Cedar Rapids, IA, USA  
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe Today
The Gazette The Gazette
The Gazette The Gazette
  • COVID-19
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe
CLOSE
The Gazette
Subscribe
My Account
  • News
    • All News
    • Election 2020
    • Coronavirus
    • Business News
    • Community
    • Crime and Courts
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Nation and World
    • Time Machine
    • Search Archive

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Lee Hermiston
    • Erin Jordan
    • James Q. Lynch
    • Trish Mehaffey
    • Vanessa Miller
    • Kat Russell
    • Grace King
    • John Steppe
    • Gage Miskimen
    • Marissa Payne
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Iowa Hawkeyes
    • Hawkeye Football
    • Hawkeye Basketball
    • Prep Sports
    • Prep Volleyball
    • Prep Football
    • Prep Basketball
    • Prep Wrestling
    • Iowa State Cyclones
    • UNI Panthers
    • Small College Sports
    • Minor League Sports
    • Outdoors

    Sports Desk

    • Mike Hlas
    • Jeff Johnson
    • Jeff Linder
    • J.R. Ogden
    • K.J. Pilcher
    • Leah Vann
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Editorial Mission
    • Guest Columnists
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Political Cartoons
    • Staff Columnists
    • Staff Editorials
    • Submit a Letter or Column

    Our Columnists

    • Todd Dorman
    • Adam Sullivan
  • Food and Drink
    • All Food and Drink
    • Chew on This
    • Recipes
    • Restaurants
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Business Notes
    • Companies
    • Personal Finance
    • Economy
    • Employment
    • Energy
    • Manufacturing
    • Openings & Closures
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Small Business
    • Transportation

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Erin Jordan
    • John Steppe
  • Obituaries
    • All Obituaries
    • In Memory Of
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • Daily News Podcast
    • Fact Checker
    • Hlastradamus Odds
    • Iowa Prep Sports
    • On Iowa
    • On Iowa Politics
    • On UNI
    • Pinning Combination
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Art
    • Books
    • Museums & Galleries
    • Music
    • Theater
    • Things To Do
  • Living
    • All Living
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Milestones
    • People & Places
    • Pets & Animals
    • Recreation
    • Religion & Belief
    • Travel

    Our Writers

    • Diana Nollen
    • Elijah Decious
  • Kids Gazette
    • See All
    • Kids Cooking Series
    • Kids Galleries
    • Printables
    • Activities
    • Articles
    • Submissions
    • Resources
  • Photos
    • All Photos and Videos
    • The Iowa Photo
    • Photo Store

    Our Photojournalists

    • Andy Abeyta
    • Liz Martin
    • Rebecca Miller
    • Jim Slosiarek
    • Gazette Visuals
  • Milestones
    • All Milestones
    • Anniversaries
    • Days To Remember
    • Engagements
    • Holidays
    • In Remembrance
    • New Arrivals
    • Thank Yous
    • Submit a Milestone
  • Data
    • Arrests
    • Building Permits
    • Interactive Maps & Charts
    • Salaries
  • Gazette Sites
    • Classifieds
    • Corridor Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Gazette Gives Back
    • Gazette Rewards
    • Gazette Store
    • Green Gazette
    • HER
    • Iowa Wedding Experience
    • Holiday Light Finder
    • Hoopla
    • Iowa Ideas
    • Photo Store
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
    • About The Gazette
    • Archives
    • Article Removal
    • Business Directory
    • CR Arrest Database
    • Mobile Apps
    • Customer Care
    • Order Back Issues
    • Privacy Policies
    • Puzzle Answers
    • Sponsorship Requests
    • Submit a Letter
    • Weather
  • Digital Edition
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast
Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
Log out

FOLLOW US

The Gazette
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
  • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
  • Entertainment
  • Living
  • Kids Gazette
  • Photos
  • Milestones
  • Data
  • Gazette Sites
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
  • Digital Edition
  • All News
  • Election 2020
  • Coronavirus
  • Business News
  • Community
  • Crime and Courts
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • Nation and World
  • Time Machine
  • Search Archive

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Lee Hermiston
  • Erin Jordan
  • James Q. Lynch
  • Trish Mehaffey
  • Vanessa Miller
  • Kat Russell
  • Grace King
  • John Steppe
  • Gage Miskimen
  • Marissa Payne
  • All Sports
  • Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Hawkeye Football
  • Hawkeye Basketball
  • Prep Sports
  • Prep Volleyball
  • Prep Football
  • Prep Basketball
  • Prep Wrestling
  • Iowa State Cyclones
  • UNI Panthers
  • Small College Sports
  • Minor League Sports
  • Outdoors

Sports Desk

  • Mike Hlas
  • Jeff Johnson
  • Jeff Linder
  • J.R. Ogden
  • K.J. Pilcher
  • Leah Vann
  • All Opinion
  • Editorial Mission
  • Guest Columnists
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Political Cartoons
  • Staff Columnists
  • Staff Editorials
  • Submit a Letter or Column

Our Columnists

  • Todd Dorman
  • Adam Sullivan
  • All Food and Drink
  • Chew on This
  • Recipes
  • Restaurants
  • All Business
  • Agriculture
  • Business Notes
  • Companies
  • Personal Finance
  • Economy
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing
  • Openings & Closures
  • Real Estate
  • Retail
  • Small Business
  • Transportation

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Erin Jordan
  • John Steppe
  • All Obituaries
  • In Memory Of
  • Submit an Obituary
  • All Podcasts
  • Daily News Podcast
  • Fact Checker
  • Hlastradamus Odds
  • Iowa Prep Sports
  • On Iowa
  • On Iowa Politics
  • On UNI
  • Pinning Combination
  • All Entertainment
  • Art
  • Books
  • Museums & Galleries
  • Music
  • Theater
  • Things To Do
  • All Living
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Milestones
  • People & Places
  • Pets & Animals
  • Recreation
  • Religion & Belief
  • Travel

Our Writers

  • Diana Nollen
  • Elijah Decious
  • See All
  • Kids Cooking Series
  • Kids Galleries
  • Printables
  • Activities
  • Articles
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • All Photos and Videos
  • The Iowa Photo
  • Photo Store

Our Photojournalists

  • Andy Abeyta
  • Liz Martin
  • Rebecca Miller
  • Jim Slosiarek
  • Gazette Visuals
  • All Milestones
  • Anniversaries
  • Days To Remember
  • Engagements
  • Holidays
  • In Remembrance
  • New Arrivals
  • Thank Yous
  • Submit a Milestone
  • Arrests
  • Building Permits
  • Interactive Maps & Charts
  • Salaries
  • Classifieds
  • Corridor Careers
  • Garage Sales
  • Gazette Gives Back
  • Gazette Rewards
  • Gazette Store
  • Green Gazette
  • HER
  • Iowa Wedding Experience
  • Holiday Light Finder
  • Hoopla
  • Iowa Ideas
  • Photo Store
  • About The Gazette
  • Archives
  • Article Removal
  • Business Directory
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Mobile Apps
  • Customer Care
  • Order Back Issues
  • Privacy Policies
  • Puzzle Answers
  • Sponsorship Requests
  • Submit a Letter
  • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
LOG OUT

FOLLOW US

More Stories

Brucemore celebrates 40 years of being open to the public

IMU COVID vaccine clinic coming

Meet the Iowan behind the Vaccine Hunter website

Wellington Heights home gutted in 2017 fire finally coming down

26-year-old man killed in shooting in NE Cedar Rapids

Peggy Whitson to be keynote speaker for Iowa Ideas 2021

Here’s how to get rid of your derecho tree debris

Livestream: Funeral for Iowa state trooper Jim Smith

Home / Opinion / Guest Columnists

Iowa’s Outdoor Trust Fund sits empty under failure in leadership

Iowa Division of Izaak Walton League Mar. 2, 2021 2:00 pm Updated: Mar. 1, 2021 4:50 pm
Iowa’s Outdoor Trust Fund sits empty under failure in leadership

When voters approved the Iowa Natural Resource and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund in 2010, the Iowa Izaak Walton League was one of the prominent conservation voices behind the movement.

We saw then the trend of deterioration in Iowa's rivers and lakes. Soil experts and many conservation voices within the agriculture community also were noting the growing problem with millions of tons of Iowa's black gold laden with fertilizers and chemicals annually washing down the Mississippi River, a leading cause of the growing dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Iowa Ikes could see then the need for more outdoor recreation opportunities, including more trails and parks, if we wanted to attract new commerce and keep young people in Iowa. We were quite aware that without new revenue streams, Iowa's existing parks and public spaces would continue to decline.

These were just some of the reasons why the Iowa Ikes supported then, like today, the passage of a three-eighths-cent sales tax increase that would go into the trust to help fund a range of natural resource

conservation efforts and outdoor

opportunities.

Unfortunately, as everyone knows, while voters were given the authority to establish the trust, the sales tax increase has failed to pass the Iowa Legislature for 11 long years, leaving a zero balance. As a result, Iowa's soil, rivers, lakes, trails and public spaces have been denied nearly

$2 billion in critical funding since then.

That investment would have been greatly appreciated in 2020, a year of record levels of outdoors participation due to the pandemic. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported individual visits to state parks just from March through July totaled 9.055 million, an increase of over

1 million during the same period in 2019. Bicycle shops, kayak dealers and similar vendors continue to report severe shortages in products as demand exploded overnight.

We came close to seeing the trust funded last year when Gov. Kim Reynolds proposed the Invest in Iowa Act, a massive tax reform bill that would have implemented a one-cent sales tax increase, with part of it going to fund the trust. The bill made significant changes to the citizen-approved formula for where the trust dollars would go, and also included major shifts in tax revenues and state budgets. As a result, it pitted many constituencies against each other, making it difficult to garner support from most corners of the state. Talk of funding the trust got lost in other conversations, the pandemic shortened the 2020 session, and the bill died.

In November, the governor announced her intentions to reintroduce the same bill in 2021. She soon relented when opposition rose up from both sides of the aisle, meaning the issue is dead for this session. Again.

To say that the Iowa Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund has been an abysmal failure of state leadership would be an understatement. If there is another example in the country where a citizens' ballot measure approved by

64 percent of the voters still draws 70 percent approval from the public 11 years later, but has not been funded due to politics, we'd like to see it.

All Iowans want clean waters, healthy fish and wildlife habitats and more places to hunt, ride a bike or just take a hike. Let's not take these simple values for granted. To improve and protect such precious resources for future generations is an investment that brings exponential returns. It's who we are as Iowans.

We aim to keep this issue alive. To the governor and the Iowa Legislature, let's go back to the originally passed trust with the original formula as Iowans voted for in 2010 and just fund it accordingly. Iowans deserve nothing less.

Iowa Division of Izaak Walton League officers include: Rick Cerwick, president, Todd Pierce, Lisa McIntyre, Dale Braun, Jan Carmer, Craig Enneking, Vicki Arnold, Mike Delaney, Bill Arnold, Rich 'Bo” Galloway, Jack Johnson, Corky Simmons, Mike Wilkins, Donny Ingle, Dean Knight and Tim Wagner.

Izaak Walton Fishing Day at Marr Park.

Trending

  • Observations from Iowa football’s open spring practice

    Leah Vann

  • Meet the Iowan behind Vaccine Hunter, the site that helps…

    Michaela Ramm

  • Wellington Heights home gutted in 2017 fire finally coming down

    Trish Mehaffey

  • Are aliens real? A lot of evidence has come out…

    Michaela Ramm

  • Governor names regents President Michael Richards to another term

    Vanessa Miller

Give us feedback

We work hard to provide fair, accurate coverage because we value your trust. If you find an error or omission in our reporting, please tell us here.

Submit a story idea

Do you have a story idea that we should look into? Please tell us here.

Related Stories

Persuasive speaking lessons from Greta Thunberg

Persuasive speaking lessons from Greta Thunberg

By Nick Westergaard Business News Oct. 23, 2019 7:55 pm

Capitol Ideas: Democratic caucus field finally may be taking shape

Capitol Ideas: Democratic caucus field finally may be taking shape

Erin Murphy Government & Politics Jan. 26, 2020 7:03 pm

Coronavirus lawsuits are mounting

Coronavirus lawsuits are mounting

Wilford H. Stone Business News Jul. 1, 2020 6:52 pm

Guest Columnists

Busting solar energy misconceptions

Busting solar energy misconceptions

Vivian Tracey, Jonah Hodge, Kole Hartley and Blaze Krug

Opinion Apr. 16, 2021 2:07 pm

Helping a stranger in the April rain

Helping a stranger in the April rain

Kurt Ullrich

Guest Columnists Apr. 16, 2021 2:17 pm

’Back the Blue’ legislation makes Iowans less safe and free

’Back the Blue’ legislation makes Iowans less safe and free

Christina Bohannan and Janice Weiner

Guest Columnists Apr. 15, 2021 5:36 pm

The immigration crisis is rooted in conservative policies

The immigration crisis is rooted in conservative policies

Brad Wilson

Guest Columnists Apr. 14, 2021 11:19 am

Opinion

The bureaucracy is killing us

The bureaucracy is killing us

Adam Sullivan

Opinion Apr. 16, 2021 3:59 pm

Migrant children are not ’our problem,’ governor — they’re our…

Migrant children are not ’our problem,’ governor — they’re our…

Staff Editorial

Opinion Apr. 16, 2021 2:51 pm

Lack of oversight at Iowa’s prisons is a deadly problem

Lack of oversight at Iowa’s prisons is a deadly problem

Staff editorial

Staff Editorials Apr. 16, 2021 7:55 am

Don’t give college sports a blank check

Don’t give college sports a blank check

Staff editorial

Opinion Apr. 15, 2021 5:10 pm

News

Crackdowns on advance voting belie growing popularity among all voters

Crackdowns on advance voting belie growing popularity among all voters

AP

News Apr. 16, 2021 5:19 pm

Here’s how to get rid of your derecho tree debris

Here’s how to get rid of your derecho tree debris

, Marissa Payne

Community Apr. 16, 2021 9:30 pm

100 days after attack, Hinson wants Capitol fence to be…

100 days after attack, Hinson wants Capitol fence to be…

James Q. Lynch

Government & Politics Apr. 16, 2021 8:50 pm

Iowan accused of assaulting officers during Capitol riot

Iowan accused of assaulting officers during Capitol riot

Washington Post

Crime and Courts Apr. 16, 2021 9:11 pm

Sports

Linn-Mar’s T.J. Jackson draws a crowd in the high jump

Linn-Mar’s T.J. Jackson draws a crowd in the high jump

Jeff Linder

High School Track and Field 15m ago

Observations from Iowa football’s open spring practice

Observations from Iowa football’s open spring practice

Leah Vann

Hawkeye Football 3h ago

Photos: Iowa Hawkeyes spring football practice

Photos: Iowa Hawkeyes spring football practice

Gazette Visuals

Sports 4h ago

Iowa football fans and Kinnick Stadium: A romance rekindled Saturday

Iowa football fans and Kinnick Stadium: A romance rekindled Saturday

Mike Hlas

Hawkeye Football 3h ago

FOLLOW US

The Gazette is Iowa’s independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage.

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility

Contact Us

  • 116 3rd St SE
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
  • customercare@thegazette.com
  • (319) 398-8333
  • Live Chat

Links

  • Puzzle Answers
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Article Removal Request
  • Gazette Archives
  • Green Gazette
  • Corridor Careers Jobs
  • Work at The Gazette
  • Customer Care

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility
Folience A Folience Company