Challenge Grant Will Help Complete Anglers Bay Project

The Messengers of Healing Winds Foundation has announced a $70,000 challenge grant to the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) to help complete the Anglers Bay project at Big Spirit Lake.

For each private contribution given between now and the end of the project, Messengers of Healing Winds Foundation will match the gift dollar for dollar. Thanks to this challenge grant, just $60,000 more must be raised this summer to complete this $6.67 million project which protects two-thirds mile of natural shoreline where bulrushes provide vital nursery for fish and habitat for wildlife. Once the fundraising goal is reached, a new 93-acre state-managed park and wildlife area will be created with a bike trail, restored wetland and prairie.

“We’re very pleased to be part of this project,” said Steve Rasmussen, executive director of Messengers of Healing Winds Foundation. “Our foundation supports preservation at the Iowa Great Lakes. We’re pleased with all the progress made on this huge project. The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has done a great job of finding state and private resources to save Anglers Bay. We hope this gift and challenge will help cap off this great project as soon as possible.”

The project reached another milestone last week: More than 1,000 donors have now contributed to Anglers Bay.

“Rarely do we see this level of grassroots support for a new park or wildlife area,” says Mark C. Ackelson, INHF president. “But Anglers Bay is the last chance to preserve a shoreline of this scope and quality at the Lakes, and people from across Iowa and beyond are responding to that. We’re grateful to all the families, organizations and businesses that have contributed so far. We especially appreciate the challenge grant from Messengers of Healing Winds Foundation, which is a major step toward completing the project.”

Overall, the project calls for $6.67 million. The Iowa Legislature and Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) have pledged $5 million over three fiscal years and the difference of $1.67 million must come from private donations. 

Contributions designated to the Anglers Bay project can be made online at or sent to Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation at 505 Fifth Avenue, Suite 444, Des Moines, IA  50309

For more on this project, see our Anglers Bay homepage.

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.