Steve Edwards, the Executive Director of the Marion County Conservation Department, oversees three parks, Marion County Park, Cordova Park and Roberts Creek Park.

His department gave the Marion County Board of Supervisors an overall budget proposed at $1.7 million for the fiscal year 2023-2024. According to Edwards his department generates roughly 40 percent of the revenue towards his budget. That is right around $700,000.

Edwards tells KNIA/KRLS News how large the job is, “We manage roughly 3,400 acres in nine different areas throughout the county. Our three main areas are Marion County Park on the west edge of Knoxville. It’s about 145 acres. Then we have Cordova Park, which is on the north side of Lake Red Rock, which is around 1,100 acres, which actually is the tenth largest county park in the state of Iowa. There are roughly 1,800 county parks in the state. Then Roberts Creek Park, which is also located on the north side of Lake Red Rock. It’s a little over 1,500 acres, which makes it the seventh largest county park in the state of Iowa.”

In addition to all that, the department manages about six miles of hard surface recreational trails and two miles of soft surface trails.