Say no to Wickiup Hill campground

To the editor:

The Linn County Board of Supervisors has made plans to build a campground in the heart of Wickiup Hill Nature Center.

There are other campgrounds in Linn County and surrounding areas which can be expanded if need be. They are established and have infrastructure built to maintain them.

Building a new campground at Wickiup Hill however would cause disturbances and environmental degradation in an area that exists to maintain nature, a quiet oasis near to the city that is also one of the few remaining breeding locations of the Blanding's turtle in this state.

I ask readers to write to the Board of Supervisors to protest this plan. Campgrounds are fine, but we need places for nature and the quiet enjoyment of it as well. With 99 percent of this state already altered by human activity, natural habitats such as Wickiup are few and precious and should be preserved for the future, not cut down and paved unnecessarily.

Amy Collette

Cedar Rapids