Buckley winds down 27 years with county conservation

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

MONTROSE - Twenty-seven years with the Lee County Conservation District hasn't changed Tom Buckley much.

Buckley is peering toward the end of the month when he officially retires from his position as director of the district, making way for Nathan Unsworth who was hired in the spring to take Buckley's place.

A reception was held Wednesday at the Heron Bend Conservation Center to honor Buckley for his work educating youth and building a conservation district that has almost doubled in size and scope since he first came on as an educator in March of 1990.

"I was the youth educator for about four years before taking over as director," Buckley said.

He said children haven't changed much when it comes to the outdoors, but getting out there is more of a challenge.

"It's really like ducks taking to water - it's kind of instinctual to them. If you just get them out there they will explore," he said.

A program that Buckley implemented in his earlier years as director takes third graders out to Shimek Forest in western Lee County just for an exploration. He said he really never had a program or plan, but just took the students on a hike and let them enjoy nature.

Buckley said he was impressed with the comments the district received after they built the cabins at Wilson Lake. He said the district put journals in the cabins for people to leave comments about their stay.

"It was very interesting to see the comments left about how nice it was to come out and get away from all that stuff," he said. "We've never had a single comment of why don't we put up a T.V. or something in the cabins. If you're not doing things to promote those kinds of activities, it's easy for kids to stay engaged with other things."

He said the conservation district has doubled in acreage since he came on board, an accomplishment he's proud of.

"We worked to keep land for the conservation reserve program. A lot of the land was owned by Ameren, or Union Electric, and we were able to get a lot of that land in the district. We wanted to keep that for duck hunters," Buckley said.

He also said that technology, like in every other business, has made significant changes. The district now uses the Internet and social media as a way of getting their message to residents and keeping people informed of events going on at the conservation center and in other areas of the county. The conservation district website is at www.leecounty.org.

"That is certainly a big part of things right now. We also used to use two-way radios on the vehicles to communicate. Now we just use our cellphones.

When asked what he was going to do with his retirement, Buckley said he was going to work on his P.H.D.

"Projects Half Done," he said with a chuckle. "I've got some things at home that I want to get finished. But honestly I'm just going to take a year or so to play around. Try to be more involved in things in Keokuk."

He said he may also consider teaching a college class. Buckley has a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies and did teach a class in 2008 at Southeastern Community College.

He said he believes he's leaving the district in good shape and in good hands.

"I think the County Conservation Board has a lot to offer people in Lee County," Buckley said. "If you even have the smallest interest in the outdoors - whether its camping, swimming, fishing - there is something for you here."

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