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Enke: Odds good for getting Scenic ByWays grants
By Joe Benedict/MVM News Network
FORT MADISON –– Gene Enke of the Mississippi River Parkway Planning Commission said the National Scenic Byways program has been very helpful for the counties of Lee, Des Moines and Louisa for the past decade. In fact, about $14 million has come into the area through the program in that time.
Enke discussed the program at the Mississippi River Parkway Commission meeting recently at the Fort Madison Public Library. He said some of the Lee County projects recently that have received funding from the program include money for the George M. Verity Museum in Keokuk, the replacement of pickets at Old Fort Madison, the project to move the Amtrak depot to the old Santa Fe depot in Riverview Park and turning a run-down area in Montrose to a museum with an observation deck.
There also have been projects funded in Louisa County, with money going toward an interpretive center for the conservation department there and in Burlington with the Aldo Leopold Center.
Enke said the odds are good for getting one of these grants through the National Scenic Byways program. It is still competitive, but there’s about $40 million to go around in the program. Lee County groups can contact Enke, Jay Schwitzer for Louisa County and Elaine Baxter for Des Moines County with project ideas.
Kathy Bowermaster of the Iowa Department of Tourism said tourism generates a lot of money for the state. In 2008, there were $6.8 billion in tourism dollars spent in the state. Even with the economy on a slide, the amount was 2 percent more than was spent in 2007.
The 10 counties along the river shared $1.16 billion of that money. There are about $65,000 jobs in the state due to tourism. She said in a recent survey, the average person traveling in Iowa spends about $257 a day and 12 percent say they are interested in scenic byways, such as the Great River Road.
The tourism office helps keep focus on tourist attractions through advertising and the Iowa Travel Guide. The guide is full of attractions, hotels, festivals and more and is distributed at all the state welcome centers and at other places across the state.
Tourism also operates a Web site at traveliowa.com where the most used item is the calendar.
Deneb Woods is a GIS specialist with Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development. She said a project using volunteers with GPS units maps the state’s scenic byways. The information can be put into the GIS system so people can find various resources Iowa has, including natural, cultural, historical resources and more.
The workers using the GPS units also can suggest where better signage for byways could go and report road conditions.
Craig Markey, transportation planner with the Iowa Department of Transportation, discussed grant programs available in the state. He discussed the scenic byways program as well as a state byways program, a federal recreational trails program and its state counterpart, the federal transportation enhancement program.
The Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy, or RISE program, is one of Iowa’s newest programs. Markey said it’s available to Iowa cities and counties and promotes economic development through construction or improvement of roads and streets.
Another program designed to create a situation where students can walk or bike to school is the Safe Routes to School Program. That grant program does not require a local cash match. About $1.5 million is available in the funding pool.
He encouraged groups to take a look at the grants. He said they are fairly competitive grants, but like the lottery, “You can’t win if you don’t play,” Markey said.
Enke discussed the program at the Mississippi River Parkway Commission meeting recently at the Fort Madison Public Library. He said some of the Lee County projects recently that have received funding from the program include money for the George M. Verity Museum in Keokuk, the replacement of pickets at Old Fort Madison, the project to move the Amtrak depot to the old Santa Fe depot in Riverview Park and turning a run-down area in Montrose to a museum with an observation deck.
There also have been projects funded in Louisa County, with money going toward an interpretive center for the conservation department there and in Burlington with the Aldo Leopold Center.
Enke said the odds are good for getting one of these grants through the National Scenic Byways program. It is still competitive, but there’s about $40 million to go around in the program. Lee County groups can contact Enke, Jay Schwitzer for Louisa County and Elaine Baxter for Des Moines County with project ideas.
Kathy Bowermaster of the Iowa Department of Tourism said tourism generates a lot of money for the state. In 2008, there were $6.8 billion in tourism dollars spent in the state. Even with the economy on a slide, the amount was 2 percent more than was spent in 2007.
The 10 counties along the river shared $1.16 billion of that money. There are about $65,000 jobs in the state due to tourism. She said in a recent survey, the average person traveling in Iowa spends about $257 a day and 12 percent say they are interested in scenic byways, such as the Great River Road.
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Tourism also operates a Web site at traveliowa.com where the most used item is the calendar.
Deneb Woods is a GIS specialist with Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development. She said a project using volunteers with GPS units maps the state’s scenic byways. The information can be put into the GIS system so people can find various resources Iowa has, including natural, cultural, historical resources and more.
The workers using the GPS units also can suggest where better signage for byways could go and report road conditions.
Craig Markey, transportation planner with the Iowa Department of Transportation, discussed grant programs available in the state. He discussed the scenic byways program as well as a state byways program, a federal recreational trails program and its state counterpart, the federal transportation enhancement program.
The Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy, or RISE program, is one of Iowa’s newest programs. Markey said it’s available to Iowa cities and counties and promotes economic development through construction or improvement of roads and streets.
Another program designed to create a situation where students can walk or bike to school is the Safe Routes to School Program. That grant program does not require a local cash match. About $1.5 million is available in the funding pool.
He encouraged groups to take a look at the grants. He said they are fairly competitive grants, but like the lottery, “You can’t win if you don’t play,” Markey said.
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