News : County closes deal on nature center property; work, fund-raising to begin soon

Kevin and Deb Hesson planted most of the trees in the yard.

The deck and back yard of the Hesson home will soon be the view from a new Nature Center.

This tree forms odd angle.

This is how the home will look when it is finished as the Benton County Nature Center.

When Deb Hesson was a little girl, she walked down 20th Street and played in the creek that winds toward Rodgers Park. After she and her husband, Kevin, built a new house on that property in 1991, they watched their children play in that same creek.

Now, the couple is happy knowing that their old house, and the creek, can be enjoyed by all.

On Sept. 1, the Benton County Conservation Board will take possession of the home and property purchased from the Hessons. The property will become part of the adjacent Rodgers Park; the home will become the Benton County Nature Center.

Benton County Conservation Director Will Heber said the home will be remodeled into a nature center, and eventually will include a variety of displays about wildlife in Iowa. The Conservation Foundation will begin a fund-raising effort to finish the project and pay for the displays. Funds for the purchase of the property were borrowed from the Donvovan Trust at a low interest rate.

Kevin Hesson said he and his family loved the peaceful nature of living there.

"There is lots of wildlife," he said. "We always have deer in the back yard. We just loved the area out there, with the creek in the back yard, and our kids used to wade in the water. Deb just lived up the road a quarter mile. She used to play in the same creek. her and her brothers used to play there."

The couple built wren houses and watched many wrens as well as other birds, including blue martins. They planted what Hesson estimates to be 90 percent of the trees there, and were just a few years away of seeing those trees mature.

"It's just a peaceful corner," he said. "We hate to leave. it was always my dream to have a nice large shaded lawn. In the next five years I think it will be really nice, when those trees mature. It will be a great place for people to come. I think people will enjoy coming out and hearing and seeing nature."

With a laugh, Hesson says, he may rent the facility for Christmas so the family can have another Christmas at the house.

Shortly after the county takes possession, the Conservation Department will begin remodeling it into offices, a meeting room and educational space.

"We are really excited that the Conservation Board could get it," said Hesson. They, too, seem as excited to have it as we are excited for them."

The Hessons built the house in 1991. They looked at books but did not find a floor plan they liked.

So they built one from scratch.

"I like angles," said Hesson. "We did the whole design from scratch. Loel Henkle and Dick Wood and John VanWechel designed it. They did a fantastic job.

Kevin Hesson liked the floor plan, but his wife was skeptical.

"So I asked Brian Parr to sketch for her what it would look like," Hesson recalls.

She saw it. She liked it. The couple built the home, using materials purchased from McDowell's.

"It was fun to see it come together. We finished the basement ourselves, over the years, when our kids wanted their own bedrooms."

When the couple listed the home for sale, they suggested to real estate agent Kathy Tranel that the Conservation Board may be interested in the property as an addition to Rodgers Park.

They were. Soon, everyone will have the chance to see nature the way the Hessons have since 1991.