Park ranger Shaun Reilly retires after nearly 44 years with Linn County Conservation

Over the course of his nearly 44-year career working with Linn County Conservation as a park ranger, Shaun Reilly has one day that stands out as his favorite.

On Earth Day in 2008, Cirque Du Soliel was doing a promotional event with the conservation department to promote the company’s show.

“Five of them came out in costume and entertained us, gave us all clown noses, and we planted trees. The very first trees we planted in our butterfly garden at the park. We had members from the public come and volunteer to help with us as well. It was a wonderful day. We were working hard, but everything was great,” Reilly recalled.

Volunteers, staff and Cirque Du Soliel members planted over 100 trees that day. Many of them are still standing near the main entrance of the park.

Reilly, 66, also remembers his worst day on the job, too. It was Aug. 10, 2020, the day the derecho hit — though Reilly said he’s incredibly proud of himself and his team for how they responded to it.

After the derecho hit, Reilly and the rest of the team at Linn County Conservation began to redesign Morgan Creek Park, something Reilly considers to be one of the highlights of his career.

“Another favorite moment of mine was when we were planting trees just after we had opened the new Morgan Creek Park, and a van drove in with a group of young boys in it, and they yelled at us as they drove by, ‘Thanks for the park’. That's very gratifying and the response from the community has been great,” said Reilly.

The redesign included new roads, playgrounds, shelters and additional trees. Reilly said during the first full year of the new park around 300,000 more people visited than the year prior.

He loves that the community has responded well and said that he’s often reminded of the 1972 song “Saturday in the park” by Chicago whenever he walks through the park.

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“It seems like Saturday in the park every day. It's been very rewarding, and I got to live a dream and at least have a hand in building a brand-new park. Yeah. It's been quite a ride for me, and I'm grateful for everybody that's been involved to help me along the way,” said Reilly.

As a park ranger, Reilly has done a little bit of everything in his career but what he appreciates most is working directly with trees.

“I love to prune trees, that's what I fell in love with and so that's my favorite thing. It's like I'm sculpting the tree. I have no artistic talent whatsoever so that's where my art comes into play, letting mother nature take the lead, and I'll make it look good,” said Reilly

Reilly, originally from Algona, Iowa, studied forestry at Iowa State University before joining Linn County Conservation in 1981. Throughout college and the summer after, he worked at Big Creek state park in Polk City. But his love of the outdoors began to develop even earlier in his adolescence.

The summer before his senior year of high school, Reilly was pushed to apply for a youth conservation job in Emmetsburg.

“It was the best summer of my young life and it changed my life forever. That's what started me on this career path, and I knew I wanted to work outdoors,” Reilly said.

Besides pruning trees, Reilly said he’ll miss working with his team the most. He’s particularly grateful to former department members Steve Swenson and Dan Biechler as well as the current Executive Director Dennis Goemaat.

Though he’s retiring, Reilly won’t be too far from the park and plans to volunteer for as long as he’s physically able to.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com

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