It’s understandable that the first choice on ballots in this year’s election — president and vice president — has gotten the most attention, but the last choice on the ballot is also important for Johnson County residents. On the back of the ballot, along with the judges up for a retention vote and beneath the two proposed amendments to the Iowa Constitution, voters are asked to approve a $30 million dollar conservation bond.
In 2008, Johnson County became the first county in Iowa to put a conservation bond on the ballot. A supermajority of voters — 61 percent — voted yes on the bond. For the past 16 years, that $20 million dollar bond has funded projects in the county that have improved air and water quality, protected and restored wildlife habitats, and increased recreational opportunities by paving new trails, creating new parks and renovating existing park infrastructure.
“That $20 million was leveraged for an additional $17 million” in grants, former Johnson County Supervisor Pat Heiden said. “Johnson County Conservation has been just a really exceptional steward of that money and built on that initial $20 million. It purchased almost 1,200 acres of land and built over nine miles of trails.”
Heiden, along with Josh Schamberger, the president of Think Iowa City, and Johnson County Conservation Interim Director Brad Freidhof, is a leading voice on the vote-yes campaign group, Our Land, Our Water, Our Future.
Heiden, Schamberger and Freidhof met with Little Village to discuss the new bond.
“I call it an investment,” Freidhof said. “It’s you investing for your kids, your grandkids, for future generations.”
The $20 million conservation bond passed in 2008 resulted in an additional $5 per $100,000 in assessed value to property taxes in Johnson County over the 16-year life of the bond. If the voters approve the $30 million conversation bond on the Nov. 5 ballot, property owners will pay an additional $2.09 — a total of $7.09 — per $100,000 in assessed value each year.
“If you live in a $300,000 home, $6.27 is what you’re going to pay to keep the momentum going forward,” Schamberger pointed out regarding the increase in the bond levy from the current level.
Schamberger said bond supporters understand Johnson County residents are concerned about that extra cost and how the money is spent. That’s why the bond referendum includes a provision on oversight: “All expenditures will be subject to an annual independent audit.”
The 2008 bond also had the auditing requirement.
“We put it in the ballot language in ’08, and it resonated,” Schamberger said. “The community really responded.”
Changes to the bond referendum process made by the Iowa Legislature since 2008 meant the audit provision didn’t need to be included this time. But organizers decided it was important to include it.
“We want to be completely transparent,” Heiden said.
In 2008, Johnson County was breaking new ground with the conservation bond, but now the concept is much better known in Iowa. Polk County and Linn County have both passed conservation bonds, and Story County has one on the ballot in the Nov. 5 election.
That’s not the only difference from 2008.
“This time around, unlike in 2008, we’ve got a 16-year track record,” Schamberger said. “And a lot of people have a lot of touchpoints to the projects that have been completed.”
Most country residents are probably familiar with at least some of the results of those project, although they may not know the 2008 bond made them possible. The bond, and the grant money it enabled Johnson County Conservation to access, financed 13 significant projects.
• Clear Creek Conservation Area
Acquired in 2009, it is an 87-acre of riparian forest along Clear Creek, with a spectacular display of wildflowers every spring. The area features ephemeral wetlands and oxbow lakes as the creek meanders on its way to join the Iowa River.
Land for the trail extension connecting Coralville to F.W. Kent Park was acquired in 2010.
The 80-acre property near Lisbon, acquired in 2011, combines a sand prairie with an oak savannah and is home to 225 species of native plants and many rare animals. The fen is one of only two nutrient-poor fens known to exist in Iowa.
• F.W. Kent Park improvements
The county’s largest park, many of its facilities were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, and were in need of renovation and an upgrade. The bond allowed the process of improving the park’s infrastructure to begin in 2014.
• F.W. Kent Park Lake restoration
In a four-year project starting in 2015, the lake’s sediment basins and other parts of the adjacent wetlands were restored, improving water quality in the lake and throughout its watershed.
The half-acre access area for the historic bridge spanning the Cedar River, acquired in 2014, features a picnic site
• Cedar River Crossing addition
A further 173.5 acres were acquired in 2014 for the natural area where wetland and sand prairies habitats that are being restored exist along with riparian woodlands.
Almost six miles of new paved trail, added between 2014 and 2020, filling in a missing link in eastern Iowa’s system of trails, connecting Solon to Ely, where it joins the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.
This 380-acre property acquired in 2016 features bottomland forest along the Iowa River, where the native habitat is being restored.
• Iowa River Trail Mehaffey Bridge project
The Mehaffey Bridge section of the Iowa River Trail, constructed between 2018 and 2020, connects Cedar Springs Drive to the Coralville Reservoir.
A 132-acre property acquired in 2019, the park’s name is a Lakota Sioux phrase meaning “sacred circle.” In addition to its oak forest and hiking trails, the park features unique architecture, including round barns, a stone arch and amphitheater, and a brick labyrinth. The park is adjacent to Big Grove Nature Preserve near Solon.
• Malinda Reif Reilly Fen and Prairie
The 100 acres acquired in 2020, includes 53 acres of rare, relic prairie, wetlands and fen, preserving native ecosystems.
An 83-acre park acquired in 2022, featuring 64 acres of oak and hickory forest, as well as almost 16 acres of restored prairie. Fourteen rare and notable species of plant have been found among the more than 360 species cataloged so far.
How those projects have helped preserve and restore natural habitats in Johnson County, and created recreational opportunities may be obvious from the list, but they’ve also had an economic impact.
The trail projects connect “urban Johnson County to the rest of the county,” Friedhof said. “Those trail connectivities create opportunities for those smaller communities.”
Much of Schamburger’s work at Think Iowa City focuses on economic development, and he says business leaders in Johnson County’s smaller cities are very clear about how the trail system has boosted their visitors arriving by bike or foot, who patronize local eateries and other businesses..
“What has happened in the towns of Solon and Ely, and what is happening right now in Tiffin, with trail accessibility as that relates to their economy has been significant,” he said.
Schamberger also noted that beyond the new bond’s potential economic impact, it’s also a way for Johnson County residents to effectively express the values they hold regarding community, quality of life and proper stewardship of the environment. Since Republicans took control of both chambers of the Iowa Legislature in 2017, they have increasingly preempted the authority of local governments to enact policies that don’t align with the conservative political priorities. The Republican majorities have also demonstrated consistent hostility to conservation efforts in the state.
“This is one thing we still control at the local level that reflects our community values,” he said.
To pass the $30 million conservation bond will need at least 60 percent of the vote. And to get those votes, people who want to continue the work that started 16 years ago will need to find the measure at the end of their ballots.
“2008 is where the story begins,” Heiden said. “And our task now is to build on that success.”
