(Orleans)– The Spirit Lake Protective Association, or SLPA, has adopted the slogan “look to the north”. John Smeltzer, the organization’s President, says it reflects the fact the vast majority of the watershed for Big Spirit Lake and Little Spirit Lake comes directly out of Minnesota…
“You know the Spirit Lake Protective Association sits and focuses on Big Spirit Lake and Little Spirit Lake and we are fortunate in many ways to be at the very top of the Iowa Great Lakes system. But in doing that, sometimes when we look to the south, we actually don’t see some of the benefits that can be conveyed by looking to the north. And so a mantra has kind of developed within the group that we should look to the north first to make sure that we are improving things like water quality in the Big Spirit Lake, Little Spirit Lake drainage. In fact, Little Spirit on the Minnesota side is viewed as an impaired water and so that’s the reason for that mantra.”
Smeltzer says while the SLPA relies heavily on funding for water quality projects from the Iowa side, they’re also applying for funds from Minnesota…
“One of the things that Minnesota actually has that’s a great benefit to conservation is a program of sales tax not unlike the one that was passed by the citizenry of Iowa back about a decade or so ago known as IWILL here locally. They have a similar program in Minnesota and it generates about $160 million a year for conservation purposes that’s repeatable and there’s a process to apply for those funds. Spirit Lake Protective Association working with partners were kind of the catalyst of the effort. We all have put together an effort looking into Minnesota and we currently have for the 2026-2027 season a $5.2 million dollar ask of that fund to do conservation work in Minnesota that would impact both the local area where the project was put on the ground and also the water and the flow of water into the Iowa Great Lakes.”
Smeltzer adds the $2.1 million acquisition of 196 acres of land immediately north Shore Acrea and McLelland’s Beach is a good example of the two states and local entities working together on conservation and water quality projects.
