(Pottawattamie County) The Pottawattamie Conservation Foundation presented a check for $125,000 to the Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors at Tuesday’s January 17th Board meeting.
Mark Schoemaker, Executive Director of Pottawattamie County Conservation, says this project goes back a few years, working with adjacent landowners by the Hitchcock Nature Center interested in selling or donating land to grow the Hitchcock Nature Center.
Shoemaker says they approached the Foundation to use some of their funds to help acquire the 93 acres next to the Nature Center. The Board of Supervisors approved the purchase in November, with the agreement The Pottawattamie Conservation Foundation would commit $125,000 of its cash reserve towards the approximate 1.1 million investment.
Meanwhile, Doris Ferguson, the previous landowner, had expressed interest in selling to the county when she could no longer take care of the property.
Shoemaker says the land will be used as native habitat.
Before approaching the Board of Supervisors for assistance, Pottawattamie County Conservation drafted a funding strategy to pay back land acquisition funds used by the Board for the acquisition. The plan identified several partners, grants, and internal funds to replenish the land fund for Pottawattamie County. Shoemaker says he hopes to repay those funds over the next nine months.
