Iowa will no longer have state park rangers under plan

Iowa’s state parks will no longer have park rangers under a new alignment plan being executed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Rangers at Iowa’s 69 state parks all will gradually be classified as conservation officers assigned to one or more counties, rather than assigned to a specific state park or parks, the department confirmed.

“Under alignment, State Park Managers and Natural Resource Technicians will exclusively handle state park operations, allowing DNR’s sworn peace officers to solely focus on law enforcement tasks,” Iowa DNR spokeswoman Tammie Krausman said in an email.

But park advocates say the change will mean reduced law enforcement presence at state parks, which, in the summer, become hubs of activity that can involve overconsumption of alcohol, unsafe boating and criminal activity.

“Anywhere there is alcohol, law enforcement presence needs to be known. Especially when you’re out in the middle of nowhere,” said Dawn Bill, president of Friends of Pilot Knob, a group that supports Pilot Knob State Park in north-central Iowa.

Even though the Iowa DNR is making changes according to an alignment plan, when The Gazette asked for a copy, Krausman said the plan was still a draft, which makes it not subject to public disclosure under Iowa’s open records law.

What is a park ranger?

As sworn law enforcement officers, park rangers for decades also have been jacks-of-all-trades who do everything from repairing buildings and overseeing mowing to educating the public about invasive species and cracking down on out-of-control parties at campgrounds.

The Iowa DNR told rangers in 2022 they had to move out of 26 state-owned houses in state parks, saying the upkeep was too costly. That meant instead of being on site for busy weekends, rangers could live as far as 20 miles away.

But rangers have continued to have responsibility to specific parks, where they spend most of their days. It’s because of Pilot Knob Ranger Michael Strauser that his state park has a friends group, which helps with programming and raising money for the park that celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

“I’ve been camping out at Pilot Knob forever,” said Bill, who lives in Clear Lake. "We started in a tent, went to a pop-up (trailer) and now we have a big 36-footer.“

In summer 2018, she was talking with Strauser, who regularly walks around the 60-spot campground on weekends to talk with campers. He said he had park improvement plans but didn’t know if he had enough money in the budget.

“I’m like, ‘Well, don’t you have a friends group?’ He said no. I said ‘Maybe we should start one’,” Bill said. The group’s first event, in fall 2018, drew about 150 people for winter prep, including staining and painting park buildings.

Iowa’s state parks — visited by up to 16 million people a year — need more than $100 million in repairs for fixing leaking roofs and rotting shelters and updating sewage lagoons, The Gazette reported this month. Iowa DNR Director Kayla Lyon has not asked the Iowa Legislature for additional funding in recent years.

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Agency says reassignments won’t affect safety

The Iowa DNR plans to start the alignment process by moving Strauser and Katie Hoeppner, the ranger at Lewis and Clark State Park, near Onawa, to a hybrid status where they will be responsible for two counties each, Pete Hildreth, the agency’s Conservation and Recreation Division administrator, said in a March 22 email to parks employees.

The Iowa DNR will replace Strauser and Hoeppner with managers yet to be hired.

“The final vision is for all Law Enforcement staff to be classified as Conservation Officers,” Hildreth said in the email. “They will be responsible for enforcing all fish and game laws, boating and OHV (off-highway vehicle) laws, and other outdoor recreational laws, including in state parks, forests, and preserves.”

The changes will put all of the agency’s sworn peace officers into a single force housed in its Law Enforcement Bureau. The alignment is consistent with Gov. Kim Reynolds’s government reorganization plan passed last year, Krausman said.

The plan is not designed to save money, she said. The changes are not expected to affect safety in the state parks, she said.

“It will be exactly as it is now,” Krausman said. “Anyone experiencing an emergency in state parks or any other public area should call 911. The dispatcher will direct the closest law enforcement to respond. This is not a change from the current protocol.”

The Iowa DNR will rely on seasonal officers to enforce rules and laws “during exceptionally busy times of the year,” Krausman said. These are park managers, park technicians and night security officers sworn in as temporary officers from April 15 to October 15. These officers receive at least 24 hours of training, which includes eight hours riding with a full-time sworn peace officer.

Bill says seasonal officers are not enough, and sheriff’s deputies and Iowa state troopers don’t have the time to be a regular presence in the state parks.

“That’s going to be the biggest problem with this merger,” she said. “I don’t care what they want to call Michael. If you want to call him a conservation officer or a park ranger or, I don’t know, Santa Claus, I don’t care. He needs to be a law enforcement officer in the park.”

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com