March 28, 2024

Train depot park receives grant for plant restoration, work already in progress

There’s a new venture chugging along at the Osceola Train Depot right now.

Recently, local officials received a grant for the park at the train depot.

The grant is an agreement between the city of Osceola as the lead local government partner, and Trees Forever as approved by Iowa Department of Transportation.

Pursuant to the agreement, Trees Forever agrees to providing funding for the purchase and establishment of plant materials for reimbursement of the total project cost up to a maximum of $10,135.85.

A cash match is required of $4,380.

“The long range plans are to have a gathering place in the center,” said Ann Diehl, president of Friends of the Osceola Depot. “So, when you look at it, you’ll see kind of circular area that’s got tall grasses, it’s got rose bushes, it’s going to have iris, which is the official city flower. And, then a lot of little shrubs and things. But, it’ll be kind of open so it will try to invite people in to sit. Eventually, we’ll have benches in there, and that kind of thing.”

Another long range plan is to have a walkway and the train depot’s historic bricks in a circular shape in the gathering area, Diehl said.

Iowa’s Living Roadways

According to a state press release, new landscaping through Iowa’s Living Roadways Project Program will help beautify Osceola, as well as reduce storm water runoff and pollutants entering Iowa’s waterways and improve the habitat for butterflies, birds and other wildlife.

Iowa's Living Roadways provides funding for landscape enhancement projects along transportation corridors. Program partners include Trees Forever, the Iowa Department of
Transportation and its Living Roadway Trust Fund, and the Federal Highway Administration.

Passage of time

The park at the Osceola Train Depot is a triangular depot park across the tracks north of the depot. The weather’s elements, passage of time and lack of use have contributed to its decline.

At one time, as far back as the 1940s, it was a park used for people to explore, relax and picnic with family and friends. However, areas of the depot park have sunken down in places and vegetation has died out in spots because of herbicides and poor drainage.

“It looked awful, because it had sunken all down in,” Diehl said. “And then, when they sprayed — the railroad sprays all the tracks — and it’s a nonselective herbicide, so all that washed back in there. … dead grass in the middle and gnarled trees and all kinds of stuff.”

The park area has been kept mowed, but no enhancements have been made since the city gained ownership.

Restoration

The goal is to restore the park to an inviting, colorful outdoor area for public usage.

According to Iowa’s Living Roadways press release, funding for plant materials and technical assistance from a Trees Forever field coordinator is provided for landscape projects that use native grasses, wildflowers, trees and shrubs in the public right-of-way.

Examples include entryway enhancement, highway roadside plantings and landscaping of recreational trails. While the plantings add beauty to the landscape, they are also valuable tools for cleaning water that runs off the highway, catching snow before it drifts across the travel lanes, and providing important habitat for pollinators adjacent to privately owned farm fields, orchards and vineyards.

Targeted to small communities and rural counties, the funds are provided through the Statewide Transportation Enhancement Funds administered through the Federal Highway
Administration.

Since Iowa’s Living Roadways Program began in 1996, volunteers have planted more than 40,500 trees and shrubs, 113,395 native perennials and more than 35,100 pounds of native prairie seed.

As for the park at Osceola Train Depot, Diehl said progress is already being made with the park renovation and work is expected to be finished in the spring, including an Osceola sign.

“We had enough money in our little fund to go ahead and start the work on the letters, the Osceola (sign) letters up there,” Diehl said.