Following a long Iowa winter I always look forward to the spring and summer months. Living in Iowa, you never know what you’re going to get. Are we going to go straight from winter to summer with no spring season? Will we be lucky enough to rid ourselves of winter’s fury early and be able to enjoy an extended period of mild days before summer’s humidity?
What I’m hoping for this spring is a slow melt for the mounds of snow piled in the parking lots, street intersections and my yard. It’s been difficult to find my mail box. What the Cedar Valley does NOT need is the kind of spring and early summer we experienced last year with the flooding and tornadoes.
I’m a child of water and warm temperatures. There’s just something about the calmness of being around water. I grew up living on the Cedar River, spent my childhood swimming and boating. Back then, we didn’t worry about whether our playground was listed as one of the state’s dying waterways, filled with pollutants. Where I grew up, the river’s depth and flow allowed for speed boating and water skiing. It provided recreation for residents and visitors alike.
Living on the riverbank, my family experienced numerous floods caused by too much rain or too quick snow melts or ice jams which acted as dams. One year in particular in the early ‘60s I remember the water reaching the top step in our basement, barely escaping the windows of my parents’ bedroom which reached out into the backyard close to the riverbank, and the need to move all of our belongings to the second floor. But that year’s events still do not come close to the devastation that took place last spring and summer.
Unfortunately, the Cedar River now is an endangered waterway filled with sediment and pollutants. I still like to recreate on the river. However, we’ve ruined several lower units and props boating on the river. Our family prefers to travel to other locations more often than not to do our boating, which is sad. It’s also inconvenient and more costly. The neglect of the natural resource over the years has taken tourism monies away from local communities.
There are several groups interested in making our area waterways safe and enjoyable for local and tourism recreational opportunities. The Cedar River Festival Group, the Cedar River Initiative, the North Shore Boat Club, the Black Hawk County Conservation Board, Hartman Reserve Nature Center, Cedar Valley Paddlers, amongst many other groups and individuals, all are working to improve upon the choices available for using one huge local resource.
I’m one individual doing what small part I can to help in their endeavors. I hope more citizens will do the same. Let’s make the Cedar Valley a destination not only for its great land-based trails system but for its water-based opportunities, also.
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