Freshly mowed grass … burgers on the grill … popcorn in Arnold’s Park … these are some of the smells that belong in the Iowa Great Lakes area.

But if a hog feeding lot had won the battle, the smells wouldn’t have been quite so pleasant.

How we started….

Back in 2008 a large hog producer was looking to build a hog confinement in Dickinson County. Environmentally-conscious residents and lake-goers were concerned about the impact this would have on their pristine lakes.

They looked to Bill Van Orsdel, who had previously gained a reputation as a community leader when he helped deter another hog producer from putting a confinement near Horseshoe Bend.

Bill’s response was to form the Iowa Great Lakes Association in order to seek a solution to the hog issue. He was able to organize an unprecedented private meeting with some of the nation’s largest pork producers in which they came to an agreement on the hog issue.

As Bill describes it, “Environmentally concerned community members met with the agriculture industry, found common ground, and worked together to come up with a solution for the common good.”

The compromise created a four-mile eco-tourism buffer around lakes in the Iowa Great Lakes region. The respected pork producers shared IGLA’s passion to protect the area and agreed that the buffer was a large enough distance to eliminate any unwanted side effects of livestock farms. IGLA was to then monitor the agreement and alert the public and hog producers of any infringement.

Why we care….

Like many Okoboji homeowners, Bill Van Orsdel’s family has been coming to Lake Okoboji for three generations. When Bill formed IGLA back in 2008, he saw it as a way for community members to be actively engaged in the future of the lakes.

Today, IGLA is a multi-issue organization with this Mission:

To engage and sustain the participation and involvement of Iowa Great Lakes area constituencies, delivering benefits of value and a community positioned to maintain and improve our overall environment

IGLA embraces all the goals and objectives’ of all other protective and environmental organizations in the area. What makes IGLA special is that it can lobby at local, state, or national levels in order to ensure that government officials hear important area issues.

IGLA hopes that furthering the goals of sister organizations whose views we share as they relate to the environment and the protection of the lakes, will gives us more influence, and the ability to be very effective at accomplishing our goals.

“I spent many summer vacations on Lake Okoboji. I grew to love the Iowa Great Lakes just as my father and grandfather had. I wanted to do whatever I could to protect the lakes and keep them as I knew them as a young man,” said Bill.

With IGLA’s concerned eye monitoring the lakes region, members can rest assured that their precious lakes region will always be kept as a place where kids can safely jump into the cool, clear waters of the lake on any blistering summer day and know that it is as beautiful and clean as it was when their grandparents first swam here.

What’s to come…

Today, IGLA has transitioned into a multi-issue organization that strives to keep all members abreast of current issues and initiatives that may affect the Iowa Great Lakes.

Community members can also look to IGLA to keep them updated on local happenings, everything from news about fun summer events to profiles on local families to a heads up on new businesses in town.

Both lakeshore and non-lakeshore owners and visitors are encouraged to join IGLA. While our lakes are what bring many of us here, it’s the community that bonds us.  Whether that’s a day on the water, a bike ride through the trails, or if this is your permanent home, the Great Lakes area is a wonderful place to be.

By joining the Iowa Great Lakes Association, you are doing your part to ensure that the lakes region remains a place where the only smells blowing in on the wind are of fresh-cut grass, burgers sizzling on the grill, and buttery popcorn from Arnolds Park.

Thanks for visiting www.IAGreatLakes.org, and welcome!