A group of students from Iowa BIG are completing a trail mapping project at Palisades-Kepler state park this spring.
The students have been researching the trails at the park west of Mount Vernon and will be working on installing mile markers along the trails.
“I definitely learned a lot more about what can and can’t be done on signage within a park in Iowa Department of Natural Resources,” said Cole Simons, student at Iowa BIG.
“Fundraising for some of these resources is going to be one of our next projects,” said Brock Tiedeman.
For Ryan McCaffrey, learning about the importance of mile markers on the trail system and how that benefits first responders more quickly respond to an accident or injury is important.
The other two youths working on the project include Jace Rickertson and Nate Patterson.
Friday, March 24, the group split into three teams to walk the five-mile trails in the park and find where the mile markers would need to be installed.
It’s the second trip the group has made to the park to investigate the space, and they have plans to return towards the end of spring to see the markers installed. In their previous visits, they had an opportunity to visit with first responders in the Mount Vernon and Lisbon communities on how mile markers would help them be able to respond more quickly in the case of an emergency on the trails.
For the five students, the ability to get out of the classroom and work on a project in the outdoors is what made them want to be part of this project.
“I know that when I think about this park and if they are able to clear and add additional trails to the trail system in the future, the reminder of the work we did for the current trails will be something that sticks with me,” Rickertson said.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Palisades Kepler State park ranger Carl Fairley said that the project has been one that has been needed.
“Having names for the numerous trails, as well as maps and mile markers, only helps first responders in cases of emergencies,” Fairley said. “It really improves the safety aspect for the park.”
Knowing it was a project to be tackled, Fairley contacted Friends of the Palisades-Kepler president Gail Brown to see if there could be interest to tackle the project.
Brown was wondering where they could find someone to tackle the project and had a friend who had just worked with Iowa BIG on a video project for their business and was impressed with the student’s work. Brown reached out to Iowa BIG about the project. Teacher Mark Mattson said the five youth who are involved with the project easily volunteered when they heard it was an outdoors project.
Brown and Mattson both said the thing that has impressed them most is the soft skills that students from Iowa BIG receive over the course of a project.
“From the communication skills they learn, to problem solving and ability to work together in groups on these projects, these are all skills many future employers are going to be looking for,” Brown said.
“I’m glad we reached out to these students as well,” Fairley said. “I’ve been impressed with their work ethic and attention to detail on the project so far. Today was probably one of the more work intensive days on this project we’ve had, and they were focused on that project at hand so that we were able to measure and place temporary markers on the trail and map the trails we needed to in a quick manner.”
The students at Iowa BIG are now working on coming up with various trail names and will be designing the mile markers that will be installed at the park later this spring.
“I’d highly recommend working with these students again,” Fairley said.