Okoboji, because Iowans dream of more than fields

I recently participated in the Okoboji Writers (and Songwriters) Retreat. Honestly, it was the most enjoyable and impactful conference, retreat and workshop that I have been part of in years, likely decades. I learned a lot, but for me it was the opportunity to sit in on a series of master class taught by writers and progressive thought-leaders that just so happen to be some of my personal heroes. 

Robert Leonard, Rekha Basu, Laura Belin, Art Cullen, Phoebe Wall Howard, Charity Nebbe, Chris Jones, Randy Evans and John Dingus taught sessions on journalism, investigation, research, interviewing and writing opinion pieces. There were, of course, many more presenters and many more sessions, but I could only make it to one session per time block.

Oh! And the songwriting and performing duo of Chad Elliot and Kathryn Severing Fox, aka The Weary Ramblers, were teaching people how to write songs. Seriously, I am as big a fan of the Weary Ramblers as I am of the aforementioned list of writers and journalists. The Okoboji Writers (and Songwriters) Retreat was truly something to behold. And the setting, at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, on the shores of Lake Okoboji, was breathtaking and the perfect facility for such a retreat.

I will not attempt to beguile you by going on about the wonders of the retreat. I know that a number of, perhaps all of, the writers and songwriters that I mentioned above have already written about or will soon write about their experience there. I will not attempt to one-up this heroic congregation of writers. This was my first time attending the Okoboji Writers Retreat and frankly, I was too busy fan-boying to gather any detailed observations that would compare to those of my teacher-heroes.

However, something that Robert Leonard said in his sessions came back to me on my return trip to Oelwein. He talked about observing, first-hand, the things that he writes about. And he said he always looks for observations that others have likely missed, that, perhaps, only he observed because he was uniquely positioned to do so. As I was thinking about what Robert said, my daughter Abby called me just to catch up.

Abby is the light of my life. She is the best daughter in the world. I’m sure others might claim that I am biased. Other fathers might say their daughters are the best. But from my perspective, they would all be wrong. She really is an amazing young woman. She is currently in her second year of studying law at the University of Iowa College of Law. 

Abby is smarter than me, by a long shot, and it gives me great pride to see her exceed and surpass me in just about everything that could possibly matter. She did not disappoint on this day nor in this conversation.

I told her about the wonders of the Okoboji Writers (and Songwriters) Retreat. And I described for her the Iowa Lakeside Lab – the sunrises over the lake, taking walks through the woods, the stone masonry buildings and the general beauty of the location and facilities. I believe that I convinced her that the Lakeside Lab is a hidden gem in the sparse landscape of public lands and places in Iowa.

We discussed that Iowa Lakeside Lab is not part of just the University of Iowa or Iowa State University. It is owned by the State of Iowa and operated through the Iowa Board of Regents. I remarked to my daughter, and she agreed, that thankfully the state and Board of Regents has not yet found an industrial agriculture role for the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory campus. We surmised that Bruce Rathstetter and the Governor must have just missed this one, maybe they don’t know about the Lakeside Labs. That would be an upside of being a “hidden” gem, I guess.

It was at this point in our conversation that Abby leapt ahead of me and made a connection that surprised me. I’m accustomed to her doing that, and always proud when she does. She said, “Speaking of beautiful university places, have you heard about what might happen with the Macbride Nature Recreation Area?”

I had not heard. But I remember the Macbride Nature Recreation Area (MNRA) from when I attended the University of Iowa – yes, the MNRA is even older than I am. In fact, the U of I began leasing Macbride in 1959, a solid 5 years before I was even born. And long before that (1874 to 1911) Iowa Professor Samuel Calvin utilized the current MNRA area for geology and paleontology research and teaching.

The Macbride Nature Recreation Area is a 485-acre natural area dominated by a native woodland remnant ecosystem that once covered this part of Johnson County. Big Grove Township and, more recently, Big Grove Brewery draw their names from “The Big Grove,” which is the name given by early visitors, those of European ancestry anyway, to this historic open woodland. 

MNRA woodlands are still representative of an Old Growth Woodland ecotype community with many of the relic vegetative species populations and long-lived individuals from the historic woodland persisting. Flood plain ecotypes and one remnant and two reconstructed prairie ecosystems also exist there. Numerous rare and notable species of plants and animals have been identified at NMRA making the habitat ecologically significant and of high quality.

I did not know most of that before researching the MNRA after my conversation with Abby. I also had not heard, before talking with her that day, that the University of Iowa is considering allowing the MNRA lease with the Army Corps of Engineers to lapse when it comes up for renewal in 2029.

What Abby and I have gleaned from the limited information available about this is that the University of Iowa has appointed a committee from departments that utilize the MNRA, student government and University administration to gather information and public input on whether or not the University should renew the MNRA lease. It seems, to me at least, that some University risk management types have become concerned that maintenance, repair and other similar costs could rise in the future and are not certain the University is willing to defray those costs.

I believe it is appropriate for the University to ask these questions. The fiscal impact of maintaining something this beautiful, historic and ecologically vital is important to understand. If asked in good faith, hard questions about what it will cost and where the budgetary authority will come from to pay for it enable an institution to fulfill the role of being the steward of the Macbride Nature Recreation Area.

In good faith… that is where the rubber meets the road, good faith. Because in Iowa a line of questioning like this often has nothing to do with good faith or sound fiscal planning. It has everything to do with a mindset sweeping across Iowa government, evaluating everything that state or local governments do, every program, every government function, every acre of public land – all of it – through a lens of monetization. That mindset begins with the Governor, but it does not end there.

The Governor's clarion call to Iowa’s agencies, local governments and public institutions has been all too clear. Monetize it if you can, privatize it if you cannot and impose the most severe austerity possible across functions of government that cannot be sold off or shunted to private entities. If you think I am exaggerating, think again.

If this mindset has reached the Board of Regents and the University of Iowa administration, which I have every reason to believe it has, then what confidence can any of us have that the Macbride lease evaluation was initiated in and will be conducted in good faith? How am I to believe that anyone can affix a monetary value to the colors of the autumn foliage, the wildlife, the prairie grass? How can you put a price tag on attending a seminar, conducting research or just taking a walk in what remains of The Big Grove old-growth woodland, a “classroom” that feels touched by the hand of God?

Moreover, what confidence can anyone have that a public institution that answers the Governor’s monetization and austerity call has any real interest in finding value in any of these things? When everything becomes about economic and budgetary impacts, what room is left to consider ecological, environmental or human value? Where in the risk management assessment are the line items regarding recreation, education, spirituality and quality-of-life? I have no confidence that Iowa, our current Governor, or her minions in agencies, local governments and public institutions can see beyond the financial bottom line. I do not see good faith in operation here.

I am reminded of a scene in the film The American President, where the fictional character President Andrew Shepherd (played by Michael Douglas) says, 

“I've known Bob Rumson for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it! We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it.”

Sounds an awful lot like who's running things in Iowa these days, only her name is not Bob.

John B. Crabtree