(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is working to preserve one of the last pieces of undeveloped shoreline on East Lake Okoboji. The foundation bought the 50-acre property in 2021 for eight MILLION dollars and has been restoring native habitat. Joe Jayjack, the foundation’s director of external affairs, says this year’s check list includes removing some man-made terraces.

“To restore some of the natural terrain on the property and prepping for some prairie restoration to restore a lot of the grasslands that were historically there, and then a little bit of tree work and shoreline restoration right along the lake there that is going to make a big difference, especially during high water events and the stability of the shoreline.” The area is called Narrows Preserve and includes over two-thousand feet of East Lake Okoboji’s shore. When the work is finished, the foundation plans to open the area to the public.

“It’s going to be a really great place for people to enjoy some light outdoor recreation,” Jayjack says. “We have some mowed trails out there and it’s connected to the state park just to south of it, so we’re happy with the progress so far.” The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation has an option to purchase another 73 acre tract of land in the city limits of Arnolds Park.

Jayjack says it’s an area surrounded by three bodies of water in the Iowa Great Lakes region. “Eventually we’ll turn it over to the City of Arnolds Park,” Jayjack says. “It’ll be managed by Dickinson County Conservation to be a public nature area and park that people will be able to use.”

The foundation faces an October deadline to raise one-point-nine MILLION dollars to purchase the property, which has never been developed.