Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation: INHF Celebrates 100,000 Acres

Help us celebrate!

Please join us at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, 2008, at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center at Stone State Park, Sioux City.

There we will dedicate three recent additions to Stone State Park. Hosted jointly by the Friends of Stone State Park, IDNR and INHF, the dedication will honor Millie Acklin and former landowners Shelley Sweeney, Carolyn and Norman Sloan, and Alfred Thurow.

Visit our website for details.

In March 2008, we celebrated a major milestone: 100,000 acres of land have been protected through the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation! The magic 100,000th acre is located in an addition to Stone State Park in Sioux City.

Here you can see this milestone project through the stories of two women who were born decades apart and never met, but who both wanted to give to their communities.

Through your INHF membership, you helped their stories and dreams come true—and protected 100,000 acres besides!

Hometown legacy

When Millie Acklin died last fall at age 93, she left everything she owned to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. We wish she could know that her bequest was the key to protecting INHF’s 100,000th acre — right in her hometown.

Millie’s story begins like so many Iowans. She grew up on her family’s farm near Lake City and the Raccoon River, and she taught briefly in a one-room schoolhouse. During World War II, she trained as a nurse anesthetist in Sioux City, where she enjoyed living for the next 60 years — an active single lady with many friends.

Marlis Mildred “Millie” Acklin died in September at the age of 93. Her bequest allowed INHF to donate its 100,000th acre as a gift to the community and the state.

Millie loved the Loess Hills and felt this western Iowa treasure is too often taken for granted or abused. She realized that the Loess Hills were not just “out there somewhere” in the countryside, but also right under her feet in Sioux City.

When we first met Millie in 1995, she was searching for an organization that protects natural lands in the Loess Hills. She made her estate plans shortly after this visit. Though Millie told us that she was leaving something in her will for the Loess Hills, she didn’t hint that she intended to leave her entire estate for land protection.

As Millie directed, we will use her gift to protect and care for the Loess Hills and the Raccoon River region. We’re choosing to invest about one-fourth of her gift with the INHF Land Protection Discretionary Endowment, so that its earnings can boost Loess Hills protection for many years to come.

After Shelley Sweeney asked us to help join her land to Stone State Park, we were thrilled that we could use Millie’s bequest to protect a wonderful place in the community Millie loved.

When we realized the property would include our 100,000th acre, it was extra special to know that we could offer this milestone property as a gift to the State of Iowa on Millie’s behalf.

We hope the community will come to know this place as Acklin Ridge to honor Millie and her legacy.

Bittersweet gift

Luke and his father Doug Sweeney enjoy a 2002 picnic at Stone State Park. Their own land is in the background.

Doug and Shelley Sweeney owned 40 acres of Loess Hills that adjoin Stone State Park. Doug was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed spending time among its prairie ridges, oak savanna and woodlands. Its expansive views of the Big Sioux River valley were a bonus.

When Doug died unexpectedly in 2003, Shelley kept their special land—but eventually decided she couldn’t manage it as Doug had. Concerned about the land’s future, she contacted INHF.

Shelley, a Sioux City native, said her family always loved Stone State Park. When she asked if her land could be added to the park, we started to explore ways this could be funded and accomplished. Millie Acklin’s surprise bequest provided the answer. By purchasing Shelley’s land with Millie’s legacy, we could meet both women’s wishes at once.

Shelley Sweeney turned a hard decision into a community treasure. After her husband’s unexpected death, she sold special family land to INHF for use as an addition to Stone State Park.

Shelley says the key in her decision to sell the property to INHF was “knowing that it could become part of Stone State Park and others could enjoy it. No one would develop it or ruin the natural beauty of the Loess Hills. It’s a lot easier giving it up, knowing that it’s going to stay natural.”

The Sweeney property connects the main body of the park to our recent 98-acre Sloan addition. The land donation is going through the DNR acceptance process and is expected to transfer this summer.

These additions add to the opportunities for those who visit Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center. The county-managed center nestles within the state park and offers some of the best interpretation of the Loess Hills in Iowa.

When you visit Stone State Park and the nature center, we hope you’ll hike south on the new addition. Enjoy the views and the birds, appreciate the Hills, and remember Shelley and Millie who made this experience possible for you.

INHF celebrates 100,000 acres