Van Buren Success

1/15/03

Iowa Water Trail Association members and friends, from Gerry Rowland, Coordinator, IWTA

This word from the president of the Van Buren County Trails Association:

Hi everyone!
Congratulations! It is now verbally official per phone call from Steve Bowman, IDOT Trails Coordinator to Jim Settles (Conservation Board director). Our Water Trail Grant has been approved and fully funded. We will be receiving official notification by letter within a few days. This is quite an honor as we will be the first Water Trail to be developed in Iowa. The ball is now in our court to do a project that the Van Buren County Trails Association and Van Buren County can all be proud of.

Bill Blackburn

Van Buren is the first Iowa county to make plans to fully develop a water trail. When they have finished work on their project, they will have in place all the facilities that make a river a water trail. They wrote a super grant, the top scoring grant of all that were submitted this year to the Federal Recreational Trails program. I certainly encourage other groups to follow their model, and I have posted a detailed description of the grant at http://www.desmoinesriver.org/van_buren_county_water_trail_gra.htm.

Any county that is serious about applying for Federal Recreational Trails funding for a water trail should begin the process of gathering community support immediately. I have complete copies of the Van Buren grant that I will share with county or city groups. I have already had 2 requests from groups who are interested in making an application.

FYI, the Iowa trails plan says the following about a water trail:

The primary considerations in the designation of canoe routes include adequate
signage and support facilities, and the reasonable expectation that the waterway can
accommodate small watercraft most of the time. The following guidelines describe the
minimum level of development of a canoe route to accommodate the needs of canoe
and kayak use:

Access points (landings) should be situated at maximum intervals of 5 miles.
Camping and sanitary facilities should be situated at maximum intervals of 20
miles.
Portages should be kept to a minimum, but, where required, should consist of
established landings and a well-drained, natural surface trail that is free from
branches, brush, or other obstacles.
Accurate information on the route should be available, including river maps,
mileage between services, level of difficulty, and current water levels. This
information should be updated frequently.
Signage should be included to direct users to the river, and to inform users on
the river. Uniform directional signage should be placed on nearby roadways to
advertise landing locations. Uniform signage should be installed along the river
to advertise landings, camping facilities, portages, and hazards.

Join us for Canoe Van Buren July 12 and 13, and in the years to come, to see how this vision is made a reality on 40 miles of the Des Moines River in Van Buren County. Now, let's do the rest of the Des Moines and all the other rivers in Iowa.