There’s an important job in counties around the state of Iowa that many may not know much about.

Guthrie County Conservation Director Brad Halterman says that a conservation director is appointed by each county’s conservation board, and leads the day to day operations for the department. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that depending on what those operations look like can change depending on the county.

“The director’s position for county conservation boards differs greatly throughout all the different counties. There’s some more urban counties where the director’s position is strictly an office job. There’s some more counties like Guthrie County, they’re a little more rural counties where the director’s position could find themselves one day in the office, doing office work, and the next day doing field work out in the field.”

Halterman mentions that for the Guthrie County Conservation Department, operations regularly include running the two county parks, Nations Bridge and Lenon Mill, along with the upkeep of the portion of the Raccoon River Valley Trail in Guthrie County, along with the Guthrie County Historical Village. He adds that the conservation director also handles how the department’s funding and budget is used to help with the maintenance and upkeep of all these areas as well.