LOUISA COUNTY, Iowa — The future of Baird Timber is still up in the air despite months of discussions on whether or not to sell the public land.
Filled with walking trails, mushrooms, deer and soaring hickory and oak trees, the roughly 18.5-acre plot of land is a popular "nature escape" and break among rows of corn fields. However, the county is considering selling the land to help pay for new campsites at a nearby park.
Louisa County saw its population drop below 11,000 residents after the 2020 census. With a shrinking tax base to pull from, supporters of the sale say the money could be better spent on a campground, which generates money, as opposed to free, public land.
It's far from a new issue for the Louisa County Conservation Board (LCCB), which has been debating the sale for months.
The board would like to see 22 new campsites added to Virginia Grove, a nearby park. The county already has 11 plots for campers at the location, but would like to expand as well as install a bathhouse with new showers and toilets.
Early estimates from LCCB predict a sale from Baird Timber would net the county roughly $80,000. The county speculates the renovations at Virginia Grove will cost nearly $500,000.
Several members of the Baird family spoke out against the sale during Tuesday's LCCB meeting.
"What kind of conservation board takes land entrusted to their care and sells those lands," questioned one. "I know that the intention of the family was to have that land preserved for the enjoyment of all and conservation."
The Baird family claims they donated the land to the county four decades ago with the hopes the timber would remain public. However, the county has records of some sort of sale that could have been for Baird.
"The 1982-83 annual report shows a land acquisition cost of $8,787.50, but it doesn't say what it's for. It just says 'land acquisition,'" the board noted. "So when I look at all the other properties that we've acquired, there was really nothing else that was acquired in that time frame."
In that case, the board says selling the land now would be possible and ethically sound, since it wouldn't have been donated.
But the Baird family disagrees, maintaining the property was donated.
"I'm sick to my stomach," said Deborah Manchester. "I just hope that you will hear the family and the users of the natural area and consider what your real true mission is. And not maybe what appears to be outside interests."
The board did not vote one way or the other during Tuesday's meeting. The next LCCB meeting is set for May 17.