New face, same mission: Make Lake Iowa user friendly

LADORA — After 7 1/2 years working in conservation in southern Iowa, Andy Wuebker is taking on the preservation of public lands in Iowa County.

Wuebker is the new Natural Resource Technician and Park Ranger for Iowa County Conservation. “I’m going to be taking care of all our wildlife area,” he said Thursday.

Wuebker served as director of Monroe County Conservation before coming to Iowa County, but he’s a native of Emmetsburg in Northwest Iowa. He spent two years studying criminal justice at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge finished his degree at Iowa State University.

“I initially thought I was going to be law enforcement,” said Wuebker. His goal was to become a conservation officer.

Wuebker changed career directions while working with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation while he was at ISU. He decided that conservation was more in line with what his interests.

Wuebker worked seasonally for the Department of Natural Resources at Sprit Lake and for Dickenson County Conservation. He started in Monroe County as a tech and moved into the director’s position when it came open.

Wuebker likes the local level of conservation. It’s more intimate. “I feel more involved with the county system,” he said.

The position at Iowa County Conservation opened up with the exit of Park Ranger and Naturalist Gage Hazen-Fabor who left to become a natural resource management specialist in neighboring Johnson County.

Since arriving at Lake Iowa this fall, Wuebker has been getting used to equipment that is new to him and doing a lot of prescribed burns, which he’s very familiar with.

Iowa County Conservation is trying to get ahead of invasive species like mulberry, honeysuckle, dogweed and autumn olives, said Wuebker.

“It’ll be a lot of intensive work, minimum, the next five years,” said Wuebker.

Wuebker said he likes having a team to work with at Iowa County Conservation. In Monroe County, he was the entire staff, but at Lake Iowa he works with Director Jacob Slings, Park Ranger Phil Dejarnatt, Naturalist Mary Blair and Administrative Assistant Elizabeth Capron.

Lake Iowa Park has many trails and a lot of wildlife that hikers can enjoy — turkeys, pheasants, deer.

“It’s need just to be able to sit in the quiet and enjoy it,” said Wuebker.

People use the trails at Lake Iowa every day, said Wuebker. Dog walkers enjoy the wildlife, and deer have found refuge from hunters where the roads have been closed for the season.

The equine trail is “nice and peaceful,” said Wuebker, and hikers can use it as well.

Wuebker grew up on a farm, and his family still farms several hundred acres, he said. “Dad would take us pheasant hunting and deer hunting every year,” he said.

Wueber often takes young people out to hunt turkeys. He enjoys that almost more than hunting himself, he said.

He’s also an avid waterfowl hunter. He’s seen wood ducks, teals, mergansers and bluebill scaups at Lake Iowa in addition to the common mallards and geese.

Wuebker said he spotted 300 or 400 geese on the lake before it froze over, and about 10 trumpeter swans stopped during their migration.

Slings reported a bobcat sighting at the lake, said Wuebker, though the population might not be significant in Iowa County. “It was very heavy in Monroe County,” Wuebker said.

“This is kind of the eye of Iowa County Conservation,” said Wuebker of Lake Iowa Park near Ladora, but he’ll be working on other county properties as well. They are paid for with taxes, and residents deserve to be able to use them, he said.

Lake Iowa draws people from surrounding counties and from the Iowa City metro area, said Wuebker, but it also has regulars who live in the county and spend most of the summer camping there.

Iowa County Conservation attempts to keep vegetation growth down near the lake so people can fish from shore, said Wuebker, but this time of year, anglers will be on the lake rather than around it.

Ice fishing will be starting before long, Wuebker said. The lake had about 3 ½ inches of ice as of Dec. 11, but Wuebker wouldn’t want to fish on that. “I’d wanna be around five inches,” he said.

Wuebker’s wife, the former Michelle Semler, is from Keswick, and being closer to family was a factor in their move north. The Wuebkers have three young children and live in Keokuk County on about 10 acres near Lake Belva Deer.