy Mounds Superintendent Phyllis Ewing was relieved of her duties in May after it was discovered that an elevated boardwalk trail intended to improve public access had been constructed without legally required authorization on or near ancient Indian burial mounds.

Ewing took full responsibility for the failure to secure required environmental and cultural impact statements. She and her staff, she said, had failed to maintain the proper balance between the Park Service's dual missions to preserve natural and cultural resources and to make them available for the education and enjoyment of the public.

The DNR's Edwards said one of his most challenging tasks was constructing a trail and deck overlooking one of the most spectacular views in the state at Pikes Peak State Park near McGregor.

Edwards said he had misgivings about the project but gradually came to believe it was justified, in part because the plant and animal communities healed themselves after the construction. “The blueberries have come back. The five-lined skinks (a rare lizard) are still there,” he said.

In Edwards' opinion, however, the elevated trails at Effigy Mounds were not justified.

“They are altering nature and disturbing sacred ground, It didn't make any sense. You don't do things like that. I don't understand how it could happen,” he said.

“The job of a natural area manager is not to get everyone everywhere,” Edwards said.

Fragile ecosystems

A case in point is the 775-acre Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge, which protects the endangered Iowa Pleistocene snail and the threatened northern monkshood plant in several northeast Iowa tracts featuring algific talus slopes.

Those rare ecosystems, preternaturally cooled in summer by air passing over ice in underground fissures, are so fragile that they must be closed to human entry, said Tim Yager, manager of the McGregor District of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

The McGregor District, which includes pools 9, 10 and 11 of the Mississippi, stretching from Genoa, Wis., to Dubuque, hosts an estimated 1.5 million visitors a year, many of whom are roaring up and down the river in power boats on this midsummer holiday weekend.

“We struggle with how to manage the increasing number of visitors,” Yager said. “We want them to come, but we want them to be cognizant of their effect on the natural resources,” he said.

At times, he said, that means excluding people from certain parts of the refuge, such as closed areas during the fall waterfowl migration.

“There's always that fine line between preservation and access,” said Jon Stravers, who does much of his bird research for the Audubon Society in the Upper Mississippi refuge and in the Effigy Mounds complex.

“Whoa, look out if you're on the river over the Fourth,” Stravers said. “Here they come - every imaginable noisy toy.”

Stravers, who hiked at Pikes Peak long before the advent of the viewing deck, said he personally does not like to look at concrete and railings. “When I first saw it, I thought, ‘Oh man, we've lost something.' But it's such a beautiful view, and now even people in wheelchairs can enjoy it,” he said.

Effigy Mounds preservation

Stravers said he thinks the Effigy Mounds managers went overboard with the elevated boardwalks. He said he much prefers the solitude of the spectacular Marching Bears mounds group at the south unit.

“It takes a lot of effort to get there on steep, barely improved trails, and you never see anyone or hear anything but nature,” he said.

That's mostly by plan, said Sandra Washington, planning and compliance director for the National Park Service's regional office in Omaha.

“The south unit couldn't handle high visitor pressure, but we're also trying to maintain room for solitude and contemplation” befitting the site's spiritual character, she said.

Referring to the Park Service's dual mission, Washington said, “It's preservation first, then public enjoyment.”

With one-of-a-kind resources like Effigy mounds, Washington said, “we have to look hard at altering something that can never be regained in order to provide access.”

The Parks Service, she said, has “no prohibitions against wheelchairs in the wilderness, but that does not mean we are paving the trails.”