I never really got around to telling you the bad news… and now, enough time has passed that our bad news doesn’t really seems so bad, so let’s dive in, okay?
Today, if our director, Rich Patterson, stood in front of our front door (well, what was formerly known as our front door… more on that in a second), he would look something like this:
The boots don’t usually get worn to work on the average day, but you get the picture. Now, on June 13 and 14, he looked more like this:
That is a lot of water. And as you probably have guessed by now, it wasn’t just on the outside of the building. We had about a foot of water on the inside of the barn.
What does this mean for Indian Creek Nature Center? Well, we had some brave individuals canoe in when the water was rising to save some moveable items that were low to the ground: files and filing cabinets, desk drawers, computers, you name it and they moved it. Unfortunately we did suffer some casualties, like our freezers, our refrigerator and two feet of all of our walls just to name a few.
Right now, most of our operation has moved to the upper level, so when visiting, please climb the front steps and enter the open door into the auditorium. Reception and the Creekside Shop are currently located in this room, along with some of the “guts” of our displays (the cabinetry that housed most of them was damaged). Our offices are still open and running efficiently– though, as you can imagine, they are sometimes in a state of more disarray than we would like.
We have phones, and we have power, for which we are very thankful. And the land has recovered so much more quickly than we have. Almost all of Indian Creek Nature Center’s trails are open to the public, excluding the few trails that are in the extreme low property. A good rule of thumb? If the green grasses and other plants have begun to grow back, the area is safe to explore and enjoy. If the area is brown and mucky, find a better place to play.
The Sac and Fox Trail, which is owned and maintained by the City of Cedar Rapids, also runs through our property. Our portion of the trail is not currently recommended for recreation purposes. For current information on the Sac and Fox, please contact the City Parks Departmentby calling (319) 286-5760.
So, come out and enjoy Indian Creek Nature Center, and remember to support Cedar Rapids in any way you can during this time of need. Community is always the answer!
(The photos in this entry were provided by the very gracious and wonderful Marion Patterson and are protected by Creative Commons – free to share, please give credit, and don’t use them to make money or alter them. Easy right? See more of her photos by clicking here.)