Water trails panel hits the road
Members of a Greater Des Moines committee studying water trails and related recreation are scheduled to visit whitewater courses in Elkader and Manchester today.
Hubbell Realty President and CEO Rick Tollakson, who is leading the committee, said the trip including more than a dozen business and government leaders is a fact-finding mission that isn’t necessarily meant to revive longtime discussions about a whitewater course for kayaking in downtown Des Moines. It is to gather information broadly about recreation.
There are many reasons to support recreation, but Tollakson has one firmly in mind: workforce development.
“There is interest in learning how communities made rivers an amenity for workforce attraction,” said Tollakson, who recently kayaked for the first time at Lake Ahquabi near Indianola and soon will tackle the Raccoon River with his committee. He senses his expertise is growing by the trip.
About 15 are going on today’s trip, including representatives of the city of Des Moines, the Polk County Conservation Board, the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“We are starting from scratch. We are educating people on if dams work, and what would happen if we got rid of them,” Tollakson said. “We don’t know enough information to have an opinion on whether dams should stay or go, or if a whitewater courses make sense for Des Moines.”
In addition to adding recreation that might help attract and retain workers, Tollakson said, there is a safety issue, too. Iowa dams have claimed lives in incidents that included a boating accident at Des Moines’ Center Street Dam and a subsequent rescue of one of the boaters. The rescue, by a construction worker dangling from a crane, was captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo in The Des Moines Register by Mary (Chind) Willie, now a freelance photographer.
The committee assisting the MPO has a broad mix of recreationalists and representatives of government, MidAmerican Energy, the Greater Des Moines Partnership and other organizations.
The MPO, hired by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to come up with a detailed plan for water trails in Central Iowa, plans to complete its report next year.
Tollakson, who plans to attend today’s tours and presentations, said efforts to improve Water Works Park and to cater to paddlers, fishing enthusiasts and birders also will play into the plans.
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