Find a way to fund Macbride nature area

The future of the University of Iowa lease for the Macbride Nature Recreation Area (MNRA) is in jeopardy. The reason is money. Money to pay for the operating expenses to maintain the field campus. University budgets are tight, and university executive officers are looking to trim expenses. As real as these costs are, they would seem to be a drop in the bucket of the university budget. I suggest that the real crisis is not money, but a vision of the future of what would be lost without MNRA.

There are almost no large contiguous tracts of native woodlands left in our state. As any biologist can attest, for many species of plants and animals to exist and even thrive, it requires a complex web of life between plants and animals. Because of its undeveloped history, its size and location, the ecology of MNRA is unique. It is a living laboratory! This has intrinsic and practical value.

MNRA fits with the mission of the new School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability to train students to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing environment. MNRA would be the perfect place to observe an environment that has evolved over thousands of years to truly understand the meaning of sustainability.

MNRA is a unique environment that is used and valued by young and old alike. Let’s preserve our future by working together to find innovative solutions to the money problem.

David Gerleman

Swisher