By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
This photo shows sections where the asphalt trail has deteriorated, and the ongoing effort to patch holes and cracks. Fundraising is underway to replace the asphalt section from Yale to Winkleman Switch with concrete. Photo by Kristine Jorgensen
Development of the trail began in 1987. The Dallas and Guthrie County Conservation Boards guided the early work. The first trail section opened in 1989. By 1990, the 34-mile route from Waukee to Yale was complete.
The Greene County Conservation Board later joined the consortium that owns and operates the trail and in 1997 completed a 12-mile addition from Jefferson to Herndon. In 1999, another 5 miles of the trail was finished, connecting Herndon to Yale.
When this north portion of trail was built, the City of Jefferson had enough funding to use concrete for the section between Jefferson and Winkleman Switch. The rest of the needed funding came from Greene and Guthrie counties, which was enough to install asphalt, not concrete.
Now a cooperative effort between the Guthrie and Greene County Conservation Boards is underway to replace nearly 14 miles of aging asphalt with concrete between Yale to the south and Winkleman Switch to the north.
“In 1997, the counties did what they could afford, which was asphalt,” Brad Halterman, director of the Guthrie County Conservation Board, says. “At that time, most trails were limestone, so being able to install asphalt still was considered top of the line, even though the rest of the RRVT was concrete.”
Iowa’s harsh winters have taken a toll on the asphalt, causing it to deteriorate and become increasingly uneven and unsafe.
The Raccoon River Valley Trail south of Panora is well-known for the shade provided by trees lining the trail and its many wooden bridges.
The need to replace this section of asphalt with concrete isn’t a recent development. For several years, each county conservation board worked separately, searching for funding to fix the trail section within their own county.
Halterman grew up in Guthrie Center, graduated from high school there, and worked 13 years as natural resources manager for the Guthrie County Conservation Board. He was hired by the Lake Panorama Association in the spring of 2016 as its project manager. In December 2019, he returned to the Guthrie County Conservation Board, this time as director.
Tanner Scheuermann has worked in county conservation the past 10 years, with three years in Boone County as conservation director, before being hired in 2021 as the director of the Greene County Conservation Board.
The Raccoon River Valley Trail that runs through Panora brings thousands of bikers through the town each year. The 34-mile stretch from Waukee to Yale is concrete. Starting near Yale, the trail surface changes to asphalt and continues that way for nearly 14 miles. Fundraising is underway to replace the asphalt section with concrete.
A year ago, Halterman says he was tired of “beating my head against the wall” looking for grants and other resources to replace the section of trail in Guthrie County.
“I decided to call Tanner and ask if he’d like to have a meeting and talk about the possibility of us working together on this, rather than competing against each other for the same resources,” Halterman says. “There was precedence in having Guthrie and Greene counties working together on this, since the original project in 1997 was a joint effort.”
Scheuermann didn’t hesitate.
“It’s a natural fit,” he says. “Both Brad and I are passionate about this project. It just makes sense to work together.”
Although the pair had some preliminary ideas about how this project should be structured and what it would cost, they knew getting more specifics would help their cause. The two county conservation boards engaged the engineering firm of WHKS to help with the design phase of the project.
The anticipated construction cost is $4.2 million. With a firm plan and cost estimate, Halterman and Scheuermann started fundraising in earnest. They filed a joint application for a grant from the Iowa DOT Regional Transportation Alternative Plan for Region 12.
“We had the chance to attend the meeting where the decisions would be made on this grant,” Halterman says. “Both of our county engineers were at the meeting, and advocated for Greene and Guthrie counties. They made a pitch, the committee voted, and we were awarded a $1.2 million grant.”
Halterman says this award provided the momentum needed to keep moving forward.
“We kept saying someone needs to open the door for us, and this did it,” he says. “There are lots of grants awarded each year for new trail projects; trail rehabilitation projects aren’t nearly as common.”
The next step was an application to Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation, the local nonprofit corporation that holds the state gaming license in Greene County. Under an agreement with Wild Rose Entertainment Inc., which operates the Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson, Grow Greene receives five percent of the local casino’s adjusted gross gaming revenues to distribute to nonprofit, governmental and charitable organizations.
At an awards ceremony at the Wild Rose Casino in April, Scheuermann and Halterman learned their project was the recipient of a Legacy grant totaling a half-million dollars, with $125,000 each year for the next four years.
Since then, the project was awarded a $250,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Additional funding sources available to the two counties puts fundraising for the concrete replacement trail at the halfway point.
“If you had asked me a year ago if I thought we’d be at the halfway point today, I’d say no way,” Halterman says. “Our first goal was to reach the 50% level, because that gives us a better shot at getting more. Now we can say we have matching funds for grants that require that. We’re working on three additional grants right now, and will continue to apply for grants and look at all other options until we reach our goal.”
The section from Herndon to Jefferson is a “spur” trail, meaning it is a branch off the main trail. That compares to the trail towns of Panora and Yale, where the trail continues in both directions.
“Jefferson has never felt like a trail town, and we want that,” Scheuermann says. “We understand the economic impact that’s possible if more people keep riding north to Jefferson, rather than turning east onto the loop trail at Herndon. This project will open new doors to Jefferson.”
Halterman says because the RRVT is free to use, it is not possible to measure the economic value based on how many people use the trail.
“There are 14 communities on the Raccoon River Valley Trail and 48 restaurants in those towns,” he says. “Plus, there are convenience stores and grocery stores and other businesses trail users visit. These are the places where the economic impact of this trail is seen.”
Halterman says the RRVT already is popular, and getting this section of trail replaced with concrete will make it even more appealing.
“This is a destination-type project. Tanner and I get emails and phone calls all the time from people across Iowa and outside of Iowa wanting to know more about the trail,” he says. “This is a trail where people can come for a weekend, and spend two days riding the loops and spurs. I think the impact of this project will go beyond Guthrie and Greene counties, it also will impact Dallas County.”
While Halterman and Scheuermann continue to apply for grants, plans for local fundraising also are developing. For instance, businesses and individuals will have the opportunity to sponsor a section of the trail and be recognized with signs along the trail.
Money tubes already are in place at some locations where trail users can drop envelopes with their donations. WHKS staff are working on trail signs with QR codes to make direct donations easier. They also are developing a website that will include details on the project and how people can donate.
Both counties have 501(c)3 nonprofit foundations where donors can make tax deductible donations for this project. In Guthrie County, the Prairie Woodland Conservation Foundation has an online donation option: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=2SVBV82B4LUXQ
“Scott Kruse and Sarah Saylor at the WHKS office in Ames have played a huge part in getting us to this point,” Halterman says. “They are just as passionate as Tanner and I are about this project. They have been a tremendous help and continue to search for new funding sources, and work with us on this local fundraising effort.”
Halterman and Scheuermann also give credit to their county engineers – Josh Sebern in Guthrie and Wade Weiss in Greene – for their support and advocacy for this project.
“Tanner and I may be the voices people hear the most, but this truly is a team effort,” Halterman says. “Our goal is to close out this project in January 2029, and we’re going to keep working toward that goal.”
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HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS:
RACCOON RIVER VALLEY TRAIL
The Raccoon River Valley Trail (RRVT) uses the former right-of-way of a railroad built in the late 19th century to connect Des Moines with the Iowa Great Lakes region in northwest Iowa.
The first rail company involved was the Des Moines Western Railroad Company, which became part of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad. The line opened in 1881 as a narrow-gauge railroad. A decade later, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad — known as the “Milwaukee Road” — took over the line and widened it to standard gauge.
For more than 50 years, it was a popular rail line, taking vacationers from central Iowa to the shores of Storm Lake, the Okoboji’s and Big Spirit Lake. In 1952, when the easy availability of automobiles changed the public’s travel preferences, passenger service on the Milwaukee Road was discontinued.
The line continued to be used for freight trains for another 35 years, but by the middle of the 1980s all rail service was discontinued. The Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIECO) purchased the right of way in 1987.
CIECO, the Iowa Trails Council, and the Dallas and Guthrie counties conservation boards came to an agreement to allow the development of a multiuse trail on the right-of-way. Initially the idea was the power company could reclaim the route for development of a new railroad, if a new power plant was needed somewhere along the right-of-way in west central Iowa.
However, no such need ever developed. In 2001, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation helped the counties, which now included Greene County, complete the purchase of the right-of-way from CIECO with money from an Iowa Trails grant from the Department of Transportation.
The trail received its name from the branches of the Raccoon River that frequently appear alongside the trail or under its bridges. Trail development began in 1987 and the first section of the RRVT opened in 1989. By 1990, the 34-mile route from Waukee to Yale was complete. A 12-mile addition from Jefferson to Herndon was completed in 1997.
Other Iowa trails were being developed at the same time, but the RRVT was unique because it was a paved trail, while most others were crushed limestone.
In 1999, a 5-mile extension east from Waukee connected with the Green Belt Trail in the Des Moines suburb of Clive, which connects to many other trails in the metro area. That same year, to the north another five miles was finished, connecting Herndon to Yale.
It was 2007 when another former railroad right-of-way was purchased from the Union Pacific Railroad. By 2013, the 22-mile “north loop” was completed, adding the communities of Dallas Center, Minburn, Perry, Dawson and Jamaica and creating a 77-mile complete loop. Add in the 12 mile “spur” section between Herndon and Jefferson, and the RRVT is 89 miles in total length, the longest paved loop trail in the United States.
In 2015 the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs designated the RRVT as one of Iowa’s Great Places. Iowa Great Places are designated to support new and existing infrastructure that cultivates unique and authentic qualities of neighborhoods, communities and regions in Iowa.
In 2021, the RRVT became the 35th trail in the United States to be elected a Hall of Fame trail in a nationwide vote conducted by the Rails to Trail Conservancy. A Rail-Trail Hall of Fame inductee is selected annually during a public vote. Hall of Fame trails are an elite group recognized for outstanding scenic value, high use, trailside amenities, historical significance, excellence in management, maintenance of the trail, community connections, geographic distribution and community value.