Conservation director highlights StarScape accessibility upgrades, camping increase in annual report

Chris Lee, director of Des Moines County Conservation, presented the department’s annual report to the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 19, summarizing major projects, attendance and budget highlights from the past fiscal year. Lee said an ADA‑focused improvement at the StarScape nature center included paved parking and a paved walkway tying into an existing quarter‑mile trail; grants from the Murray Foundation and private donations helped pay for the work. He also reported the department implemented new management software, Repdesk, to handle event registration and shooting‑range memberships and adjusted some fee structures. Lee said camping increased from 4,832 users the prior year to 5,512, and that the department recorded 16,449 visitors to the nature center with 4,607 participants across 203 programs despite a period of staffing transition for naturalists. He said shooting‑range memberships were largely steady at about 683 and that stewardship work had been narrowed because of limited staff capacity. The conservation director also noted the foundation hosted an inaugural riverfront fundraising event to support department work indirectly. Lee invited supervisors to review the full published annual report on the department website and offered to answer questions.