Post by Mark Wyatt on Feb 14, 2005 18:51:01 GMT -5
A welcome center in Prairie City will get more than $620,000
in federal assistance.
By WILLIAM PETROSKI
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
February 14, 2005
Ames, Ia. - Plans for a community welcome center for the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City have received a $620,454 financial boost from the Iowa Transportation Commission.
The commission has approved the federal grant to help pay for the first four phases of a five-phase project known as "Bringing Prairie and People Together." The work will include a welcome-and-information center on the west edge of Prairie City, pedestrian and bicycle trails, roadside beautification and other work.
The welcome center will be just off Iowa Highway 163, about five miles from the main facilities of the wildlife refuge, which hosts the nation's largest prairie reconstruction project. The refuge covers about 5,200 acres of rolling tallgrass prairie, along with wildflowers and oak savannas, bisected by Walnut Creek. Bison and elk herds have also been reintroduced.
"Hopefully, what we will do is bring some tourism to Prairie City," said Nancy Gilbertson, manager of the wildlife refuge, which is operated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Prairie City, a farming community of 1,365 people, should serve as a gateway to the refuge, which draws about 50,000 visitors annually, Gilbertson said. Construction on the welcome center is expected to begin this fall, and the facility is to open next year.
The Prairie City grant was part of about $6.5 million in federal money awarded by the transportation commission as part of a statewide "transportation enhance- ments" program authorized by Congress. The money is used for recreational trails, environmental projects and historic projects.
Other recipients of federal money:
Southern Iowa: $750,000 to pay for platform and pedestrian crossing improvements at Iowa's Amtrak stations in Fort Madison, Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Ottumwa, Osceola and Creston. The money will help make the stations compliant with the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
Waterloo: $454,625 for construction of a two-mile recreational trail north of the Cedar River that would be part of the local riverwalk, as well as a link in the American Discovery Trail.
Story County : $461,300 to complete two bridges along the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail in preparation for development from Cambridge to County Road S14.
Des Moines: $573,090 for a pedestrian underpass at Fleur Drive to connect Water Works Park with Gray's Lake.
Butler County : $239,413 to pay for hard surfacing of more than five miles of the Rolling Prairie Trail between Shell Rock and Clarksville.
Statewide: $80,000 for the Urban Youth Corps to provide transportation-related employment and training opportunities for young people who face barriers to employment.
Dallas County: $731,500 to help acquire 28 miles of railroad right-of-way extending from one mile west of Dawson to Waukee. The corridor would be developed into a recreational trail within three to five years.
Orleans: $407,500 to construct bicycle lanes in thingyinson County as part of the West Big Spirit Trail.
Hardin County: $252,000 to help acquire 152 acres for the Iowa River Greenbelt Scenic Drive and Sac and Fox Overlook.
Statewide: $200,000 to help small communities establish native landscaping along their highway corridors. Another $200,000 to purchase prairie grass and wildflower seed used by 81 counties for roadside beautification and maintenance reduction projects.
Appanoose County: $732,235 to help pay for the proposed Rathbun Lighthouse and Visitor Center at Rathbun Lake.
Iowa Department of Transportation : $50,000 for a pilot project to archive historic transportation documents, some dating back 90 years. The most significant parts of the collection will be scanned and made accessible to the public through a Web site, state officials said.
Grinnell: $500,000 to help pay for continued development of the Iowa Transportation Museum.
Elkader: $261,351 to help rehabilitate the historic Keystone Bridge, built in 1889.
