Indian Creek Nature Center bestows a Czech name that means 'perpetual' on newly acquired woods

The Indian Creek Nature Center has named 28 newly acquired acres of woods at the corner of 44th Street and Otis Road SE the Vecny Woods. That's pronounced VEE-etch-nee.

It means “perpetual” in Czech. The nature center's board of directors chose the name to honor Czech immigrants who settled in the Cedar Rapids area, Julie Sina, the city's parks and recreation director, explained in a memo to the City Council last week.

The City Council also approved the new name because the city actually owns the land, which it acquired on behalf of the center with a grant from the state of Iowa's REAP program – Resource Enhancement and Protection. For a nominal fee, the city leases the land to the nature center, which has established an endowment fund to pay to care for the land.

The center is engraving the name Vecny Woods on a rock so it is ready for a dedication ceremony for the site on May 3, Sina said in her council memo last week.