(Okoboji)– A new park in Okoboji that’s owned and managed by the Dickinson County Conservation Board has been open several weeks now, but an event this (Mon.) morning made it official. A ribbon cutting was held for Sherwood Forest Park at the site of what used to be The Inn Golf Course at 3301 Lakeshore Drive in Okoboji. Lee Sorenson, Director of the Dickinson County Conservation Board, says the park will become a great legacy…
“This going to be here for a long, long time. Forever. Because it’s got a conservation easement. So not only do we get to enjoy it, our children get to enjoy it and their children get to enjoy it.”
Rebecca Peters is President of the Dickinson County Conservation Foundation which served as a channel for tax deductible donations…
“We are very proud to work with the Conservation Board, some incredible donors, the city of Okoboji, the county, the state of Iowa. Really anyone who works to bring parks like this to life. The generosity in this community is amazing and we love being able to create opportunities and spaces like this where families can come and enjoy the outdoors.”
Sorenson says the project stems all the way back to 2018 when conceptual drawings were completed…
“The Conservation Foundation, the Conservation Board were not actually involved at that time. It was later that year that they got requested to see if we would take ownership of this property. At first the conservation and the foundation had a lot of questions you know about maintenance, cost, staffing because it’s a major undertaking for us and our staff. So working with the private donor it was established that there’s going to be an endowment fund in place to help cover the expenses and so that endowment is coming into place and that will be for the next 25 years this park will be all paid for, operation and maintenance.”
Sorenson likened the project to the pump track bike trail, which is one of the park’s features…
“We talk a lot about the bike experiences, how they’re new to this area and stuff. Well this project has been a little bit like a bike experience. The pump track, you know I’m sitting there thinking of the bumps and the hills and the curves. It exclaims to what this project has been. A little bumpy, a little curvy, a little jumps, a little setbacks. But we worked through it and we’re thankful it’s turned out the way it has.”
Sorenson says Sherwood Forest Park represents a great balance of recreation and conservation…
“250 new trees were planted around the property. Over two thousand shrubs and bushes were planted, and as I said before over 40 acres of remnant prairie. One thing we don’t share a lot is about the 14 acres of remnant prairie that is on this property that is less than point one percent in the state of Iowa, so talk about a gem. There’s plants there that we can’t reproduce, we can’t restore in a restored prairie. So that’s quite an unusual thing to be here in Okoboji.”
Sorenson also thanked the various landscape architects, contractors and sub-contractors along with County Conservation Board employees, the Board of Supervisors and the city of Okoboji for their work and cooperation. Sorenson also expressed deep gratitude to those who donated as well as the Iowa Economic Development Authority which awarded a $3.5 million grant for the project.
