Hoover Dam
Saylorville Lake, Johnston, Iowa
The Saylorville Lake Visitor Center is located north of Des Moines, Iowa, on the Saylorville Reservoir, which is formed by an earthen embankment dam on the Des Moines River. This U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water project is the most significant outdoor recreational resource in central Iowa. It provides opportunities for boating, water-skiing and fishing on more than nine square miles of open water. Some of the largest unbroken expanses of forest cover in Iowa are conserved in the upland areas of the project, and restoration of the native tallgrass prairie and oak savanna habitats is a major focus of terrestrial resource management. Other significant resources include numerous archaeological sites from the Archaic Period to the historic.

The project’s award-winning campgrounds are known for cleanliness and hospitality. Many central Iowa residents and visitors are users of its cycling trails and disc golf courses. The EDA project team was tasked to develop concepts for exhibits to replace aging displays at the Corps’ existing visitor center. The challenges they faced included access issues (part of the exhibit space can be reached only via a steep stairway), maintenance issues (Corps staff care for several live animals that are a drain on their time) and problems of geographic scale (most users access the resource through a set of launch points and campgrounds scattered around the lake).


  The team held a managers’ meeting to identify issues that could be addressed through interpretation. One of the major problems at this Corps project is water safety, and a strategy was developed to reach boaters at the access points that they use (in addition to targeting them at the visitor center). Protection of fossil resources was another issue that arose: the floods of 1993 cut a gorge below the dam that revealed geologic strata exposed only rarely in the Midwest. Looting of fossils has been a problem, and the team worked out an education strategy that involved designing an interpretive trail through the gorge to complement a major exhibit pod focused on geological resources at the visitor center. Increasing attendance at the visitor center was also identified as a primary goal, which led to strategic recommendations for changeable exhibit space (to maintain local interest) and more outreach at campgrounds to encourage campers to include a stop at the visitor center in their itineraries.
A daylong charrette was held to craft statements of significance and interpretive themes. Participants included Corps’ interpretive staff and campground hosts as well as representatives of nearby state parks, Chambers of Commerce in adjoining communities, the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau, a local mineralogical society, the Des Moines Cycling Club, two local Audubon society chapters and the Iowa Academy of Sciences. Project methodology also involved analyzing the informal learning facilities in the region and interviewing interpretive professionals from their staffs. Exhibit concept sketches were offered for public review and comment at the Corps’ booth at the Iowa State Fair, and an open house was held at the visitor center to give interested parties plenty of opportunities for input.
  The work products produced by EDA include a resource summary, the thematic framework for exhibit development, partnership strategies, recommendations for monitoring and evaluation, program suggestions and exhibit concept sketches.