The End is Coming for a Cool U of I Facility

Clouds over lake at Macbride Recreation Area on June 25.

The state of Iowa has, for years, been stingy on support for state universities, and that led, this year, to another unwelcome announcement.

According to a July 10 story in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the University of Iowa has decided to end its arrangement with the Army Corp of Engineers for its use of the Macbride Nature Recreation Area. The reason is cost—the university determined that almost $15 million in maintenance is needed for the Macbride facility, money that the university cannot afford.

This June marked my first trip to see the Iowa Raptor Project there. My wife and I took some grandchildren to see the injured birds of prey kept there. Besides those majestic dinosaurs, that June 25 visit marked one of the first days I had seen a Monarch butterfly in Iowa this year, as several were flitting about a garden at the center.

The Macbride Nature Recreation Area is not closing right away, and indeed the Raptor Project may be relocated. But the nature area included numerous programs that enhanced education for University of Iowa students and others. The federal government owns the land via the Army Corps of Engineers, and the university maintained its facilities there to provide the programs.

To quote Vanessa Miller’s article in the Gazette: “In exchange for that upkeep, the university for decades has experienced broad benefits via its UI WILD programs, like the Iowa Raptor Project, Iowa Wildlife Camps, Lifetime Leisure Skills classes, and School of the Wild — a 26-year-old program that brings more than 1,200 elementary and middle school students into the ‘wild’ every year.”

June 25, seen at Iowa Raptor Project at Macbride Recreation Area: Owl, Kestrel, Monarch Butterfly, Eagle.

Well, it’s not the only piece of public property our unwise overlords seem to be abandoning. Public funding for public media—at a time when more high-quality media is more needed, not less—is going away. I know we can’t afford everything that anybody could want, but I do wish the drive to save my tax money wasn’t so ruthless. Jack up my taxes a bit, please, and take care of our collective needs.

Of course, that maintenance at the Macbride facility mounted up to tens of millions may reflect neglected past work. That too often is how it goes in public facilities—to save money today, repairs are delayed until they become too expensive to do and then public property is closed or abandoned.

That makes me sad. I’m feeling that some important things are slipping away from us, not always noticed or mourned, while are eyes and ears are distracted by too noise over too many trivialities.

And I would rather keep the Recreation Area (and PBS and NPR, for that matter).