Just wondering how many have heard of the 500 acres the dnr just purchased to add to the state forest. How many have hunted here and it sounds quite large but was wondering if there were a fair amount of places that were hard to access except on foot or by boat? What's the pressure like during the weekdays in october and november because I was thinking about hunting the area during bow season? Thanks for the info. Also thanks to the dnr for the increase in hunting access.
blake
Life Member
Ceremony Praises Partnership that Purchased Nearly 500 Acres for Public Recreation
From the IDNR
Cooperation was cited as the key, as nearly 500 acres of timber and grassland were formally added Monday to the Stephens State Forest.
The land lies adjacent to the north edge of Stephen's Thousand Acre Unit, northwest of Albia in Monroe County. The $734,000 purchase price came from a combination of funding sources, including $350,000 in turkey trade dollars administered by the National Wild Turkey Federation and $10,000 in direct funding from NWTF. "How the acquisition happened is very significant. I think this is the trend we're going to see," applauded DNR Director Richard Leopold, at the hilltop dedication for the 495-acre tract, adjacent to the north edge of the existing Stephens holdings. "Partnerships like this have to happen."
The purchase of former Iowa Coal Company land marks a major addition to southern Iowa's public hunting opportunities, at a time when private land is often at a premium for outdoor recreation. "It is a real diverse area; lots of different habitat. It has a lot of deer, turkeys and other game species…as well as nongame wildlife, too," noted Jeff Goerndt, DNR forestry manager in the Stephens Unit. "It is not real accessible by vehicle. You're going to walk quite a ways. It offers more of a wild experience for people." Boundary signs will be posted this fall. The DNR will continue paying property taxes on the parcel.
The dedication marked an end of sorts, too. The land was purchased with the last available turkey trade funds; money that came to Iowa in exchange for wild turkeys trapped here and shipped to other states for re-introduction. The $3.2 million account was critical in 39 land acquisition projects since 1988, totaling 8,297 acres. "It really brought a new value to the wild turkey; that we could make them available to other states and see money come back to Iowa and undertake these projects," said Dave Whittlesey, regional field supervisor for the NWTF.
The Iowa DNR trapped and transported wild turkeys to various states from 1988 through 2000. Those states, in turn paid into the Turkey Trade trust fund, which the NWTF administered. "It benefits any forest species, and on this tract, upland birds, songbirds and quail," underscored Whittlesey. "It's important to have these large tracts of land that are undeveloped." And, despite early grumbles that turkey trapping would deplete numbers of the wild birds, Iowa hunter harvest more than doubled during the 1990s, when turkey trading was at its peak. Hunter success rates also increased markedly, even as more new hunters took up the sport, thanks to reproduction of the big birds.
From the IDNR
Cooperation was cited as the key, as nearly 500 acres of timber and grassland were formally added Monday to the Stephens State Forest.
The land lies adjacent to the north edge of Stephen's Thousand Acre Unit, northwest of Albia in Monroe County. The $734,000 purchase price came from a combination of funding sources, including $350,000 in turkey trade dollars administered by the National Wild Turkey Federation and $10,000 in direct funding from NWTF. "How the acquisition happened is very significant. I think this is the trend we're going to see," applauded DNR Director Richard Leopold, at the hilltop dedication for the 495-acre tract, adjacent to the north edge of the existing Stephens holdings. "Partnerships like this have to happen."
The purchase of former Iowa Coal Company land marks a major addition to southern Iowa's public hunting opportunities, at a time when private land is often at a premium for outdoor recreation. "It is a real diverse area; lots of different habitat. It has a lot of deer, turkeys and other game species…as well as nongame wildlife, too," noted Jeff Goerndt, DNR forestry manager in the Stephens Unit. "It is not real accessible by vehicle. You're going to walk quite a ways. It offers more of a wild experience for people." Boundary signs will be posted this fall. The DNR will continue paying property taxes on the parcel.
The dedication marked an end of sorts, too. The land was purchased with the last available turkey trade funds; money that came to Iowa in exchange for wild turkeys trapped here and shipped to other states for re-introduction. The $3.2 million account was critical in 39 land acquisition projects since 1988, totaling 8,297 acres. "It really brought a new value to the wild turkey; that we could make them available to other states and see money come back to Iowa and undertake these projects," said Dave Whittlesey, regional field supervisor for the NWTF.
The Iowa DNR trapped and transported wild turkeys to various states from 1988 through 2000. Those states, in turn paid into the Turkey Trade trust fund, which the NWTF administered. "It benefits any forest species, and on this tract, upland birds, songbirds and quail," underscored Whittlesey. "It's important to have these large tracts of land that are undeveloped." And, despite early grumbles that turkey trapping would deplete numbers of the wild birds, Iowa hunter harvest more than doubled during the 1990s, when turkey trading was at its peak. Hunter success rates also increased markedly, even as more new hunters took up the sport, thanks to reproduction of the big birds.