Iowa’s Louisa County is considering selling Baird Timber to fund more campsites at a nearby park, a report said.
A meeting was held yesterday to decide whether or not to put the 18.5-acre public land for sale to fund the construction of a bathhouse with new showers and toilets as well as 22 new campsites at Virginia Grove.
The county believes that the expansion would cost almost $500,000. Louisa County Conservation estimated that Baird Timber would sell for about $80,000.
While in favor of the upgrades, Katie Hammond, the executive director of Louisa County Conservation, prefers the land to stay public.
“I live on five acres, but I don’t have the space that I need to rejuvenate and be out in nature,” she noted. “And a lot of people that live in cities have even less space for them to roam, so public access is so important.”
Baird Timber is a popular destination for hiking, class field trips, hunting, and more.
This story originally appeared on WQAD.
