LOUISA COUNTY, Iowa — The Baird family is pleading with the Louisa County Conservation Board to not sell an 18.5-acre plot of public land known as Baird Timber, saying the family gifted it to the board decades ago with the intent that it would remain open for community access and enjoyment.
The conservation board is set to vote on whether or not to sell the land at its meeting on Monday, June 6. Before then, the family is making one final appeal to keep the land as it is.
Baird Timber sits a few miles south of Wapello. Within its towering oaks, a variety of wildlife — including fungi, deer, raccoons and more — finds solace beneath the shady overhang. It's a popular spot for hiking, mushroom foraging and local school field trips.
For Joe Baird, it's a time capsule of his family history.
Baird's grandparents first established the land and eventually passed it down to his father and uncles. Then roughly 40 years ago, the family decided to give the timber to the county.
"The intent, when they gave this to the conservation board, was that it be preserved," Baird said. "I think if (they) had any idea it was going to get sold for development they'd have sold it themselves and been done with it. But they wanted it preserved."
According to Baird, the family meant for the land to remain public as a gift to their future family members and the surrounding community.
The timber is one of the few remaining such plots in the county. Data from the National Wilderness Institute shows Iowa ranks second-to-last in publicly available land. Just 1.04% of the state's land is open for recreational use.
However, the county's population has been shrinking, decreasing the tax base as well. Some members on the board would like to see the timber sold to help pay for 22 new campsites at 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.
In February, the board predicted 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.
"I'd be disappointed," Baird said when asked what would happen if the board does decide to sell. "We're opposed to it, but (the board) does own it. They have the deed to it, they can do what they want with it. But the intent was this be saved as a conservation project."
"It feels like a betrayal to me, it really does," said Debra Manchester, the niece of Joe Baird.
Manchester has since moved away from the area but continues to fight for her family's timber.
As a child, she remembers constantly playing in the woods. She can also recall her father telling her, when she was young, that he was giving the land to the board so she could bring her children and grandchildren to the timber one day.
"But it's kind of more than that," Manchester said. "It was this opportunity that the family had to share the land with their community. And they were happy and excited to do that."
She called the potential sale "heartbreaking" and even participated in previous Zoom board meetings to air her frustration.
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"Please consider the value of this land beyond what you could sell it for," Manchester said.
Back at the timber, Joe Baird went for a stroll through the woods with his son, Jeff Baird. The two of them, third and fourth — and possibly the last —generations to walk the luscious green trails.
"I think they should keep it the way it is," Jeff said. "I think it would be more beneficial to keep letting the public use it the way that my grandparents intended for it to be used."
Looking out at the trees, his father, Joe, reiterated that the ultimate decision resides with the conservation board.
"I'll live with it one way or the other," he said. "It's out of my hands."
The county conservation board meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 6, at the Louisa County Courthouse.