DETOURS | PEPPERS
DETOURS | SHRINE DETOURS | Catch Word
also adding to the upkeep needs of the park and local community. In order to keep the river in a usable condition for recreation, clean-up efforts are required. In July 2010, Botna Bend received help from Iowa’s Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition), where 130 volunteers removed more than nine tons of trash from the river in one week. “It’s a really good program,” Fenner said. “Any trash they can get in a canoe, they haul out. …They did have some people from eastern Iowa that came over and stayed all week. There is a lot of dedication.” In order to keep costs low, Botna Bend’s staff includes two seasonal employees, just one volunteer and the park ranger, Fenner said. A small crew doesn’t stop Botna Bend from providing a variety of things to see and do. In addition to tent and motor home camping, the park is also home to approximately 20 adult bison and elk and a herd of their young. The animals are often a highlight for visitors, Fenner said. “When the male elk is growing his antlers, people will drive through every day just to see how much bigger they are,” Fenner said. “We do get a lot of people who didn’t know we have animals, and then they will come back to
bring people with them.” Because of Botna Bend’s location on the river, the park is also a beginning and ending point for many water-based activities. Rubber Duck Outfitters arranges activities such as tubing, tanking, canoeing and kayaking trips. Brian Leaders and his wife created Rubber Duck Outfitters because the Pottawattamie County Conservation Board was planning either to update water equipment or to do away with water services altogether at Botna Bend. One of the float trips that Rubber Duck Outfitters offers is called tanking, an activity similar to tubing, but participants don’t get wet. The group sits on a bench around the outside of an eight-foot-round-metal tank for the trip down the river. Up to five adults can float in one tank. Leaders said not many people have tanked before, but that those who try it really enjoy it. “I think the most exciting part of it is, one, being able to provide a fun service to people, and two, getting to meet so many different people,” Leaders said. Park regulars enjoy the increase in visitors due to expanded attractions. “[The water trips] give the park another dimension,” Eggers said. “It really attracts a lot of different people for different reasons. Some come to go canoeing and others come just to relax.”
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WINTER 2010
Visitors to Botna Bend Park enjoy water activities like tubing, tanking, canoeing and kayaking on the West Nishnabotna River in Southwest Iowa.