Welcome to the Dallas County Conservation Department Web Page

On behalf of the Dallas County Conservation Department and Conservation Board we welcome you to the Conservation Department website. We wish to extend an invitation to you to visit and to correspond with us at this site. We also see our work and communication through this media as a way to connect with you, possibly on a daily basis, and a way to more closely attach you to conservation lands, rivers, history, culture, and programs in Dallas County. We hope the website will peak your curiosity, bring valuable information to you, provide another way for us to extend ourselves to each of you and to your communities on matters of conservation in Dallas County and the region. This is a way for you to communicate with us and for us to reach you with fewer trees in the balance.

Conservation in Dallas County is an extensive county government program. There are, as you know, other conservation government and non-government agencies and organizations in this central Iowa region. Other state and federal agencies include: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Corps of Engineers, and U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. All have different functions, but do not include the elements of the Dallas County Conservation Department.

Dallas County Conservation Department is organized into five basic, yet very connected and comprehensive programs. These include the following:

• Natural Resource Management – Resource management in parks and reserves and working with private landowners in the natural resources: prairies, savannas, woodlands, wetlands, stream systems, and wildlife.
  
  
• Historical and Cultural Resources – This is the Conservation program of history and prehistory, of Architecture, Landscape, past cultures, current cultures, present conditions and historical, cultural, and social conditions of the environment and patrimony of the Dallas County lands. The historical and cultural resource program is supported by museum and educational facilities and staff based in Dallas County. The facilities include:
  1. Forest Park Museum
  2. Voas Geology and Earth Science Museum
  3. Redfield Depot
  4. Hanging Rock Barn
  5. Bear Creek Nature Center (Kuehn Conservation Area)
     
     
• Environmental Education ­ The environmental education program in Dallas County extends learning to schools, organized groups, and the public through interpretative methods applied in parks and nature centers across Dallas County. The major environmental education centers and associated park land include: Bear Creek Nature Center and Kuehn Conservation Area, Voas Geology and Earth Science Musuem, Forest Park, and Hanging Rock.
  
  
• Outdoor Recreation – Recreation resources include trails, picnicking, camping, fishing, hunting, river accesses for canoeing, and interpretive programming. The rivers are the greatest water resource in Dallas County and provide countless possibilities for recreational activities. Extensive trail systems for walking, running, hiking, roller blading, and bicycling are available. The Raccoon River Valley Trail was the second rail to trail conversation in the nation to apply the National Trails Act.

• Raccoon River Greenbelt – The Raccoon River Greenbelt has combined all of the elements of natural resources, historical and cultural resources, education, land protection, and recreation into an applied comprehensive program. The Greenbelt is the premier example of a long range ecological and cultural program to protect land and associated rivers and streams through environmental education, defining critical resource districts, protecting rare and endangered species, protecting water quality, and preserving and interpreting history and archaeology.

Summary
We believe this is an opportunity for the Conservation Department to reach out, to inform, and to involve us all in environmental decisions and program directions. We will bring insight and information to you from our staff as well as connections to local, state, national and even global information sources and issues. The Conservation Department, Conservation Staff, and Conservation Board look forward to working with you, meeting you in person, and being in contact through this web page.

Jeff Logsdon
Director Dallas County Conservation Department