LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:
I read Dick Sullivan's letter in the July 19 issue. He argues that the land surrounding Effigy Mounds NM would be better kept on the tax rolls.
There is some good earth around EMNM, but we all know what ag land gets at auction, especially what five-acre plots without a well get when they are away from a paved road, and proportionately, what such land brings in tax revenue to the county.
A few extra tourists a year, however, dropping money in motel rooms or campground fees, restaurant meals, and on the usual tourist trinkets, make up for the lost tax dollars, at least in prosperity for the county, and indirectly through sales tax and such. Lots of extra tourists turn those bluffs above the Mississippi into a goldmine.
Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are buying up land along our stretch of the river as fast as they can, so far as the budget allows. Soon enough (20 years or so) most of this land will be connected. A fait accompli will be presented to Congress and something like "Upper Mississipi National Park" will happen. We locals tend to forget just how beautiful - and relatively, how unspoiled - this stretch of the river is. A year's worth of tree-huggers in a former cornfield let gone to wild would bring in more money than does that same field planted in corn.
A serious proposal. Let us enourage the county supervisors to officially rename Highway 76 as Effigy Mounds Highway or the some such, and replace the current teeny-weeny street signs with something that lets everyone know Effigy Mounds National Monument is at the end of the road.
After all. We have the only National Monument in all of Iowa. It's something to be proud of. It's something to cash in on.

Mark Odegard, Waukon