University of Iowa students finalize Terry Trueblood Recreation Area adaptation plan

IOWA CITY - University of Iowa students were tasked with creating a plan to turn the 152-acre Terry Trueblood Recreation Area from a place littered with piles of metal and concrete blocks to a welcoming, educational park well-suited to its environmental challenges.

As part of the University of Iowa's theme semester, Climate for Change, a small graduate student course spent the semester developing a plan for the recreation area. The plan will best suit the park to its environment and aims to educate parkgoers and draw them into the relatively unknown parts of the park.

'It looks wild and hard to get to, and so the bikers know,” said Lucie Laurian, one of the professors for the class. 'But other than that, it looks like a wild zone, so inviting people onto that part of the site I think is one of the key objectives.”

Kevin Englebert, a UI graduate student in urban and regional planning, who worked on the plan, said adaptation plans are more complicated than other planning documents he's worked on because adaptation plans take into account future climate changes on the property.

'You start looking at factors other than factors you can control. And that makes it different from just a regular park plan where you are just ‘OK, well here's what we want to have on the site and here's how we want to use it, so let's go do it,' ” Englebert said.

The students found that Terry Trueblood floods frequently, which limits what the city can do with the property. Laurian said that means no traditional park features such as playgrounds or turf.

'If you didn't' take time to figure that out, you could put assets on the site that might now last very long,” Englebert sad.

Scott Spak, the second professor for the course, said he believes there have been no adaptation plans like this created in Iowa. But the students hope the plan can be applied to other areas around the Iowa River, as well.

Juli Seydell Johnson, parks and recreation director for Iowa City, said the plan could be a good framework for improving other areas around the city parks.

'We have a lot of creeks and streams and lowland areas within parks we'd like to restore some of the habitats and make the public aware that they're there,” Seydell Johnson said.

Terry Trueblood in the past has seen a number of different uses. It was as a trading post between Native Americans and white settlers, a farm, quarry and town site. But now that the property is 'regilded,” the students hoped those using the area would have most views without any constructed human environments.

'It's a place that has seen essentially every possible land use history of anywhere in Iowa,” Spak said

As far as noticeable changes for park visitors, the plan calls for some signage to tell visitors about the history and wildlife there and some edible landscaping. Englebert said they planned to maintain the 'informal” bike trails that cyclists have created through the site and install a trail around the outside of the property, along the river, for pedestrians.

The plan also outlines a spot for a kayak launch site and provides for fishing and birding opportunities. It also calls for a prairie to be installed for kids and school groups to study, among many other features.

Seydell Johnson said funding for features such as signs is yet to be identified. However, of the other aspects of the adaptation plan, such as invasive species removal and the planting of more flood-resistant trees, fall under the city's ongoing Natural Areas Master Plan.

The students recommended putting together a community group that might do seasonal trash cleanup or seed application as well as citizen science monitoring programs.

Since the goal is to adapt the park to better fit its environment, the students say someone needs to be monitoring how well its adapting to make future adjustments.

'I hope I see other people out there when I'm there. I think that's goal No. 1. But hopefully we can recognize that the site's become healthier, in terms of specifies composition, in terms of people using the site, getting value out of it,” Englebert said.

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