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mycountyparks.com

 IMPORTANT DATES:  

* Sept. 17‐19 – IACCB Fall 

Conference – Linn County 

* Oct. 5‐7 – CCPOA 30th Anniv. 

Workshop & Banquet – D.M. 

* Oct. 21‐23 – Iowa Tourism 

Conference ‐ Ottumwa 

* Nov. 3 – CCB Friends & 

Foundations Conference 

* Nov. 5 – CCB New 

Employee School – D.M. 

*  Nov. 18‐20 – Fall ISAC – 

Cedar Rapids 

* Jan. 8‐9 – REAP Congress – 

State Capitol 

* Jan. 19‐21 – Winterfest 2016 – 

Waterloo Ramada Inn  

The IACCB Newsletter is 

produced on a periodic basis, and 

provided in digital format as a 

membership benefit to IACCB 

Members and stakeholders. 

4.

60th Anniversary of    

County Conservation! 

September 17 – 19, 2015     

Cedar Rapids 

Volume 57, Issue No. 05 September 4, 2015

Years in ‘15 

MacBride 

IACCB@MyCountyParks.com       (515) 963‐9582

Late Summer fishing 

Franklin County 

IACCB - FY2015 ANNUAL REPORT

The 56th Annual Meeting of your IACCB Association will be held on Saturday, September 19th at 8:00 AM at the Cedar Rapids Marriott Conference Center – hope you are planning to join us! In preparation for that meeting the following items have been posted to our website for your review:

1. FY2015 Annual Report – this includes the tentative IACCB Business Meeting Agenda, Approved FY2016 IACCB Budget, and the minutes of the 2014 Annual Meeting in Sioux City. 2. FY2016 Budget – Approved (posted separately) 3. Minutes of the 2014 Annual Meeting (posted separately) There will be limited copies of the FY2015 Annual Report available at the conference – we encourage you to review them in advance via the link below, and bring along a copy if you desire to have one. There are no proposed changes to the ByLaws, or legislative initiatives that are needing ballot approval for 2015. LINK: http://mycountyparks.weebly.com/2015-fall-conference.html

THANKS FOR STEPPING IT UP!

You have heeded the call for additional IACCB Silent Auction donations! In the space of a little over 10 days we have ballooned from a meager 4 “baskets” up to 27! Thanks to the following CCBs that have volunteered donations to this great cause: Linn (4), Polk, Jones, Chickasaw (5), Harrison, Woodbury, Poweshiek (3), Bremer, Mahaska, Monroe, IACCB, CCPOA and Keep Iowa Beautiful. Still plenty of room for MORE additions! All current items are listed on the following page!

IACCB also solicited numerous CCBs for assistance in developing a County Conservation Basket for the Iowa Tourism Conference in October – the response has been so good, I think we may be able to provide three promotional baskets and heighten our presence at this statewide tourism event in Ottumwa! Thanks to Scott, Black Hawk, Linn, Mitchell, Clay, Winnebago, Polk, Lee and Hamilton CCBs for helping to make this happen for us!

Iowa Tourism Conference 

October 21‐23, Ottumwa 

HISTORIC CCB PATCH COLLECTION SURFACES! (KUDOS to Polk CCB)

With only ONE privately held collection of CCB patches known to be in existence, this rare find was indeed welcomed! Polk CCB was purging “stuff” from the office spaces and unearthed this 81-patch collection sewn onto burlap with fish line. Seems to be an early ‘80s collection judging by some of the patches? Not all CCBs do patches anymore, and others have updated theirs – so this 30+ year vintage batch is pretty cool for IACCB to have! I have a bag or two of other stalled efforts – so we will see how close we can get to 99 – though previous efforts have fallen short by 3 patches – from Taylor, Ringgold and Wayne CCBs. Any help from those three would be great!

   

SILENT AUCTION OFFERINGS – Sept. 17-19

A partial listing follows of those items that have been officially entered into the 10th Annual IACCB Silent Auction at the 56th Annual IACCB Fall Conference in Cedar Rapids – just two weeks hence:

MAMMOTH OPPORTUNITY (donated by Mahaska CCB) – two nights stay in Eveland Access luxury cabins. And a hands-on day at the Mahaska County mammoth site – diggin’ into history!

DO-IT CORPORATION FISHING PACKAGE (donated by Bremer CCB) – Assorted fishing gear, rod/reel case and clothing items. METAL LAWN ART (donated by Poweshiek CCB) – Herky, Cy and a rock ant for your bidding pleasure (3 separate items)

TWO-NIGHTS IN DELUXE CABIN & CANOE TRIP (donated by Linn CCB) – A perennial favorite at the auction – includes additional goodies for your trip! (at Pinicon Ridge Park)

MADERA TABLES & CHAIRS (donated by Linn CCB) – bid on these brand new “in-the-box” items for either your CCB or personal needs – 3 separate auction items.

CAMPING BASKET & FOUR NUMBERED D.U. PRINTS (donated by Chickasaw CCB) – Thanks for providing these FIVE separate bidding items for the auction!

TWO-NIGHTS IN DELUXE CABIN & A DISC GOLF PACKAGE (donated by Carroll CCB) Includes a new disc golf bag and three discs! (at Swan Lake State Park – managed by Carroll CCB)

TWO NIGHTS CABIN & PADDLEBOATING (donated by Jones CCB) Great fishing too! (at Central Park)

WATERFOWL BLIND RESERVATION (donated by Polk CCB) This much coveted opportunity is at the Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt

ROBERT D. RAY, AN IOWA TREASURE BOOK (X2) (donated by Preferred Vendor, Keep Iowa Beautiful/Gerry Schnepf)

LOESS HILLS LUXURY CABIN STAY (donated by Harrison CCB)

CCPOA 2016 WORKSHOP REGISTRATION & MEMORABILIA (donated by the County Conservation Peace Officers Association of Iowa)

IACCB 2016 FALL CONFERENCE FULL REGISTRATION (donated by Iowa’s County Conservation System - IACCB)

WOODBURY COUNTY TOURISM BASKET (donated by the Woodbury CCB) The surprises await us!

MONROE COUNTY TOURISM BASKET(S) – (donated by Monroe CCB and Conservation Board Member Mike Runyan) Rumored to be several cool items/packages to bid on!

As a reminder – silent auction bidding will end at approximately 

2:15 PM on Saturday the 19th with the start of the closing Keynote 

Address from Shane Mahoney. (Payments collected following Keynote)  

Credit cards accepted for Silent  

Auction payments (See the Legacy Tour & Travel Exhibit at the Fall Conference!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

FINAL TWO WEEKS OF CANOE RAFFLE!

As you may recollect, only 350 tickets are being sold for the chance to win this stunning hand-made wooden canoe! There are still some tickets remaining: 1/$20, 3/$50, 7/$100. Please contact either Linn County Conservation at (319) 892-6450 or IACCB at (515) 963-9582 for your last-minute purchases should you be unable to attend the conference in person. The drawing will be held at the conference, need not be present to win. Good Luck!

(See the Pilot Rock/R.J. Thomas Exhibit at the Fall Conference!) 

MACBRIDE RAPTOR CENTER – Call Ahead!?

We suggest that you call ahead to the MacBride Raptor Project if you may have a patient for them – you will need to check as to the availability that they will be able to serve your needs. A contact number on their website is: (319) 335-5976.

OUTDOOR GEAR AT A DISCOUNT!

Sydney Algreen, Naturalist with the Johnson CCB has passed along the information below on obtaining good pricing on various outdoor gear items

Below is the information on how to get started. And a heads-up, the code expires after 30 days so sign up before it goes away. Because of your service in Environmental Research, ProMotive.com offers up to 70% off 400+ brands! Just follow these steps to join the Environmental Researchers and Field Scientists:

1. Go to the following website: http://www.promotive.com/environmentalresearchersfieldscientists 2. Click on 'HAVE A CODE?' on the left 3. Copy & paste this code: 9D53-1D98-7651-0D03 then click ‘REDEEM’ (The code expires in 30 days, so make sure to take advantage of joining this team ASAP!)

NOTE: IACCB neither benefits from or endorses this service, individuals should make their own decisions on participation. For more questions, contact Sydney directly at: salgreen@co.johnson.ia.us

CCPOA WORKSHOP REMINDER

Just a quick reminder that the registration deadline for the 30th Annual CCPOA Fall Workshop is September 22nd! Workshop information is available on the CCPOA website as follows:

http://iowaccpoa.weebly.com/

CCPOA Members should look forward to a brief Newsletter from the Executive Committee in the next couple of days with some important workshop announcements and NEWS! Looking forward to seeing most of you on October 5-7 at Camp Dodge and at the 30th Anniversary Celebratory Banquet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 http://www.mycountyparks.com/Jobs/Default.aspx  1. SCOTT Co. – Park Ranger 2. BUCHANAN Co. – Conservation Technician 3. JONES Co. – Office Manager 4. AUDUBON Co. – Operations Supervisor 5. TEMPORARY POSITIONS – 1 opportunity listed on

website

Full Time Employment 

Seasonal/Part‐Time – Listed on website 

FROM THE I.A.C.C.B.ARCHIVES – From the 1896 “County Parks” paper penned by Thomas MacBride, to the earliest known picture of a county camping party in 1909 (Cass Co) , to the 1943 request to the Iowa Legislature to establish some sort of county park system, to the 1955 enabling legislation for county conservation boards, to the 1958 establishment of the County Conservation Activities Office within the old Iowa Conservation Commission, to the 1959 evolution of IACCB, to the launch of MyCountyParks.com in 2009 – it has been quite a ride! In the ‘50s and early ‘60s, conservation boards were being established at a rapid rate – by 1964, eighty three had been created by the majority vote of the people in each county during a general election. Uniquely, in those very early years – much of the work was being done by the volunteer conservation board members as very few had any staff, let alone a Director. Fast forward to our 60th year with 99 county conservation boards, 495 conservation board members, 99 Conservation Directors, 475 additional permanent staff and 350+/- seasonal and part-time personnel. In FY2014 – the property tax portion of the 99 combined conservation boards budgets totaled $49,022,970.00 – the first six decades has been pretty progressive for a fledgling system that eventually filled a special natural resource, outdoor recreation and conservation education niche in Iowa. Our predecessors – those who blazed the early county conservation trails, could never have imagined that we would collectively have an $851 million annual positive impact on Iowa’s economic health. Who could have envisioned in the late 1950s that there would be 70 county conservation education centers in the 2010s, and that nearly 26,000 programs and events would annually host over 755,000 participants statewide. But, I suspect that more than a few of them had some pretty ambitious visions too . The first “sweet sixteen” county conservation boards that were voted in back in 1956 will turn 60 next year. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels – there is much to do and many new challenges for us on the horizon. It is up to our new generation of leaders to spirit the charge into the next sixty years!

1960 IACCB Board of Directors Meeting         

Jester Park Barn, Polk County 

Five school teachers from 

Tabor, IA camping at Lake 

Lewis in Cass County ‐ 1909 

Lake Lewis is now part of 

Cass County Conservation’s 

Cold Springs Park. 

BRING THOSE EXTRA PENNIES

In addition to that wonderful canoe that you can currently acquire limited tickets for, don’t forget to bring some extra dollars for the other watercraft raffle AT the conference - for a beautiful hand- made wooden kayak! Where else but at IACCB