Flood-damage projects largely completed at Oakland Mills

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

Most of the minor flood damage projects are completed at Oakland Mills now, and the major project will be completed this fall.

?The 2013 flood damage repairs have been mostly completed,? said Executive Director of Henry County Conservation John Pullis during the Henry County Conservation board meeting Monday night. ?We had done seeding at Water Works and South Shore, the grass is starting to poke through, so we?ve been lucky there.

?We are scheduled to put new gravel down this week, the fencing has been completed as well as the concrete work. We are going to be putting up new rules and regulations signs here soon,? said Pullis.

According to the director, the major project, which is the work on the Oakland Mills footbridge, will be completed this fall.

?We will begin working on the footbridge this fall,? said Pullis. ?Everything else has come along nicely and we are ready to go on that.?

Pullis also discussed with the board about the Water Works disc golf course, which has moved to the Top of the Hill area at Oakland Mills.

?We moved the disc golf course to the hiking trails and areas up there,? said Pullis. ?We?ve had a lot of comments so far, as it?s been there for about two weeks now, and people really like the new location. It will definitely be a work in progress though and the Mt. Pleasant disc golf league will be working on it. Once they have put their final touches on it, we will place more permanent signage.?

During the meeting, the board had representatives Jim Smith from Nature and Wildlife Refuge, Dan Cook from Whitetails Unlimited, Dan Henderson from Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Dennis Prottsman a volunteer conservationist, discuss, food plots at Oakland Mills.

A food plot is a planted area set aside to act as a food source for wildlife

?They talked about how we could improve them. They are an advisory group,? said Pullis. ?They gave us ideas of new things to try and how to make them better. We even discussed our handicap hunting blinds and how to make them better and more accessible for those who use them. We talked about how to help those who are handicapped retrieve their game and basically how to make everything better.?

Up next in board business, according to Pullis, was the naturalist report from Cari Nicely.

?She saw 1,425 people in the month of April. I say people because she saw kids and adults in that time,? said Pullis. ?She also mentioned the upcoming ACORN trip on May 21. The trip will be a tour of the Villages of Van Buren County.?

Oakland Mills has also been busy the past couple of days because of Pioneer Days that are taking place there.

?We will have, by the time it?s over, some 240 kids going through the Pioneer Camp,? said Pullis. ?It?s been pretty busy out there.?

The Henry County Conservation offers summer programs as well as family programs. Activities will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

All children who have not graduated from first grade must be accompanied by an adult, as do all children requiring one-on-one aids while in school. Some programs may be a bit advanced for younger children.

The programs will be geared toward school-aged children and pre-registration is required. All fees are due at least two weeks prior to the start of the program. The summer camp programs begin and end at the Oakland Mills Nature Center and the activities will be held rain or shine.

Contact the Henry Conservation Department for more information at 319-986-5067.

Then Henry County Conservation board will meet again in regular session on Monday, June 9, at 6 p.m. in the board room at the conservation office.