It's a great time to be the Cherokee CCB Director, let me tell you. Our department is the recipient of a lot of positive community spirit of late. To our donors, Thank You!!! Your faith in us will be rewarded with an inspired county park system.

 

Yesterday we were granted another $20,000 toward our Martin's Access project by Iowa Pheasants Forever. What that means is that the money that the county chapter has raised through banquets over the last decade is coming back to our community to provide public hunting, habitat and outdoor recreation for YOU! Isn't it nice to see local progress paid for by a local celebration of natural resources? I'm so impressed with PF right now, I just want to pat them all on the back. What a great job they've done. And what a big help they are to the county when we need it most!

 

Picture this: Sunshine, a carpet of green, islands of prairie amidst campers, cabins and tents, families gathered to enjoy the outdoors, children discovering deer tracks in the sand under a swingset, squadrons of dragonflies buzzing the skies over trail riders' heads, birdwatchers lounging on a bench gazing into the oak savannah. I can see this new park at Martin's Access in my mind's eye. Hunters unloading eager dogs from pick-ups in November, second graders in the spring chasing natural mysteries along trails, under logs and over streams, river-weary paddlers enjoying a hot shower and the serenity of sitting around the campfire with friends on a summer evening. I can see myself there, my friends, my kids and yours, and the families and children they will call their own someday. No matter how technology or economics may change our communities, future generations will always have this public land to enjoy the simple pleasures of the outdoors.

 

Like I said, it's a great time to the CCCB Director.

 

If it weren't for good luck, I'd have no luck at all.