Should the Loess Hills Become a National Park?

Have you ever visited a national park—maybe the Grand Canyon or the Mammoth Caves? These publicly owned areas are certainly unique and worth seeing. The unique privately owned areas of the Loess Hills are also worth seeing—areas like the pure prairies north of Sioux City and the huge rolling peaks created by rare loess soil. These peaks sometimes turn into rolling giants as they stretch 200 miles north to south along the Missouri River in Iowa.

Congress agreed that the Loess Hills, which are 95% privately owned, are unique. In November 1999, Congress commissioned a study by the National Park Service (NPS) to decide if the Hills should be publicly by including them in the National Park System. Preserving landscapes for future generations is the goal of the NPS and the only way to have an area included in the system is through an act of Congress.

Criteria for Inclusion

The NPS has three criteria they use when reviewing areas for potential inclusion as a national park: national significance, suitability, and feasibility.

National Significance

Do the Loess Hills have significance that goes beyond local, state or regional importance to be nationally significant—either on a natural or cultural level? The study stated that the Loess Hills landscape met this national significance criterion.

Suitability

Is it suitable for inclusion in the system? In other words, are there other areas that are already protected that are similar to this landscape? For example, the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky might not have been chosen as a national park if a similar cave formation had already been a part of the NPS or a state protected park. The NPS study found the Loess Hills were suitable for National Park status and met the suitability criterion.

Feasibility

Is it possible and the best use of public dollars to protect the Loess Hills landscape? This was more difficult to judge. Ninety-five percent of the Loess Hills are in private ownership. It would be very difficult to bring those lands into public ownership. The NPS only purchases from a willing seller and through surveys, public meetings, and telephone interviews, it was very clear that most of the private landowners in the Loess Hills had no desire to sell their land to the federal government. The study also showed many private and state organizations already doing a good job at managing the Loess Hills landscape. The NPS study found that the Loess Hills did not meet the feasibility criterion.

Study Results

After completing their study, the National Park Service felt the Loess Hills should not be a national park due to the feasibility criterion. It did feel that a "joint powers board" consisting of county leaders, independent landowners, geologists, and other experts on the area, in addition to state and congressional leaders could help create a comprehensive management plan for all seven Iowa counties in the Loess Hills.

In this case, the choice between public and private land ownership was decided in favor of private ownership.

Web Link

Read the National Park Service's report on the Loess Hills.

Sources

Jennings, Sue. Sue Jennings, Loess Hills Study Team Coordinator (National Park Service). Interview. Fall 2001.