Iowa park rangers file grievance over DNR evictions

Iowa park rangers facing eviction by the Department of Natural Resources have filed a grievance claiming the state is unilaterally changing the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.

The DNR decided in November it would require park rangers, park managers and other staff living in state-owned houses in Iowa’s state parks to move out by the end of November 2022, partly because the agency does not want to pay up to $1 million to repair housing.

“We have been trying to work with DNR to come to an agreement about the park ranger housing situation, but we were told Friday that the DNR is no longer interested in trying to work with us to resolve the situation,” Sue Cave, executive director of the State Police Officers Council, said Tuesday.

Evicting rangers from their homes in 23 state parks would be a “huge disservice” to Iowans, union President Jason Beardsley said. “It’s time for all of Iowa’s elected officials to prove that each of them mean it when they say that public safety is one of their highest priorities, especially when it involves a unique state asset — Iowa’s state parks.”

The union called the eviction of rangers a potential violation of its contract with the state because living rent-free in state-owned housing falls under the category of supplemental pay and is a mandatory subject of collective bargaining. No collective bargaining discussions initiated by the DNR with the State Police Officers Council occurred, according to the union.

Rangers have lived rent-free in state-owned housing in the parks since the 1960s. Their presence was seen as a way to provide better public safety and visitor assistance.

“It is ironic that the DNR has decided there is a ‘business need’ to maintain state-owned housing at state fisheries while evicting park rangers and staff from state park houses to protect and assist people,” Beardsley said.

A DNR spokeswoman said it does not respond to union grievances.

A state senator agreed Tuesday that the DNR evicting the rangers is not in the best interest of park visitors and the communities where they are located. The rationale for the eviction — the cost of bringing the housing up to code — “doesn’t hold water,” Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said in remarks on the Senate floor.

“Somehow (the governor and DNR) think that visitors’ quality experience and park safety will be unchanged when park personnel are 30 minutes away from problems that arise at the parks,” Bolkcom said. “Park rangers keep people safe from severe weather, bad behavior, fighting, unruly visitors, medical emergencies and more.”

Bolkcom put the blame for the current condition of park ranger housing on the Republican legislative majority’s “slumlord approach to managing these properties.”

“Are you guys really that cheap that we can’t afford to fix these properties, so everyday Iowans can have a good, safe, secure time when they visit our parks?” he said.

If the state can’t afford to fix and maintain park ranger housing, Bolkcom asked, “Why are taxpayers paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to house the governor and university presidents?”

“We’ve got money to house the big shots, but we don’t have money to house our park rangers,” he said. “Maybe it’s time for every state employee to find their own housing.”

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