Hyde heads home

As Alan Carr started to wind down his career as park ranger at Green Valley State Park, he was pretty sure about the future of the park.

“I knew they’d bring in someone younger, taller and better looking when I left,” quipped Carr, 59, the Green Valley Ranger for 14 years. “And that’s what they did!”

Jason Hyde of Creston officially became Green Valley State park ranger on April 19.

Hyde, 35, is a 2002 graduate of Creston Community High School. His wife Karlie (Groth) is an instructional coach for Creston Community Elementary School. Hyde played football one year at Wartburg College with Panther classmates Ryan Hoyt, Matt Buck and Blair Taylor. He played soccer his sophomore year before transferring to Northwest Missouri State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology and conservation in 2008.

Hyde worked seasonal patrol duty for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources at Lake Okoboji the summer after graduation before he and Karlie moved to Ankeny in 2009. Hyde was an urban forester for the Ankeny Parks Department.

When Hyde was hired by DNR as technician at Viking Lake near Stanton in 2015, Karlie went from teaching in one of the state’s largest school districts in Ankeny to one of the smallest, joining the faculty of Prescott Elementary School in its final year before consolidation with Creston.

After a year, the Hyde family had a difficult decision to make. Karlie was a candidate for an instructional coach position in her hometown district, Creston, and Jason had always hoped he’d be in contention to succeed Carr when his former summer supervisor retired at Green Valley. Both of their parents still live in Creston — Kenton and Nancy Groth and Jim and Lucy Hyde.

But, in the meantime, Jason was offered the position of park ranger at Lewis and Clark State Park near Onawa on the western edge of the state north of Council Bluffs. That’s nearly a 3-hour drive from Creston. Yet, the job would provide valuable experience for his goal of serving that role near his hometown.

“We knew Alan was going to retire soon,” Hyde said. “No one else among the park rangers had any connection to Creston. It was kind of a gamble, though, because it’s all seniority-based. We kind of put the carriage in front of the horse for three years. We bought a house on Poplar Street and I worked two and a half hours away at Onawa. They (DNR) provided a house for me at Lewis and Clark, and being in education, Karlie could bring up the kids and spend time in the summers.

Otherwise, Jason usually had Wednesdays and Thursdays off to catch up on missed time with the family in Creston.

“I’d usually leave after work on Tuesday and wouldn’t have to work again until late Friday,” Hyde said. “In the winters I was able to take Fridays off a lot and have three-day weekends. There was no way to do that in the summers. Lewis and Clark is such a seasonal park. It has 108 spots and it’s the busiest campground in the state park system.”

Caring for two sons, Javen, now 7, and Kyler, 5, while working a full-time job, Karlie had a busy three years in Creston.

“Karlie was working her butt off every day,” Jason said. “She’s a rock star for sure. She kept the family together. I was just out there being the bachelor, but I was missing stuff.”

Carr, who now helps on a family farm in Adair County while working with brother-in-law Pat Henry of Creston in a moving business, said Hyde has the perfect combination of local connections while still bringing fresh ideas from the varied experiences of his previous positions.

Carr wound up a 35-year career in the profession, combining the DNR years with 21 years for the Adair County Conservation Board.

“Jason worked at Green Valley for Mark Sedlmayr before I got here,” Carr said. “When I arrived, Mark was district law enforcement supervisor and hired Jason for ATV patrol that summer. Then when he got hired as technician full-time at Viking Lake we had contact again, as well as when he was ranger at Lewis and Clark.”

The timing of Carr’s retirement made for a smooth transition after experience fulfilling all of the ranger duties at Onawa.

“He is from Creston and wanted to come home and he knew my time was winding down,” Carr said. “It was not a guaranteed deal the way our system works. I’m glad he was able to transfer in. I’ve known Jason for quite a while and he’ll be a great asset to Green Valley. He’s local, yet he was gone for awhile and gained a lot of experience in the other jobs he was in.”

Carr said responsibilities at a state park include law enforcement (jurisdiction is statewide), enforcing fishing and game laws and all day to day park management operations. Hyde and DNR conservation officer Corey Carlton oversee the annual two-day muzzleloader deer hunt at the park scheduled Nov. 16-17 this year. It is the only hunting allowed on the park’s public land.

Another big part of the position, in conjunction with the park technician, is leading educational interpretative presentations for schools and the general public.

Upcoming examples, Hyde said, are trail hikes and a tree identification sunset hike. A kayak fishing tournament was held recently. Grants are being prepared for more public programming.

Each day is a little different this time of year. On Tuesday Hyde and Green Valley technician Daniel Stull cleaned and prepped lakeside cabins for pest control applications for the upcoming rental season, followed by installation of four shoreline docks.

“April is a busy month to get ready for our Camping Kickoff on the weekend of May 3-5,” Hyde said, “and then of course the big one is Memorial Day after that. There’s a lot to do.”

The lake filled in 2013 after a restoration project that has produced statewide fishing interest including several weekend bass tournaments. The campground and playground have been upgraded in recent years with 50-amp electrical service for large camping vehicles. Nearly 65 of the 101 camping sites are served by electricity.

Hyde said the park has had a noticeable face lift since his days working there in the summers of his college years.

“Green Valley is a jewel of southwest Iowa,” Hyde said. “We have a lot of ideas and grant applications to keep it moving forward. It’s great to be here. It’s great to be home.”