Activities

 
Biking Biking at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers great trails throughout the park.  Dog Creek Park is alos along the west edge of the Glacial Trail Scenic Byway.  Sure to provide many views, terrains, and excitment for all riders! 
Biking Biking at Douma Park
There are rough road trails throughout Douma Park.
Biking Biking at Mill Creek Park
A paved bike trail links Mill Creek Park to the City of Paullina, Iowa.
Biking Biking at Prairie Heritage Center
There are trails throughout the Waterman Area that surrounds the Prairie Heritage Center.
Boating Boating at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center offers a a canoe/kayak ramp to Little Sioux River via a boat ramp located between the Waterman Area and the Prairie Heritage Center on the Dead End Road of Yellow Avenue.  You can also access a canoe/kayak ramp through the Burned Bridge Access, located across the Little Sioux River from the Prairie Heritage Center.
Boating Boating at Mill Creek Park
At Mill Creek Park you are allowed to operate manual or battery operated boats.
Boating Boating at Douma Park
At Douma Park you are allowed to operate manual or battery operated boats.
Boating Boating at Dog Creek Park
At Dog Creek Park you are allowed to operate manual or battery operated boats.  
Cabins Cabins at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers TWO camping cabins.  The six-person cabins are available during the summer months and can be reserved by calling the O'Brien County Conservation at (712) 295-7200.
Cabins Cabins at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek offers FOUR camping cabins:

Two six-person cabins are available during the summer months.  

Two twelve-person cabin is available throughout the year and includes a full kitchen and bath.
Camping Camping at Douma Park
Douma Park offers 14 camp sites that have water, sewer and electricity.
Camping Camping at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers a total of 29 camp sites!  Dog Creek Park's unique layout allows you the chouice to stay on the North side of Dog Creek or the South side Creek.
Camping Camping at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers 48 camp sites that have access to water, electricity, cable, and internet.
Camping Camping at Tjossem Park
Tjossem Park offers 10 camp sites.
Canoeing & Kayaking Canoeing & Kayaking at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park is a man made lake that is perfect for you to bring your canoes and kayaks to!
Canoeing & Kayaking Canoeing & Kayaking at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center offers a a canoe/kayak ramp to Little Sioux River via a boat ramp located between the Waterman Area and the Prairie Heritage Center on the Dead End Road of Yellow Avenue.  You can also access a canoe/kayak ramp through the Burned Bridge Access, located across the Little Sioux River from the Prairie Heritage Center.
Canoeing & Kayaking Canoeing & Kayaking at Dog Creek Park
At Dog Creek Park you are allowed to operate manual or battery operated boats.  
Canoeing & Kayaking Canoeing & Kayaking at Douma Park
Douma Park was once a gravel pit that is perfect for you to bring your canoes and kayaks to!
Education Education at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park would make a GREAT home for many programs that the O'Brien County Conservation Board has to offer.  Please contact the O'Brien County Conservation Board if you have any questions or wish to set up or participate in any of our programs!
Education Education at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center provides classrooms, exhibit areas, demonstration plots and interpretive trails to aid in increasing the public's understanding of the prairie ecosystem and history of the area.  Regular, year-round environmental education programs for school groups, 4-H groups, scout groups and the general public are presented at the center by staff naturalists and guest speakers.  Rooms for public meetings are available at the center.  The center also serves to collect and disseminate information relating the environmental issues in the region.
Education Education at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park is home of many programs that the O'Brien County Conservation Board has to offer.  Please contact the O'Brien County Conservation Board if you have any questions or wish to set up or participate in any of our programs!
Facility Rentals Facility Rentals at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers a Lodge with all of the amenities and four cabins that are available for rent up to 365 days prior to the event. Mill Creek Park offers 48 camp sites, shelter houses, and much more on a first come, first serve basis.  Please contact the O'Brien County Conservation Board at (712) 295-7200 to inquire about reserving the Lodge or the cabins and if you have any questions regarding the facility.
Facility Rentals Facility Rentals at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center offers a Conference Room that provides a place for you to host a group of people for a meeting, a gathering, or a class.  The Prairie Heritage Center is located in the Southeast corner of O’Brien County, near the corners of Buena Vista, Cherokee, and Clay counties and along the beautiful Glacial Trail Scenic Byway.  A central location to suit everyone’s needs    

The Conference Room Includes The Following:
Refrigerator
Stove
Banquet Tables
Chairs
Projector & Screen
And so much more!

Don’t forget about the opportunities that all of the area around the Prairie Heritage Center has to offer!

The room is available during the O’Brien County Conservation Board’s Office Hours and during the Prairie Heritage Center’s visiting hours.  We ask that a $50 security deposit accompany your reservation agreement, this could include a presentation by one of our Naturalist, providing the scheduling works out, and we are fortunate that in the past most of the reservations have donated the security deposit to the Prairie Heritage Center so that we are able to continue the great educational opportunities that the Prairie Heritage Center offers!

Interested or still have questions?  Contact the O’Brien County Conservation Board at (712) 295-7200.
Facility Rentals Facility Rentals at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers open picnic shelters, a total of 19 camp sites, and two-6 person cabins.  The picnic shelters and camp sites are all first come, fist serve.  The cabins are available to be rented as soon as 365 days in advance.  Please contact the O'Brien County Conservation Board at (712) 295-7200 to inquire about reserving the cabins and if you have any other questions.
FALL COLORS FALL COLORS at Prairie Heritage Center
Visit the beautiful hills of O'Brien County. Prairie flowers are in full bloom as we transition to the fall with amazing prairie sights.
Fishing Fishing at Tjossem Park
Tjossem Park offers quite a shoreline for dropping in your line.  You're sure to have a GREAT Day of fishing at Tjossem Park!
Fishing Fishing at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers quite a shoreline for dropping in your line.  It also offers a fishing jetty!  You're sure to have a GREAT Day at Dog Creek Park. 

Relaxed Fishing Regulations At Dog Creek Park Point Towards Lake Renovations In The Fall of 2013!  More Details!
Fishing Fishing at Douma Park
Douma Park offers quite a shoreline for dropping in your line.  But it also offers a fishing jetty!  You're sure to have a GREAT Day of fishing at Douma Park!
Fishing Fishing at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center offers a access to the Little Sioux River via the shoreline, the boat ramp located between the Waterman Area and the Prairie Heritage Center on the Dead End Road of Yellow Avenue, and you can also access the Little Sioux River through the Burned Bridge Access, located across the Little Sioux River from the Prairie Heritage Center.
Fishing Fishing at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers quite a shoreline for dropping in your line.  But it also offers a handicapped accessible dock and a fishing jetty!  You're sure to have a GREAT Day at Mill Creek Park!
Historic Visits Historic Visits at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center is located on a bluff that is adjacent to the Hannibal Waterman Prairie Preserve.  The building looks out over the historic hills and valleys of the area as well as the Little Sioux River Valley.

The Waterman area offers some of the most breath-taking views of nature in the area. Formed during the last ice age by the movement of glaciers, the geographic valley we are nestled near a geographical wonder known as a hanging valley. These glaciers carved the beautiful bluffs, valleys, rivers and lakes we see today. They also deposited some of the richest soil, known as till, in the world.In addition to the landscape, the Waterman Area offers a wide variety of flora and fauna, indigenous to the area for thousands of years. Much of the native prairie grasses, wildflowers and tree growth look the same today as they would have when the first native peoples inhabited this land. There are even plots of land in the vicinity that remain virgin prairie, untilled by human hands or machinery.

In the mid-1940's Dr. Ada Hayden of Iowa State University conducted a statewide inventory of prairie remnants. Her #1 site for preservation is the Waterman area. It should be noted that according to a report for the Nature Conservancy, this site is one of the few locations for the Prairie Bush Clover, a rare species listed with the federal government. The Conservancy has also identified this area as "as site of regional significance in our Northern Tallgrass Ecoregional Plan".

The area is so noteworthy in beauty, it is now part of the State of Iowa's Scenic By-Way program.

Just a few things you may learn about while visiting the Prairie Heritage Center:
- Inkpaduta and his fearsome band of followers used the waterways of the Waterman Area for transportation.  In 1857 they stopped at the Waterman cabin and the Kirchner cabin near Peterson, terrorizing and stealing from the settlers before continuing on to Okoboji where the famous massacre took place.  This was the last Indian uprising in the area. Inkpaduta's canoe trail can be visited and canoed today.
- In July of 1933 the Barrow gang, a roving band of bank robbing outlaws hid out in the Waterman Area after robbing an Everly bank.  Their leaders, the infamous Bonnie & Clyde Barrow spoke with a local resident, ate pheasant and hid from their pursuers.

There's so much more to learn about at the Prairie Heritage Center!
Picnicking Picnicking at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers several open shelter houses and several picnic tables scattered throughout the park that work great for your picnic.  They are all first come, first serve.  If you're having a family gathering and need kitchen facilities, tables, chairs, etc.  Contact the O'Brien County Conservation Board at (712) 295-7200 to reserve the Lodge at Mill Creek Park.  The Lodge offers a/c, heat, stove, refrigerator, and tables and chairs for around 80 people. 
Picnicking Picnicking at Douma Park
Douma Park offers open shelter houses and several picnic tables scattered throughout the park that work great for your picnic.  They are all first come, first serve.
Picnicking Picnicking at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers several open shelter houses and several picnic tables scattered throughout the park that work great for your picnic. They are all first come, first serve.
Picnicking Picnicking at Tjossem Park
Tjossem Park offers an open shelter house and several picnic tables scattered throughout the park that work great for your picnic.  They are all first come, first serve.
Swimming Swimming at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers a GREAT swimming beach with a sand volleyball pit within steps!
Swimming Swimming at Douma Park
Douma Park offers a GREAT swimming beach that does not include lifeguards.  Swim at your own risk & be safe!
Swimming Swimming at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers a GREAT swimming beach that is manned with Lifeguards during the posted hours and has a GREAT concession stand that is guaranteed to satisfy everyone's taste buds!
Trails & Hiking Trails & Hiking at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers a GREAT hiking trail all the way around the lake and connects to the City of Paullina!
Trails & Hiking Trails & Hiking at Prairie Heritage Center
There are many trails carved out in and around the Prairie Heritage Center.  You may find a pond to fish in, an old cemetery to explore, or maybe you're out on a wildflower hunt?  The complex has so much to offer everyone!
Trails & Hiking Trails & Hiking at Douma Park
There are trails throughout Douma Park.
Trails & Hiking Trails & Hiking at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers a GREAT hiking trails throughout the park!
Trails & Hiking Trails & Hiking at Tjossem Park
The trail winds around the campground area and also connects to the City of Primghar
Winter Activities Winter Activities at Dog Creek Park
Dog Creek Park offers a great place for ice fishing, snoe shoeing, and any other winter activities you may enjoy!
Winter Activities Winter Activities at Douma Park
Douma Park offers a great place for ice fishing, snow shoeing, and any other winter activities you may enjoy!
Winter Activities Winter Activities at Prairie Heritage Center
The Prairie Heritage Center offers a great opportunities for ice fishing, snow shoeing, and any other winter activities you may enjoy!
Winter Activities Winter Activities at Mill Creek Park
Mill Creek Park offers a great place for ice fishing, snow shoeing, and any other winter activities you may enjoy!