State’s first whitewater park moves forward

CHARLES CITY - Who'd have thought a world-class whitewater paddling course would ever be encountered on a flat, meandering, corn-belt river like the Cedar?

Certainly not the voters of Linn County and Cedar Rapids, who in 2003 rejected a local option sales tax to support RiverRun, a proposed development whose centerpiece was a whitewater boat course.

While the concept in Linn County proved to be about as appealing as an artificial rain forest at the 41st parallel, it has flourished upstream in Charles City, where work on a $1 million whitewater park is progressing rapidly.

“This is huge, absolutely huge,” said Ty Graham of Cedar Falls, a member of the Prairie State Paddlers, whose 2006 presentation to Charles City officials launched the campaign to develop Iowa's first whitewater park.

As much as Graham welcomes a first-rate paddle-sport venue, he said the project's greater significance is as a model for communities to rethink how they relate to their riverfronts.

“For every person on the water, I see four on the shoreline enjoying the river's beauty and the sound of water rushing over the rapids,” he said.

To maximize public access and appeal, rock-themed amenities - including seating areas, an amphitheater, a boat ramp, a stormwater fountain and a children's play area - will line both sides of the river in the six-block area, according to City Administrator Tom Brownlow.

Under Brownlow's direction, the project stayed alive through the expensive and time-consuming aftermath of the 2008 floods, and actual construction, which started in September, was about two thirds complete at midweek.

The contract calls for the park to be open to the public by June 22, Brownlow said.

Fearing that a rising Cedar River could soon halt progress, project managers have deployed three large excavators this week to fit together large rocks that will provide the backbone for three major rapids and several current-deflecting structures.

“This is a critical week, and I will sleep a lot better at the end it, knowing that the bulk of the in-stream work has been completed,” said project engineer Gary Lacy of Recreational Engineering and Planning of Boulder, Colo.

Lacy said the Charles City site compares favorably with those of almost all the approximately 80 whitewater course his company has designed since 1983.

“In all honesty, the two key ingredients - the gradient and the flow - are almost ideal, and I have been very impressed with the quality of the Cedar's water. It's going to be one of the best we've done,” Lacy said.

The project - which includes the installation of 10,200 tons of limestone, much of it in large blocks - has been paid for entirely with grants and donations, Brownlow said.

Grants totaling $571,000 were provided by the Iowa Great Places program, and grants totaling $378,000 were provided by the Department of Natural Resources, he said.

Forty red granite boulders, each weighing about 15,000 pounds and costing $590 apiece, will be strategically placed along the course to deflect the current in desired directions, said Tracy Meise, the city's on-site project supervisor.

Wearing her trademark mud-spattered rubber boots on Tuesday, Meise said the whitewater course will be like a sledding hill for most users, who will make repeated runs through the exhilarating course.

For expert paddlers like Graham and fellow club member Steve Weliver of Waterloo, however, much of the thrill will be found in maintaining their crafts for extended periods in a single set of rapids.

DNR fisheries biologist Bill Kalishek, who provided input during consideration of a required DNR flood plain modification permit, said project engineers incorporated his recommendation to improve fish passage through the affected area.

“It was a good fishing area before the project, and we wanted to make sure it stayed that way,” he said.

Citing the removal of a concrete retaining wall on the east side of the river and the placement of boulders to reduce the velocity of back-eddy currents, Kalishek said he thinks the project will improve both fish habitat and angler access.