Rock Rapids, Iowa — Your last chance to provide input on a new Iowa State Park on the western edge of Lyon County is this Thursday in Rock Rapids.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Parks Bureau Chief Todd Coffelt says the park at Blood Run would be the first-of-its-kind joint state park with South Dakota, along both sides of the Big Sioux River. For the first time in a press release, the DNR has referred to the park as Blood Run State Park. The South Dakota park is called Good Earth State Park at Blood Run.
A public workshop on Thursday and an open house on Thursday evening will give the public a chance to see what’s going on and provide input.
The meeting and the open house will both be held in the basement of Frontier Bank in the Rock Rapids Community Room, 301 First Avenue in Rock Rapids.
The DNR says the Blood Run National Historic Landmark is located in Lyon County and encompasses a culturally significant landscape, providing links to the people and traditions associated with the past use of the site. This area between the Big Sioux River and Blood Run Creek was home to people practicing the Oneota tradition between 1300 and 1720 A.D. DNR officials say that the public is invited to participate in the planning of what they call “this highly significant site.”
The meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The morning session will include presentations of the cultural landscape master plan and the long-range interpretation and education plan, and discussions of key project topics. The afternoon session will include discussions of key project topics and considerations for future management of the bi-state park. A one-hour lunch break will be available between noon and 1 p.m.
The open house will be held later that evening from 6 to 8 p.m. Project materials will be on display and project team members will be on hand to answer questions and listen to comments from the public.
Parking for both the public meeting and open house is available in the lot behind the Lyon County annex building, west of the bank. For more information about the Blood Run project you can visit www.goodearthbloodrun.com.
