Ranger Report
By Tom Smith, JCCB Park Ranger

The JCCB provides a wide variety of year-round recreational opportunities. The summer use season is highlighted by the operations of Kent Park’s swimming beach and campground. The beach opens for the season on Saturday, June 2, and remains open through Labor Day, September 3. Daily hours of operation are 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Fees for the supervised beach are $2 for those 12 and older and $1 for 11 and under.

The campground at Kent Park is open for the season and remains open through November 5. Fees for camping are $10/night for electric and $6/night for non-electric sites.

Attendants are on duty five days per week to assist campers. A major change in the operation this year is the conversion to a self-registration system. Although new to us as mangers, most longtime campers are familiar with self-registration, so we anticipate few problems with the change over.
The JCCB staff is currently remodeling the campground shower house by constructing new individual shower stalls and putting in toilets and sinks.

An important change will also be forthcoming this fall in the implementation of Kent Park’s special deer hunt. Due to the success of this hunt the last 6 years, we have reached our targeted population goal for deer. We will be reducing the hunt to one weekend only (December 1 and 2) and entering what we hope is more of a maintenance phase of the deer management plan.

The license sign-up and safety session will both be held on Saturday, September 8, at the Conservation Education Center in Kent Park beginning at 8 a.m.For more information, please contact the JCCB Operations Center at 319-645-2315