(Orleans)– A historic shelter house on the north shore of Big Spirit Lake may be in for some major improvements.
Kevin Szcodronski, Chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources State Parks Division, was the keynote speaker at Saturday’s annual meeting of the Spirit Lake Protective Association. He told the audience the DNR is seeking public input on several options to either renovate or replace the shelter house at Mini Wakan State Park. Szcodronski says it’s in conjunction with a special initiative the DNR has to improve state park facilities that are in disrepair by 2020…the 100th anniversary of state parks in Iowa.
Szcondronski says a statewide foundation is being established to help raise money for the initiative. He says they’ve done an inventory on improvements that are needed at the various state parks, and the Mini Wakan shelter house is on that list. The total cost of the projects listed is between 70 and 100 million dollars. Typically, Szcodronski says the DNR’s capital funding for state parks have been running in the neighborhood of one million to one and-a-half million a year. In addition to the foundation and fundraising, Szcodronski says they’ll also be doing private fundraising and lobbying lawmakers for additional funds.
Szcodronski outlined several possible options for the Mini Wakan shelter, ranging from renovating the existing structure to tearing it down and building a new one, or a combination of renovating and new construction. They range in cost from 250-thousand to 650-thousand dollars. Szcodronski says they’re seeking public input on the matter. A committee of members from the Spirit Lake Protective Association is being formed to meet with DNR officials on the issue.
This isn’t the first time the DNR has made promises to either fix or replace the Mini Wakan shelter house. The head of the DNR at the time, Jeff Vonk, appeared at a Spirit Lake Protective Association meeting several years ago and made a similar promise. It fell by the wayside though when the legislature cut an appropriation that contained funding for the project.
