By William Smith
A thousand square feet.
For the past 19 years, Geode State Park manager Ulf Konig has made his life inside that small amount of space, the exact footprint of the quaint park home that he and his wife have raised three boys in.
“The boys had a park for their backyard, and they loved it,” Konig said.
The family made countless cherished memories in their small home. However, soon those cherished memories will be all that they have. Ulf and his family must vacate the stone house by the end of November.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources plans to evict more than two dozen park rangers and other state park workers from government-owned housing. The reason: the estimated $1 million expense of needed renovations and maintenance of the homes.
A call for comment from the state DNR was not returned at press time.
“It was kind of a shock to us. I thought I was going to retire there,” said Konig, who estimates retirement at about eight years away.
Konig learned last year about the eviction, and he was heartbroken. He said the cabin will likely be renovated and turned into a rental.
“We wanted to finish getting our kids out of school,” he said, noting that his youngest son is a 14-year-old Danville student. “That kind of hurts, finding out we have to leave.”
Konig and his family will have to find lodgings elsewhere. He’s been looking since last November, and doubts there will be anything within 20 to 30 miles of the park, at least nothing he and his family can afford.
“Something within the proximity of the park probably isn’t feasible. The houses are too expensive, and it usually includes land,” he said.
Konig loves his job. But being a park ranger or park manager isn’t exactly a 9 to 5 job. He worries how the move will impact his availability.
“There’s always been an official presence in the park. It’s going to be kind of different,” he said. “It’s nice to be close by, in case there are any problems.”
Park problems are eternal by nature. While most of Konig’s winter months are filled with snowplows and park maintenance, during the summer, he’s managing a small city of campgrounds and beaches that stretch across 17,000 acres of parkland.
Geode pulls in an estimated 100,000 visitors every year.
“Not everyone gets along all the time. Some people want to have a quiet camp out, and some people want to party and raise a little heck,” he said.
“You’ll have someone driving like heck through the park here, and you have to go see what’s going on. We’ve had people get lost. We’ve had car accidents. We’ve had tornadoes and storms.”
Konig recalled one powerful thunderstorm in 2014 that scattered tree limbs across nearly every road, essentially shutting the park down from the outside world.
He had a 30-minute warning in the middle of the night the storm was coming.
Within a few minutes, he was banging on every camper door and tent flap he could, warning guests of the danger.
After this November, it will take him 20 or 30 minutes just to get to the park.
“I think we’re going to be relying more on local law enforcement,” he said.
A Tiny, Historic Home
Though the Geode State Park home was built for functionality, its unique heritage has turned it into a historic home.
That means it can’t be expanded on or modified too drastically from its original form. Konig hasn’t done much to it other than paint jobs and maintenance.
“It’s not really built for a large family,” he said, noting the irony of five people living inside. “Everything is pretty old in there. What you’ve got is what you’ve got.”
The long-defunct Civilian Conservation Corps started building the house and the shelter next to it in the early 1940s.
Back then, the park was only 17 acres.
The house remained unfinished for years due to the construction crew leaving for World War II. It was eventually finished around 1950, Konig said.
“The stone structure sat there without a roof for years,” he said.
Konig said park managers and rangers have been living in the house for at least the past 70 years.
Born To Live In A Park
For Konig, it’s hard to imagine life outside of a park. A northern Iowa native who hails from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area, Konig worked the parks up there before moving down south. Even when he wasn’t working, he was usually in a park.
“I grew up enjoying the outdoors, and got a degree in conservation management from Upper Iowa University,” he said.
Konig started his gig at Geode State Park in 2002 and will celebrate his 20th anniversary in October — a month before he and his family will be forced to leave their park home.
Though the mandate to vacate the park home is very personal for Konig, he’s not looking to cast blame, complain, or make waves.
He’s been up all hours of the night on plenty of occasions taking care of park business, and that won’t change.
But everything else about his life in the park will.
“I’m feeling some grief about it,” he said.