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“A Brief History of the Cedar Trails Partnership”
by Bob Morgan
The Cedar Valley Lakes Board, a non-profit group which was pushing for the development of recreational venues around the lakes being created by highway construction excavation, decided that a “friends of the trails” group should be formed to advocate for the expansion of the local multi-use trail system. Accordingly, a notice was published in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, calling trail enthusiasts together on a weeknight in the fall (October, I think) of 1994.
About twenty people showed up at the Hartman Reserve Nature Center for the meeting, which was led by Steve Finegan of the Black Hawk County Conservation Board. From that group, the Cedar Trails Partnership was formed with Bill Dotzler as President, Mark Eubank as V.P., Sue Sergeant as Treasurer, and Bob Morgan as Secretary, under Bylaws created by BHCCB and the Lakes Board. The CTP quickly applied for nonprofit 501(c )(3) status, which was granted in ’95-96.
The CTP Board, consisting of most of the people who’d showed up for the initial meeting, met a couple of times with little more purpose than to get information about plans for trail-building in the area. At the urging of several members, most notably Rod Larson of IADOT and Steve Finegan, representatives from the partnership began attending meetings and public hearings of the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MPO) in order to stay informed about trail funding opportunities.
The Partnership got its real impetus from a controversy over allocation of $100,000+ (I can’t remember the exact amount) in Transportation Enhancement Funds from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Equity Act (ISTEA) That erupted in the winter/spring of 1995. The MPO had originally earmarked this money for construction of the Cedar Valley Lakes Trail between Waterloo and George Wyth S.P. (a trail that was finally built in 2002), but a new group, Silos & Smokestacks, lobbied successfully to have it transferred to them for refurbishing of the Great Western railroad depot in downtown Waterloo. The CTP reps at the meeting in which the change in projects was made referred to the process as “we got sandbagged.”
The Courier reported on the MPO meeting and the transfer of funds, and something of a public outcry ensued. A petition was circulated by one trail enthusiast (Darren Oschner; I believe he was a recent UNI graduate) — not a member of the CTP — calling for the MPO to reconsider the move. The CTP Board quickly latched on to this petition drive and expanded it, quickly gathering over 1,000 signatures. Those were presented to the MPO, which agreed to reconsider its move. At the next MPO meeting, a compromise was reached which returned most of the funding to the trails.
Capitalizing on this success and on the publicity engendered by news coverage of the controversy (the Courier printed a dozen or so letters from trails advocates protesting the waylaying of the money), the CTP went on a membership drive, contacting everyone who’d signed the petitions and arranging for a showing of the RAGBRAI 25 th Anniversary Trans-America Ride movie to draw a crowd of bicyclists. This drive generated over 200 memberships, and suddenly we had an organization that actually represented more than a handful of people, and one which had a treasury large enough to start doing things.
At a meeting in the fall of 1995, Rosemary Beach suggested that the CTP organize a “festival” to publicize the trail system. This immediately became the organization’s focus, and in August, 1996, we held the first Cedar Trails Festival, a 4-day extravaganza featuring over a dozen events, including the “Light Up the Night Ride” which has since become the Festival’s signature event.
Funds raised in the first Festival were used, with matching money from private donations, to construct the Cedar Trails Partnership Overlook on the South Riverside Trail. This structure lasted until 2002, when it was demolished after repeated problems with its foundation, caused by flooding.
The focus of the CTP remained on trail advocacy, with a CTP representative gaining an advisory seat on the MPO, its Technical Committee, and the Enhancement Committee; and on organizing the annual Trails Festival.
In 1998, the CTP began to take a more proactive approach to trails issues. The CTP acted as a facilitating agency, drawing together all of the municipalities and agencies to develop a coherent and consistent metro-wide policy on privately-donated benches and other trail enhancements. Working with law enforcement and governing agencies, the CTP also organized a volunteer Cedar Trail Patrol to provide security and assistance to trail users.
In 1999, with funds generated from the Festival and memberships, the CTP made its first Partnership Grants for trail improvements. Money was provided to Black Hawk County Conservation for construction of the Prairie Overlook in Hartman Reserve on the South Riverside Trail; to the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources for the Fisher Lake Overlook on the Cedar Valley Lakes Trail in George Wyth Park , and to the City of Waterloo for the purchase of a trail sweeper.
A second round of Partnership Grants was made in 2003, and the grant program became an annual affair.