Why is Governor Kim Reynolds Dismantling our State Park System?

I detect a pattern...

As far as I can tell the formal dismantling of our Iowa State Park System began in 2022. Erin Jordan with the Gazette has the story.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is evicting park rangers from government-owned houses in 23 state parks because it doesn’t want to pay up to $1 million on repairs.

Critics of the plan say if park rangers no longer live in the parks they patrol, park users — more than 16 million people in 2020 — will have to wait longer for help if there’s a boat crash, medical emergency, power outage or a crime.

The rationale given was the cost of repairs and maintenance.

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On March 17 of this year, Jordan reported:

Iowa’s state parks — visited by up to 16 million people a year — need more than $100 million in repairs for fixing leaking roofs and rotting shelters and updating sewage lagoons.

She also reported that despite the parks’ popularity and the needed repairs, Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Kayla Lyon did not ask the Iowa Legislature this year for any additional funding, despite the state’s 1.2 billion dollar surplus.

Jordan interviewed David Downing, who served as an Iowa DNR executive officer until he retired this January.

“My question is: What are the legislators actually being told?” asked David Downing, who served as an Iowa DNR executive officer and parks asset manager until his retirement in January. “We're in dire straits. Everybody is afraid to talk. Nobody wants to say a word because you'll get your head handed to you.”

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Now we learn that our parks will no longer have park rangers.

Rangers at Iowa’s 69 state parks all will gradually be classified as conservation officers assigned to one or more counties, rather than assigned to a specific state park or parks, the department confirmed.

The state says the reason for the reorganization isn’t to save costs. The Gazette asks, “What’s the point?”

The editorial board also says “Our state parks deserve better.”

Indeed.

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Marion County, where I live, has one state park—Elk Rock State Park. It occupies more than 50,000 acres (quote from DNR; I presume this includes Corp of Engineers land around the lake) on the south shore of Lake Red Rock. It has numerous campgrounds, a boat ramp, and a unique set of facilities for horse lovers. I drove to the park yesterday and on this early date I saw probably 20 campers and vehicles from all over the state, and one couple who told me they were from St. Paul.

Above is the boat ramp.

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Above are some of the park’s equestrian features.

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Above left is a shot of the roof of the campground office. To the right is a closer view of the shingles. On the concrete foundation is the inscription 10/14/04. The old carpenter in me thinks those might be the original shingles. I saw other maintenance needs as well.

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So why are Reynolds and legislative Republicans slowly dismantling our state park system? While I hope I’m wrong, I believe it’s to set the stage for the privatization of the park system. It’s happened in Alabama, Oklahoma and Wyoming, among other states, sometimes in the face of budget cuts.

It’s the same general Republican playbook that operates under the myth that the private sector can do better than government—and we all know how the privatization of Medicaid in Iowa worked out—a slow-motion train wreck.

So the general idea is to create a self-fulfilling prophecy by underfunding the institution they want to privatize, then claiming that the institution isn't doing a good job, and that the private sector can do better. Their unwillingness to properly fund the institution becomes the rationalization to privatize it.

Part of the plan is to make the institution even more unstable not only because of continued insufficient funding over the years, but by changing rules, making employees do more with less, and undermining employee morale (check the Downing quote above).

This is the formula Reynolds has used to undermine our public schools and our Area Education Agencies, doing her best to drive public money—our tax dollars meant to be used for the public good—into private hands.

And somewhere along the way, Reynolds will tell us her plan will make our state parks better and save us money. Just like she said school vouchers would make public schools better and save us money when the fact is many public schools are going through extensive budget cuts and losing staff while private schools are gobbling up our tax dollars that should be invested in public schools.

I also suspect she may also use the privatization of our parks as an excuse for more tax cuts for the wealthy.

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A secondary reason that I fear Reynolds is coming after our state parks is that she may want to put some of that land under the plow or be used for grazing.

While my Republican friends value our public lands, some Republican members of the legislature and the Iowa Farm Bureau don’t. Legislation was introduced in session this year and last that would limit how the Iowa Department of Natural Resources can obtain land for public recreation. It failed to get traction.

Jared Strong with the Iowa Capital Dispatch had the story on February 1.

The legislation is the latest of repeated attempts by agriculture and livestock groups to keep land in private ownership, primarily to increase the availability of low-cost pasture land for starting cattle producers.

“Our farmers, landowners have concerns about the state competing against them to acquire land,” said Kevin Kuhle, of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

It is DNR policy to avoid auctions for land acquisitions under most circumstances, and Kuhle said that should be strictly codified in state law.

But the proposed legislation was met overall with heavy resistance from environmental and hunting groups along with numerous residents, who viewed it as an assault on their desires to expand the amount of publicly available space for recreation and other benefits.

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In 2019 Kim Reynolds visited Herschel Parts in Indianola. The company makes parts for combines, among other products. I was one of the reporters who covered the event.

In general, we media stand to the side and listen to the interaction between politicians and who they are talking with and write our stories based on that interaction. It’s the polite and respectful thing to do.

At one point, Reynolds spoke briefly about a trade mission she had been on to Brazil. She wistfully said something like:

You know, when I was in Brazil, I saw combines twice as big as ours, and they are doing amazing things there, cultivating so much land that has never been cultivated before!

“You mean the Amazon?” I thought, but didn’t say, to my regret.

If she’s OK with the destruction of the Amazon, a few state parks won’t be an issue.

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Here I would like to highlight my friend and fellow Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member Ed Tibbitts’ column “Along the Mississippi.” This week he writes Proposed Tax Amendments Would Enshrine Unfairness in Iowa’s Constitution. This is a column every Iowan should read.

Week after week Ed does some of the most powerful reporting and commentary in the state. Please consider subscribing to “Along the Mississippi, and if you can afford it, consider a paid subscription. You will find it worth every penny.

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My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast called “Iowa Revolution”. We talk about politics and much, much more. Click here to subscribe. It’s fun and sometimes wacky. Spencer often gets me out of my comfort zone…

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