Where is the balance between conserving natural resources and developing park amenities?

This is a question I have struggled with several times throughout my career, and most recently with a campground expansion we recently completed at our main park, Big Hollow Recreation Area, an 800-acre slice of Iowa with a built lake, campsites, and other amenities but also a robust natural resource management program.

I'm joined this week by Jeremy Yost, Natural Resource Technician with Pottawattamie County in Western Iowa, home to the globally significant landform, the Loess Hills. A lifelong conservationist, he worked with me for about five years and is responsible for initiating a lot of the natural resource work that continues today at Big Hollow. He's not only an insightful land manager, he's also my best friend.

Who better to talk through an existential crisis with, right?

I don't think we definitively answer anything in this discussion. Rather, we come up with ways of framing the question and ways to approach decision making when it comes to finding that balance between development and conservation. Every situation is unique and it's the role of the leader to ask the right questions of the right people and then decide how to proceed, knowing that there are always tradeoffs.

I hope you find this helpful as you continue on your leadership journey in the parks and conservation world.