New nature trails

Washington County Conservation Board staff have been taking advantage of the recent springlike weather to continue work on the new trail system at the former Shiloh property south of Kalona.

Part of the plan to develop what is now called the Southtown Area of Kalona is the implementation of several public recreational opportunities.

'We're going in there and creating a new trail system, which will consist of a new trail head off 133rd Street, where individuals can go there and park,” Conservation Executive Director Zach Rozmus said. 'It will have a dog park area and will have a natural-themed playground - kind of a naturescape - with some local fishing holes right off the trail.

'The trails will actually go through roughly 90 acres of timber ground that kind of leads up to what we hope will eventually be a swimming pond.”

The conservation board has been planning the work for a long time.

'In the annexation process, the city of Kalona put a lot of work into it,” Rozmus said. 'I feel like we were involved for a long time too. It's been a lot of work to get to the point where we are right now.”

Last year, the city of Kalona annexed the 600-acre property.

Developer CJ Moyna and Sons purchased the property from Shiloh for private development.

The agreement set aside property to be utilized for recreational purposes.

The city crafted a cooperative agreement with county Conservation for development and management of recreational features on the property.

'A lot of work has already gone into it,” Rozmus said. 'I feel like this has been a project we've been working on for years, because really we have.”

Rozmus said that Conservation Board did not get as much work done this winter as they had hoped.

'We were hoping to get more work done this winter, but it just hasn't allowed us to do that because of the subzero temperatures and the snow pack we had for such an extended period of time,” Rozmus said. 'We've been trying to take advantage of this winter when there hasn't been snow on the ground or subzero temperatures. There are a lot of different phases, but we've been trying to take advantage of this time where it's closed to the public so we can get in there and do some invasive management and some other tree management.”

The property has long intrigued Rozmus, who grew up in Riverside and would often see public fireworks shows on the church property.

Now that he has had the opportunity to extensively explore the grounds, that excitement has not waned.

'When I got boots on the ground and actually walked through some of the timber, there is some really old growth and a lot of hickories in the area, ”Rozmus said. 'You just don't see 150-year-old oak trees a lot any more.”

The fishing areas also have Rozmus excited.

'The fisheries in that area were something we just couldn't recreate because of the amount of funding that went into it,” he said. 'Some of the fisheries I'm going to be really excited to open up to the public, because I personally have spent some time out there.

'I know that anglers, when they get the opportunity to go out there, will be pretty impressed.”

He said that there still is a lot of work to do before the recreation areas can be opened to the public.

'Thinking realistically, I don't want to put an exact date as far as when we're going to open it up to the public,” he said. 'It's difficult, and there are a lot of hypotheticals at this time. We still have a lot of work we need to get done this spring.

'The developer wants to get their roadways put in place so individuals can go out there. We'd like to be able to open it up this summer so at least people can enjoy some of those trails. That would be a good goal.”

Ultimately, the decision will be made jointly by the Conservation Board, city of Kalona and CJ Moyna & Sons.

'I know we have a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz about it,” Rozmus said. 'We're making sure we get all of our prep work done now.”