The Cedar River flowing through Black Hawk and surrounding counties may not provide the best water for speed boats. However, a growing niche of water enthusiasts is using the local waterways for canoe and kayaking venues. Users are actively promoting the development of play pools and whitewater courses to enhance the experience. Such development not only can be enjoyed by local residents, but also could be a boom for tourism through leisure and competitive activities.
“You’ve got baby boomers coming to the end of their careers,” said Vern Fish, Black Hawk County Conservation Board (BHCCB) executive director. “They’re looking for high engagement activities that are low impact. They have discretionary income. There’s a window here where paddling is going to be a big deal for a lot of folks, especially in metropolitan areas. That’s why water trails are starting to play a role. It’s a small niche, but a pretty aggressive, affluent niche.”
Anne Duncan, development coordinator for Hartman Reserve Nature Center, an entity of BHCCB, said a survey conducted recently by the National Parks found that 362,000 Iowans wanted water trails. Figure 10 percent of that number would actually use the trails, and that computes to 36,000 people.
“Bremer County was listed as one of the best places to live by (a recent publication). One of the aspects figured in was the paddling opportunities,” Fish said. “In Iowa, we don’t have a mountain range and oceans, but we do have the Cedar River. This river is perfect for the smaller recreational boat.”
The state’s first water trail held its grand opening June 6 of last year. The Cedar Valley Water Trail is an attraction partnered between the BHCCB, George Wyth State Park and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), which began its water trails program three years ago. It’s also the first trail consisting of a main loop and a number of smaller, secondary loops that can accommodate users of all age and skill levels. Most trails have a starting point A and an ending point B, requiring pickup assistance at the finishing point.
This 10-mile trail encompasses 8.4 miles of water and 1.6 miles of portages. It travels through the Cedar River and numerous lakes located in George Wyth State Park and Hartman Reserve (see Map).
“Statewide paddlers recreational trails are starting to be an ‘in’ recreational opportunity,” Fish said. “You don’t have to acquire land. There’s not a whole lot of maintenance involved. You’re basically putting together good maps and telling people where they can get on and get off rivers.”
“We’re utilizing something that already was there because the water is there,” Duncan said. “We’re fortunate to have the lakes and the river lined up in such a way that we can do a loop trail. People can start and finish at the same point. That’s a big deal. Local people who were really into the waterways knew this could happen.”
Hartman Reserve and George Wyth State Park have been designated a “Watchable Wildlife Area” by the IDNR. The banks and portages of the Paddlers Trail are flush with native flowers. Users might see muskrats, white-tailed deer, softshell turtles, wood ducks and herons. The area also has been identified as an “Important Bird Area” by Iowa Audubon and is home to the Red-Shouldered Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker and Osprey. Fisher Lake is home to numerous amphibians, including the endangered blue-spotted salamander. An oxbow lake, it was formed as the Cedar River changed course. It’s the only natural lake on the Trail.
Upgrades to the Paddlers Trail are taking place this summer. “We had the trail designed to go only one way,” Duncan said. “You’d go down the river and back up through the lakes. We have people who want the challenge of going up the river against the current. We didn’t have signage for that. This year we’re going to put in signs so people can go both directions.”
Adding to the Trail’s features are off-water amenities such as outstanding camping facilities, connections to an 80-mile network of hard-surfaced trails, two state cultural districts, shopping, dining, and award-winning events and attractions resulting in the total package.
Numerous individuals and several groups are dedicated to recreational paddling. Cedar Valley Paddlers became a formal kayaking club in 2006 and had 30 members last year. It sponsors several paddling expeditions per month from spring to late fall. One of its most popular events is the “Full Moon Paddles”. It also offers several day trips and multiple day trips on nearby rivers.
Several club members are certified IOWATER water monitors and are involved in water quality initiatives and awareness. Club president Pam Wolter is a member of the Water Quality Committee for the Cedar River Initiative (CRI) and also is one of the directors of the Cedar River Environmental Group (CREG).
“We are very supportive of the water trails and wrote letters of support for those grant opportunities for the Cedar River Water Trail. We also hosted and led, along with Hartman Reserve staff, the Cedar Valley Paddlers Trail event last June,” she said. “We will also host and lead a trail paddle event on July 13th during the Cedar River Festival weekend of activities.
“We are very excited in the greater awareness in water recreation capitalizing on the wonderful water resources we have right here in the Cedar Valley.”
The Cedar River Water Trail that Wolter spoke of is a new initiative beginning to take place yet this summer. The Iowa Transportation Commission approved a Federal Recreational Trail Grant worth $244,980. This trail will start at Thunder Woman Park on the West Fork of the Cedar River near Finchford and will finish at McFarlane Park in southeast Black Hawk County. The Trail will include signage and construction of portages around the Cedar Falls and Waterloo dams.
The BHCCB also is involved in a water trail that is a cooperative effort with Bremer and Buchanan Counties. This trail will follow the Wapsipinicon River from Tripoli through Independence and south through Quasqueton.
“The Cedar River Water Trail is a Point A to Point B concept,” Fish said. “There’s a dam in Cedar Falls and two dams in Waterloo. About one-quarter of a million dollars will be used for the portages around these dams. We basically have a portage in Cedar Falls which is the existing recreational trail. The Waterloo dams are more complicated.
“The premise is you could have somebody start at George Wyth and then go down stream. Before, you couldn’t get to downtown Waterloo because of the dams. Some of the development ties in with the Riverfront Renaissance and new dam projects. There are recreational trails being built parallel to the river anyway.”
Fish says society is returning to the river after turning its back decades ago. “Some of the mistakes we’ve made are when they took the water control process into Waterloo and left no flood plain,” he said. “They put the water control right up against the river. You’ve got a lot of vertical walls. It’s hard to put in a portage when you’ve got a vertical wall. In the 1950s and ‘60s, we turned our backs to the river. We’re now trying to turn our attention to the river and its recreational possibilities.”
With the various trails becoming a reality, people now are dreaming of the development of “play pools” and whitewater courses. Prairie Rapids Paddlers (PRP) began advancing the whitewater idea in 1999. Members of PRP were founding members of the Iowa Whitewater Coalition, a statewide group, adopting the theme “reconnecting the rivers”. They originally proposed a 300-meter Olympic class course beginning at the Cedar Falls dam. The latest version is a “whitewater park” adjacent to Gateway Park.
“The whitewater park would now be just one small facet of the water trail,” said Steve Weliver, PRP treasurer. “It would provide a put-in/take-out, bank stabilization, and better access for everyone, especially those with disabilities. Even more, it would return the area to a more natural setting and tie together the entire spectrum of outdoor recreation. How better than to spend your lunch break than sitting by a beautiful stretch of river listening to the sounds of rapids?”
The Cedar Falls “play” area is designed to complement a slalom course in Waterloo. Peter Komendowski, a PRP member, said the Cedar Falls facility would be designed for freestyle kayaking, while the Waterloo section would be a structured course.
Completion of both facilities are a distance away. Weliver says little to no money has been raised yet for the Cedar Falls park. David Wieland, city councilman, says he supports the concept. Arrangements have been made for the Cedar Falls Civic Foundation to collect monies raised. Mark Ripplinger, Cedar Falls’ Park Division manager, says the whitewater feature is shown in the City’s Capital Improvements Plan as being funded 100 percent with outside or private funds.
“We have an under-utilized river,” Wieland said. “Developing the banks and river trails is another way to keep young people in the community and to provide a higher quality of life.”
The Waterloo whitewater course is conceptual only at this point, says Paul Huting, Leisure Services Director for the City of Waterloo. “It is not currently funded. The reconstruction of the Fourth Street dam in downtown Waterloo is being done in a manner to accommodate the future construction of a whitewater kayaking course through the north bay of the dam. Also, the portages (funded) being constructed for the Cedar River Water Trail would be used for access and takeout points for whitewater kayakers. Several possible funding sources for this multi-million dollar project are being investigated.”
A frequent criticism of whitewater courses is that they benefit small numbers of people. Weliver says “establishment of a whitewater course impacts canoeists as well as kayakers and provides a higher quality of life for Cedar Valley residents and visitors to the area…The closest whitewater is five-to-eight hours from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area…There are dozens of whitewater paddlers in Black Hawk County with hundreds more throughout the state. We expect a course to draw paddlers from a 180-mile radius.”
“Trails are a symbol of a healthy culture, and when it comes to the issue of economic development and quality of life, trails are very much the right idea for our time,” Komendowski said. “Not only do water trails offer wonderful corridors that support wildlife migrations, but if we reclaim them properly for public domain, they will improve the quality of life of communities…they will accommodate economic development; and they will create recreational opportunities for all types of watercraft and trail users in the land near those waterways.
“If we find something that not only makes economic sense but at the same time ensures a higher quality of life – all forms of it, but here, human life especially – we have found something indescribably valuable – priceless in fact.”
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