mycountyparks.com

 IMPORTANT DATES:  

* May 15 – REAP‐CEP 

Grants Due (TODAY!) 

* May 18 – IACCB Board of 

Directors Mtg. – D. Moines 

* May 21 – District 4 Mtg.‐ 

Fremont CCB 

* May 20 – Visitor Protection 

Workshop – Woodbury Co. 

* June 4 – Visitor Protection 

Workshop – Winneshiek Co. 

* Aug. 1 – FY 2016 IACCB 

Memberships Due 

* Nov. 3‐5 – 2015 IACCB 

Summit Series – Des Moines  

The IACCB Newsletter is 

produced on a periodic basis, and 

provided in digital format as a 

membership benefit to IACCB 

Members and stakeholders. 

4.

60th Anniversary of    

County Conservation! 

September 17 – 19, 2015     

Cedar Rapids 

Volume 56, Issue No. 29 May 15, 2015

years 

Morris 

MacBride 

IACCB@MyCountyParks.com       (515) 963‐9582

VISITOR PROTECTION & EMPLOYEE SAFETY WORKSHOPS May 20th – Woodbury County June 4th – Winneshiek County

WOODBURY – Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center, 4500 Sioux River Road, Sioux City, 8:45 – 2:30 COST is $8.00/person; REGISTER names via email by 5/15 to: bfundermann@sioux-city.org

WINNESHIEK – NE Iowa Comm. College, Rooms 104/105, 1625 Hwy. 150, Calmar, 8:45 – 2:30 COST is $10.00/person; REGISTER names via email by 5/27 to: IACCB@mycountyparks.com

These workshops are open to all county conservation employees and other interested individuals in the parks & recreation or natural resource fields. AGENDAS for each workshop are similar, and will include sessions on: Severe Weather Preparedness, Crime Scene/Crisis Management, Meth Lab Awareness, The Park Visitor Mentality and You!, and Gangs, Gypsies & Ritualistic Crimes. Downloadable AGENDAS: http://iowaccpoa.weebly.com/visitor-protection-workshops.html

(Provided by a partnership between the host CCB, IACCB and the CCPOA of Iowa)

2015 ANNUAL FALL CONFERENCE – REGISTRATION PACKET AVAILABLE! Why County Conservation Matters! September 17-19, Cedar Rapids NOTICE was sent out earlier this week that the Registration Packet & Form for the 56thAnnual IACCB Fall Conference have been posted to our website. Exciting stuff! We are very pleased to provide an excellent agenda of educational sessions, pre-conference activities and a keynote speaker that is second to none! Linn County’s tours are historically unparalleled – and don’t forget that alumni element! There are also a couple of hand-crafted raffle items (canoe and kayak) that you will be sure to want to invest a couple of pennies in Please review the registration packet at your earliest opportunity, and endeavor to process your registrations well in advance of the August 17th deadline! Conference information: http://mycountyparks.weebly.com/2015-fall-conference.html

(NOTE: Exhibitor forms are also available for vendors via the above link )

CCB FRIENDS & FOUNDATIONS SURVEY ENDS TODAY! The link to this survey will expire at midnight tonite! 44 counties have opted to respond to-date, so we believe we now have information from 60% (+/-) of those out there. Even more intriguing is that we have 90+ folks that have given the nod to attend the inaugural conference/organizational meeting for this network on Thursday, November 5th in Des Moines – WOW! We only need one response per county, following is the link one more time: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCB_FRIENDS_AND_FOUNDATIONS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

LATEST NEWS from the Capitol this morning – gridlock. Until the education funding issue is finalized, many other issues are languishing in various committees awaiting this major funding direction. At such time as this becomes resolved – then legislators can review their budget targets and move forward on tandem discussions (including IWILL). So not much to report on this day – as you have the opportunity for a discussion – continue to ADVOCATE!

NOTE: We are also monitoring the Iowa Next bill to ascertain any movement. (SSB1287)

HISTORIC BUGGY AVAILABLE FOR THE LOW, LOW PRICE OF……...FREE!

The Dubuque County Historical Society is deaccessioning a complete buggy from their museum collection. They are offering it free of charge to any museum, nature center, historical society, or other institution that would be able to use it for display or demonstration. It is not being given to be used as an outdoor lawn display as it would not hold up long outside. The top leather canopy is in fairly good shape with some rusting and interior wool lining badly deteriorated. There would be some restoration involved, but the buggy is complete with all wheels, shaft, canopy and even has the full leather covered dashboard and trunk. The buggy is free, but accepting party would be responsible for picking it up. Anyone interested can contact Mark Wagner and he will put you in touch with their Archivist. mdwagner@rivermuseum.com or (563) 557-9545 ext. 206. (Mark is a former CCB Naturalist and is currently the Director of Education for the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium)

MyCountyParks.com ONLINE RESERVATOINS UPDATE & TRAINING

As we continue to roll towards the June 24th launch of the all-new MyCountyParks Website – the fever for training is a bubbling. I am currently wrestling with five Community College locations across the state in negotiating available facilities, dates, pricing and lunch opportunities….zounds! Here’s where we are at:

June 11th (Thurs.) – Online Reservation Training* – IA Valley Community College – Marshalltown (Marshall Co.) June 15th (Mon.) – General MCP.com Training – DMACC Campus – Carroll (Carroll Co.) June 18th (Thurs.) – General MCP.com Training – Kirkwood Campus – Washington (Washington Co.) June 22nd (Mon.) – General MCP.com Training – Kirkwood Campus – Cedar Rapids (Linn Co.)

Still planning to have one other training date available in Denison to accommodate the apparent demand(s). Potential additional date in Denison is June 9th. There is limited space at all of these locations – I am NOT BE ACCEPTING RESERVATIONS AT THIS TIME – not until all sites are finalized. IACCB will be absorbing the meeting site costs for these events, participants will be “on your own” for lunch and breaks. Please recognize the logistics associated with this effort – I appreciate your patience as we try to squeeze this all in to get in front of that June 24th roll-out of the all-new version! I hope to have an online registration link available for all the sites as soon as I can get all the details fine-tuned……whew!

* ONLINE RESERVATION TRAINING – This date in Marshalltown is primarily designated for the 12 CCBs that are currently “IN” & active with online reservations. Once I have confirmed the attendance numbers from these counties – there MAY be some space for CCBs interested in moving that direction – stay tuned. CURRENT E-Commerce CCBs include: Adams, Black Hawk, Clay, Clinton, Dubuque, Hamilton, Harrison, Linn, Marion, Polk, Pottawattamie and Story. If your CCB is not highlighted/bolded in blue – I am not currently holding space for you in this training. Please let me know by next Wednesday, May 20th if you plan to have anyone in attendance! Thanks to you all for your dedication to this update & renovation effort

FY2016 IACCB MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS IN YOUR INBOX!

Your CCB’s FY2016 IACCB Membership Renewal forms and information were sent out via email on Thursday, May 7th – KUDOS for Palo Alto and Adams CCBs for being the #1 and #2 renewed memberships for FY2016 – Thanks! As a reminder, your renewals for the upcoming year are due by August 1st, and IACCB welcomes your “two-payment” option should that fit better with your local circumstances. Over the years, some counties have found it to be advantageous to utilize finances from two fiscal years. Please let me know if you have any questions: IACCB@MyCountyParks.com

 

 

 

 http://www.mycountyparks.com/Jobs/Default.aspx  1. DALLAS Co. - Naturalist 2. POLK Co. – Natural Resources Technician 3. TEMPORARY POSITIONS – 19+ opportunities listed

on website

Full Time Employment 

Seasonal/Part‐Time – Listed on website 

CELEBRATE SPRING BY PLANTING TREES DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) State Forest Nursery is helping Iowans to plant more trees this spring by offering 100 additional seedlings to each specialty packet purchased until Memorial Day weekend, while supplies last. “With the continuing impacts of emerald ash borer, we want to make it easy for Iowans to mitigate the loss of trees and help diversify and expand Iowa’s tree canopy,” says Paul Tauke, chief of the DNR’s Forestry Bureau. The first 400 orders of Create-a-Packets through the State Forest Nursery will receive an additional 100 seedlings of the nursery’s choice. Each custom packet consists of 200 bare-root seedlings which the customers choose, 50 each of four selected species, and 100 seedlings which the nursery chooses. The seedlings are between 8 and 24 inches, depending on the tree or shrub species. Size and species requests do not apply to the additional 100 seedlings added to each packet. To take part in this offer, call the State Forest Nursery at 1-800-865-2477 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and mention the “add-a-hundred program.” Orders will be filled on a first-come first-served basis until 400 packets have been requested, or 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 22, whichever comes first. This offer only applies to newly placed orders, and cannot be applied to previous orders. Recommended packet choices include: Butterfly Host Packet, The Fastest Forest Packet and the Wild Edibles Packet. Anyone can purchase Create-a-Packets from the Iowa State Forest Nursery to increase wildlife habitat, pollinator potential or diversify backyard woodlands. Cost of a Create-a-Packet is $110, plus shipping and handling. Seedling choices can be seen in the Seedling Catalog atwww.iowadnr.com/nursery. For more information about the add-a-hundred program, contact the Iowa DNR State Forest Nursery at 1-800-865-2477.

LAW ENFORCEMENT GOLF OPPORTUNITY – Hamilton County, July 11th The Hamilton County Peace Officers Association is hosting their annual benefit golf tournament on July 11th. For additional information and to register – please refer the flyer on the homepage of the CCPOA website listed below. LINK TO MORE INFORMATION: http://iowaccpoa.weebly.com/

LINN COUNTY HOST TRAINING DAY ON MATSELL RANGE Linn County Conservation hosted an excellent spring training opportunity at the Matsell Bridge Gun Ranges earlier this month. Training for CCB officers included takedown and handcuffing techniques as well as firearms training and shooting techniques. Instructors were from local Sheriff offices and county conservation boards. Thanks to Aaron Batchelder (Linn CCB) for coordinating and hosting the event. Hopes are to make this an annual training exercise The firearms ranges have been at Matsell Bridge for decades but have been under renovation and expansion for the past several years.

2008