Possible campus improvements in the works at NICC

Improvements could be made in the near future to the NICC Calmar campus.

NICC Calmar campus provost Rhonda Seibert says the school has joined with the Winneshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Turkey River Watershed Project to submit a grant application for money to fund the creation of a rain garden near Iowa's Dairy Center, new gutter systems on the facility and the construction of a permeable paver parking lot to reduce storm water impact and runoff.

NICC vice president of finance and administration John Noel says other land stewardship initiatives are planned at the Calmar campus include the dredging of an existing pond that was created in 1981 near the Dairy Center.  "We are looking forward to having the pond restored as part of the Turkey River Nutrient Reduction Project, of which we are a partner," said Noel, adding that NICC plans to eventually develop a walking path along the new pond from the campus to the Iowa's Dairy Center.