Students from Public Affairs and from a GIS student organization will help Pathfinders RC&D develop a statewide database and map of accessibility features in Iowa's parks, natural areas, and cultural spaces.  

A new statewide initiative from Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) aims to help individuals with disabilities and their caregivers better navigate opportunities to enjoy Iowa’s parks and cultural spaces. 

Working with the University of Iowa’s Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC), Pathfinders launched a survey to identify and map accessibility in parks, natural areas, and cultural destinations. 

The collaborators encourage anyone with knowledge about accessible features to help build the database and map. The survey uses a crowdsourcing platform to pinpoint locations and identify existing accessibility features from a list of options. Users can also identify areas that they’d like to see become more accessible. The survey can be accessed directly at https://bit.ly/ADAmap and on Pathfinders’ website, www.pathfindersrcd.org. 

TAKE THE SURVEY

The data from this survey will help expand Pathfinders’ existing accessibility map posted on their website. The map includes museums, playgrounds, lakes, campgrounds, and trails that provide fully accessible or partially accessible amenities. Currently, the map includes places in south central Iowa. This project will expand the map to be statewide and more interactive. 

Students in Public Affairs are helping gather data, while students studying Geographic Information Services (GIS), led by instructor Adam Skibbe, are working on the online mapping and user platforms. They will also use census data to analyze how well residents with disabilities across the state are served by these cultural spaces. A long term goal of the project includes identifying opportunities for further investment.

This project builds on additional efforts to address lack of accessibility in state parks.  A 2023 report by a former Iowa Department of Natural Resources official said most of Iowa’s state parks have restrooms, shelters and cabins that are not handicapped accessible, and that the state parks system needs more than $100 million in repairs for fixing leaking roofs and rotting shelters and updating sewage lagoons. Following passage of a bill introduced by Iowa Rep. Adam Zabner, state lawmakers began to address those issues by through the parks accessibility study and devoting some new resources to the state parks system.