Long-awaited environmental education center in Jasper County to begin construction soon

The future home of Jasper County Conservation’s environmental education center is a lush green acreage rife with tall trees and two ponds near the corners of the property. This past week, donors, supporters, board members and staff of county conservation gazed at the grounds, imagining what it will all look like.

For many of them, this will be the last time they see the site looking so bare and relatively untouched. Soon, construction of the environmental education center, sometimes called the nature center, will take place and begin a new chapter for county conservation. And it was cause for celebration.

Jasper County Conservation on Oct. 5 was joined by community members for a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of the new nature center. Carol Kramer, a longtime member of the Jasper County Conservation Board and a frequent donor to projects, could not be happier to have that golden shovel in her hands.

“I have been dreaming about this since the middle ‘80s. Actually it was with (former conservation board director) Dennis Black first, and then we kept working at it and working at it,” Kramer said at the groundbreaking. “This was a dream not just for Jasper County citizens but mainly for Jasper County children.”

To commemorate her generous offerings to county conservation over the years and to this specific project, staff have announced the park surrounding the nature center will be named after Carol and her late husband Frederick “Fritz” Kramer. She said it was “very humbling” to be recognized in this way.

Jeff and Jodi King, who owned Keystone Laboratories for more than three decades, have been major donors to county conservation. The two have even organized a donation challenge to community members to finish out some of the final touches to the nature center. They will match up to $100,000.

“We’ve just really been super excited about this,” Jeff King said. “Like Carol said, it’s going to be a great addition to Jasper County and the surrounding area, and even beyond that. You see the kids over here, and you know that is who we’re building this for; the next generation that can take care of the land.”

The King family is thankful to be able to step up and help with the project and that the nature center itself will be named after their daughter, Dana King Ceretti, who died in late 2009 at age 30. Jeff King said his daughter was always excited about conservation and what people can do to make the world better.

“For her legacy to live on in this, I think, is extremely humbling for us,” he said.

Kramer added, “…I was her teacher in sixth grade, and they chose something to write about. And she wrote about the earth. And I always think about that.”

When fully constructed, the Dana King Ceretti Environmental Education Center will feature 7,200 square feet of space for public and staff use. The site will include a sculpture walk, a community garden, a nature playscape, a wetland area, a natural amphitheater, a shelter house, prairie restoration and much more.

Keri Van Zante, director of Jasper County Conservation, said the nature center project is 30 years in the making. The plan is to have earth moving from the site by next week, provided permits from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources come through in time. Either way, there is going to be a lot of activity at the site.

Especially with the second phase of the project being constructed concurrently with the nature center. The Geisler-Penquite Foundation fully funded a $700,000 Geisler-Penquite Land Stewardship Lab for the second phase of the project. In addition to the lab, it will also fund an outdoor recreation center.

“So we have phase one and phase two that will be going all at the same time,” Van Zante said. “I don’t think many projects can probably boast that.

“But we got a lot of good conservation friends out there.”