Public lands critical for maintaining, luring Iowa residents, stakeholders say

Ensuring there is sufficient public land in the state for Iowans to hunt, fish and enjoy recreational activities is critical to maintaining and growing the state’s population, stakeholders say.

Recreation and conservation stakeholders discussed the availability and maintenance of public hands during a session at The Gazette’s Iowa Ideas conference Friday.

The topic of public land use and availability gained attention early this year when state lawmakers considered a proposal that would have required the state to focus on the maintenance of current public land over the acquisition of any new public land.

That proposal sparked a debate over how much public land is available to Iowans, and whether the acquisition of new public lands has made it difficult for farmers to acquire land.

That initial legislative proposal did not pass into law. However, lawmakers in the Republican-majority Iowa Legislature did approve legislation that eliminated a goal for the state to reach the point where 10 percent of Iowa’s land is publicly owned.

The state was falling far short of that goal anyway. Just 3 percent of Iowa’s land is publicly owned, according to studies by Texas A&M University’s Natural Resources Institute and the hiking and climbing website the Summit Post. That puts Iowa near the bottom of states’ shares of publicly-owned land: only Kansas, Nebraska and Rhode Island had lower shares of publicly-owned land than Iowa in the two reports.

Iowa acquired 2,462 acres of land in 2022, a state official said during a legislative hearing in March.

“I’m not concerned about our ranking. … That number really doesn’t mean anything to us,” Joe McGovern, president of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, said during the Iowa Ideas discussion. “What we’re really talking about is, do we have enough parks, trails and wildlife areas in this state to meet the outdoor recreation needs of Iowans? And then in addition to that, do we have enough land to attract workforce? Do people want to come when they find a job or they’re looking for jobs? Is this a place they want to come work?

“So we’ve really looked at it as, not that it’s too much land or too little land. It’s more, are we meeting the needs of Iowans? … I don't think we’re there yet.”

Marc Beltrame, who lobbies at the Iowa Capitol on behalf of Ducks Unlimited, acknowledged a shortage of grazing areas for Iowa cattle farmers. Members of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association were among the most vocal to speak in support of the initially proposed legislation earlier this year.

Beltrame said his family has cattle on their 850 acres in Marion and Lucas counties.

“I know from personal experience that there is a shortage of grazing,” Beltrame said. “Let’s make sure that we are maximizing the grazing opportunities on public lands.”

McGovern agreed, and said conservation groups and agricultural interests can work together. For example, he said grazing can be a part of managing a grassland or a prairie.

“If we can find a way to work together, I guarantee any conservation group would welcome that, having the dialogue around how do we integrate in good grazing practices on our grasses, things like that,” McGovern said.

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