As the University of Iowa winds down operations at the 485-acre Macbride Nature Recreation Area — having decided to terminate its 66-year lease of the property and with it the discovery, innovation, and exploration of the land that’s captivated elementary students to UI professors for decades — officials are notifying programs using the facility about next steps, including when they need to be out.
Two-thirds of Iowa’s state park beaches faced “swimming not recommended” advisories at least once this summer, with heavy rains fueling higher bacteria levels that pushed advisories to their highest rate in a decade, according to state monitoring officials and data.
For weeks and months last fall, according to emails obtained by The Gazette through an open records request, University of Iowa administrators, staff, committee and community members discussed a range of Macbride Nature Recreation Area issues.
As the Iowa Raptor Project turns 40, its impact on generations comes into focus while uncertainty over its future looms.
The University of Iowa will exit its 66-year lease of the 485-acre Macbride Nature Recreation Area when it expires July 1, 2029 after an in-depth review found maintaining the historic land will cost an immediate $14.8 million in repairs and upgrades.
Backbone State Park in northeast Iowa was among four Iowa parks with high bacteria concentrations in beach water this week. Lake Macbride State Park and Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area are "OK for swimming," the state reported.
Maintaining its lease of the historic Macbride Nature Recreation Area that for decades has hosted thousands of researchers, naturalists, and students will cost the University of Iowa an immediate $14.8 million in repairs and upgrades — plus nearly $1 million annually to maintain — according to a new report on UI use of the land.
These four scientists studied Iowa’s flora, preserved prairie, and drafted legislation to establish Iowa’s state park system.
The university is reviewing is lease of the 485-acre nature area that for years has attracted researchers, naturalists and students -- but poses budget issue.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office released the identity Monday of a man who died over the weekend after being pulled from Lake Macbride.
A passerby on a walking trail near the main boat ramp at Lake Macbride State Park called 911Saturday morning after noticing a pair of gloves near broken ice on the frozen lake, according to a news release from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Abundant rainfall that washed fecal material into Iowa's lakes likely led to the largest amount of swimming advisories at their beaches in more than a decade.
The swimmer who drowned in Lake Macbride on Wednesday has been identified as a 20-year-old Iowa City man.
Nine beaches didn’t pass tests for e. coli or for toxins from toxic algae. But another eight were not tested because of flooding.
A man who was found dead in Lake Macbride last week has been identified by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office as Cesar Garcia-Pelico, 34, of Cedar Rapids.
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