(Spirit Lake)– The Director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources was in the Iowa Great Lakes Area over the weekend.
Jeff Vonk was the keynote speaker at Saturday’s annual meeting of the Spirit Lake Protective Association. He emphasized the importance of groups partnering with the D-N-R on various projects. He used the dredging project at Storm Lake as an example, where a local organization raised funds for the project and worked with the D-N-R to make it become a reality.
In spite of the state’s budget crunch, Vonk said funding for state parks has actually increased 20 percent over the last two years. He says state officials are realizing more and more the valuable role they play in economic development and attracting people to Iowa.
Along that same line, Vonk reported money has been set aside in a special program to rennovate Minnewaukon State Park and it’s shelter house, built in the 1930’s by the W-P-A. Vonk says the improvements will start with the parking area first, then progress to the shelter house. He says the work will take two to three years to complete. Once it’s done, Vonk says the rennovated stone shelter house at Minnewaukon will rival that at Gull Point, which was restored a couple of years ago.
