Fontana Park is 134 acres nestled near the city of Hazleton in Buchanan County. According to Dan Cohen, executive director of the Buchanan County Conservation Board, Fontana Park consists of campgrounds, a lake reservoir, trails, and more, and is the star of the parks system with tens of thousands of visitors each year. It is also the hub of the county’s environmental education program, which includes the Fontana Interpretive Nature Center and the highlight for many visitors—the bison. 

Through the generosity of donors, the Buchanan County Conservation Board has expanded the park with the purchase of 16 acres of land. This area will become the new bison and prairie learning center. Here, children and adults will engage with educational programming about Iowa landscapes, the prairie, and the historic bison herds that once roamed the area.  

The Conservation Board received a $20,000 grant from the Buchanan County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa, for the project’s first phase. Dan sees the project as a fulfillment of the Conservation Board’s mission to improve quality of life, as an economic investment in the county, and he hopes it will be a spark for visitors to explore more wild places.