Gazette Daily News Podcast, Feb. 8

On today’s episode: Rangers at 23 of Iowa’s state parks are being evicted by the DNR, Cedar Rapids unveils its $37 million plan to replenish trees lost in the 2020 derecho, and longtime Iowa men’s basketball commentator Mac MacCausland died over the weekend.

Support provided by New Pioneer Food Co-op. Celebrating 50 years as Eastern Iowa’s source for locally and responsibly sourced groceries with stores in Iowa City, Coralville, and Cedar Rapids; and online through Co-op Cart at newpi.coop.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is evicting park rangers from government-owned houses in 23 state parks because it doesn’t want to pay up to $1 million on repairs.

Critics of the plan say if park rangers no longer live in the parks they patrol, park users — more than 16 million people in 2020 — will have to wait longer for help if there’s a boat crash, medical emergency, power outage or a crime.

The DNR did an inventory of the 26 state park houses and determined it would cost $341,000 to get them up to code and another $556,000 for deferred maintenance, such as replacing windows, siding, roofs and heating and air conditioning systems. The agency estimates it would need another $100,000 a year for ongoing maintenance.

The Iowa DNR says the change will not impact safety in the parks because staff will continue to work their regular shifts and be available for emergency response.

But Sue Cave, executive director for the State Police Officers Council, the union that represents park rangers and conservation officers, said forcing rangers to move out will reduce services to park users.

Cave also is concerned some rangers may not be able to find affordable housing near their state park, forcing them to move even farther away.

The DNR first asked park staff to pay rent on the houses, but the union got a tax opinion that they were exempt, Cave said. Agency leaders then notified rangers and other staff they would have to move out. The Iowa DNR said free and mandatory housing for park staff no longer is the norm in state parks.

The city of Cedar Rapids and nonprofit Trees Forever are unveiling their ambitious 10-year plan to replenish trees downed by the 2020 derecho’s ferocious winds.

The $37 million ReLeaf plan, which the Cedar Rapids City Council is slated to adopt today, outlines the principles and rules governing reforestation in public parks and streets, includes guidance for landowners to replant their properties and addresses challenges officials must contend with to carry out the massive undertaking.

Full of graphics, illustrations and text to lay out the replanting endeavor, the plan offers a ReLeaf Tree List of native species that thrive here as its core resource. The entire plan, tree recommendations, tips for how to help and interactive maps showing the placement and priority ranking of public trees will be available at CityofCR.com/ReLeaf.

“Mac” McCausland, a focal point in the growth of popularity in Iowa men’s basketball in the 1980s, died at his Las Vegas home of natural causes on Saturday.

McCausland, 76, was a color commentator for Hawkeye games on Raycom and ESPN Regional telecasts in the 1980s into the 2000s.

McCausland was a longtime columnist for the Voice of the Hawkeyes publication. In recent years, he had been a weekly guest during basketball season on the Todd Brommelkamp Show with Alex Kuhn on KGYM-AM in Cedar Rapids. He also was a panelist on a weekly in-season basketball show on Mediacom cable with his son, Kent McCausland, a prominent player at Iowa from 1995 to 1999.

Though he didn’t earn a varsity letter, Mac McCausland was a member of the Iowa men’s basketball team in the late 1960s and was an assistant coach of the freshmen team.

According to the National Weather Service’s Quad Cities’ bureau:

Patchy fog before 10 a.m. Tuesday. Otherwise, it will be partly sunny with a high near 44. It will be windy in the afternoon, with gusts as high as 20 mph possible. Tuesday night will be partly cloudy, with a low around 29. West wind around 10 mph.