The hum of construction equipment echoes across Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, briefly overpowering birds and the breeze blowing through the trees along the shores of West Okoboji Lake.
For Executive Director Mary Skopec, it's the sound of years of planning becoming reality.
"We've been having this vision for a long time to expand our building capacity," Skopec said. "We're so excited."
Workers continue construction on the laboratory's new Innovation and Discovery Lab, an 8,000-square-foot facility designed to expand scientific research, improve water quality monitoring and create more room for students.
Work on the $6.4 million building is expected to be finished in September on the 147-acre campus near Milford. It's the first phase of a $13 million improvement plan that also includes new residence halls and a smaller lab located along the lake.
More room to learn
For more than a century, Iowa Lakeside Laboratory has introduced students to science through hands-on learning in the Iowa Great Lakes area. The Iowa Board of Regents oversees and operates the state-owned campus for Iowa's public universities.
The new building will triple the number of K-12 students served each year, from about 2,500 to 7,500. It will also provide updated classrooms and research space for college students and visiting scientists.
"It's a lot bigger than we've had on campus, but we really needed it," Skopec said. "During the summer and winter months, we are just bursting at the seams in order to have everybody who wants to be here in heated and air-conditioned space."
Lakeside Lab also wanted to protect the landscape that has drawn students here for generations. Rather than expanding onto undeveloped land, crews demolished a 1960s-era building to make room for the new facility.
"We want people to come out and enjoy nature, but we really need that space to allow those researchers who really come from around the country to have a high-quality research lab for them to work in," Skopec said.
Research beyond campus
The work at Lakeside Laboratory extends well beyond its classrooms.
For nearly 30 years, volunteers with the Cooperative Lakes Area Monitoring Program (CLAMP) have collected water samples twice a month from the Iowa Great Lakes and other northwest Iowa waterways.
Researchers analyze the samples for phosphorus, water clarity and temperature, while monitoring buoys on Big Spirit Lake and West Okoboji Lake collect data from the surface to the lake bottom.
"We look at phosphorus levels, which tend to drive those green, blue-green algae blooms that you see, especially later in the summer," Skopec said. "Those blooms can be toxic for humans and for wildlife and for dogs. So understanding whether we're having those blooms and whether or not those blooms are being driven by nutrients in the system is super important for us to understand."
Skopec said research over the years is showing encouraging results.
"What's really amazing is that the intensity of the data that we've collected on these lakes is really showing us that the lakes are trending in the right direction," Skopec said. "Water clarity has improved. Phosphorus levels have gone down, so we know that these lakes are getting better."
Long-term monitoring also documented the effects of historic flooding in 2024, when sediment and nutrients washed into the Iowa Great Lakes. Water quality declined before beginning to recover over the past two years.
"We know the lake is essentially cleansing itself of those contaminants," Skopec said. "That research is very important. It helps us understand that the investments we're making locally are improving water quality. It also helps us understand how to protect these lakes for future generations."
The findings help local communities manage one of northwest Iowa's greatest natural resources and keep the lakes safe for visitors.
"We see a lot of people wanting to visit here as tourists," Skopec said. "We need to make sure they're safe and able to recreate in good water quality conditions."
The new center will also provide dedicated workspace for CLAMP volunteers, who currently process water samples in an older building not designed for modern water-quality testing.
Skopec said the project was made possible through a partnership between the State of Iowa and private donors. She hopes it's only the beginning.
"This is really the first step," she said. "We have to prepare for the next 100 years."
