LOUISA COUNTY, Iowa — The Louisa County Conservation Board unanimously agreed not to sell an 18.5-acre plot of public land known as Baird Timber during its June 6 meeting.
Previously, the board had considered selling the land to help pay for campground renovations at another nearby park, Virginia Grove.
About 30 people attended Monday night's conservation board meeting, three months after the debate over the timber's future began.
Two members of the Baird family, brothers Joe and Bruce, addressed the board on Monday night, once again pleading with the members to respect their family's wishes and keep the land open to the public.
Roughly 40 years ago, the Baird family gave the land to the conservation board (though the county and the family disagree over whether the timber was bought or donated) with the intent that it would remain free and accessible for community use.
"If they'd had any idea that it was gonna be sold, they wouldn't have turned it over to the conservation board in the first place," said Joe Baird, whose father was one of the family members to help facilitate the land transfer. "This is a county conservation board and by selling this off for development, I fail to see whether there's any conservation involved in that move."
His brother Bruce echoed those thoughts, adding what he hoped to see by the end of the meeting.
"What I would desire tonight would be a motion for this board to keep this Baird Timber; a second to that motion; and I would like to see that motion passed four to nothing," he said.
It wasn't a new argument for the board, which has been considering the sale of the timber since the end of February.
During the board's public deliberation on Monday night, member Joellen Schantz tried to see if action could be taken without a motion for fear of tying the hands of a future conservation board, but LCCB Chair Sam Willson pointed out that such a move could drag the issue on for months.
"Even if it was a dead issue, that meant it could get brought back up two months from now, four months from now, six months from now," Willson said. "I think the public saw this as something that could have gotten slipped under the radar."
At one point, LCCB Secretary and Treasurer Elizabeth Kling tried to make an amendment that would permanently ban the sale of the Baird Timber land, saying a conservation board shouldn't rely on the purchase of land to fund projects.
"I don't think it should ever be part of our mission to acquire property and then sell it to raise funds," Kling said. "I mean, we bought this timber because we thought it was an important piece to our county."
However, her amendment did not pass.
Eventually, all four members of the board voted in favor of ending the sale discussion, leaving the timber free and open to the public.
"We're happy with the outcome of the vote," Joe Baird said. "They didn't make it a permanent decision, but it's - for the time being - the right decision, we feel."
He called it a sigh of relief, though Baird lamented that the issue had been raised at all. Still, he noted that all the attention around the timber over the last few months has raised awareness of the location.
"There'll probably be even more people visiting. We've had lots of phone calls and texts about it so it has stirred up public awareness of that particular park," Baird said.
RELATED: Baird family speaks out against sale of Baird Timber; Louisa County pushes back sale decision
Just a few miles south of Wapello, the timber is home to towering oak trees and an array of wildlife such as fungi, deer and raccoons. The land is also a popular spot for hiking, mushroom foraging and school field trips.
The timber traces back decades in the Baird lineage, passed down through the fathers and uncles of Joe and Bruce Baird.
Baird Timber is one of the few remaining plots of public land in the state and the country. Iowa ranks 49th in the U.S. - second to last - in available public land, according to the National Wilderness Institute. Just over 1% of Iowa's land is open for recreational use.
The population in Louisa County has been shrinking in recent years, producing a linear effect on the county's decreasing tax base. Members on the board were hoping to sell the land to help pay for 22 new campsites at the nearby park, Virginia Grove. That park already has 11 plots, and the funds from the sale would have gone towards an expansion as well as the installation of a bathhouse with new showers and toilets.
In a February meeting, Louisa County Conservation Board estimated the sale of Baird Timber to bring in roughly $80,000. The county speculated the Virginia Grove reservations to cost nearly $500,000.