Proponents of converting the former Elks Lake and adjoining Lehigh Portland Trails system into a new state park will be in Topeka Thursday to speak to Kansas lawmakers.
The House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. hearing to discuss the particulars of creating what would be called the Lehigh Portland State Park.
The measure must first be approved by the Legislature and then signed into law by Gov. Laura Kelly.
The bill was proposed last week by Rep. Fred Gardner, R-Garnett.
If approved, Lehigh Portland would become Kansas’s 29th state park.
“I know I can speak for our Parks Division and the agency as a whole when I say we are very excited, and truly welcome the opportunity, to potentially establish Kansas’ 29th state park,” Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks spokeswoman Nadia Marji told the Register. “This is very exciting.”
Among those slated to testify in favor of the plan is State Parks Director Linda Lanterman with the KDWP, Marji said.
The park would be open for camping, swimming and fishing, as well as boating.
Eventual plans include a welcome center and cabins as well as staffing. 
THE PROPOSAL was made possible courtesy of a proposed donation by Iola Industries, which owns 360-acre site that has been converted into one the state’s premier hiking and biking trails systems.
Iola Industries acquired the land in 1971 following the closure of the Lehigh Portland Cement Co.
For about a decade, the organization considered what to do with the land, including donating it to the state for use as a state fishing lake. That earlier proposal was rebuffed, mainly because at the time it was little more than an abandoned quarry whose surrounding landscape had been savaged by the massive mining operation.
In 1982, Iola Industries reached a lease agreement with the Iola Elks organization, allowing the club use of the lake for $1 a year.
A proposal to sell the entire property to Allen County for $1.4 million also was rejected by commissioners in 2018. The site is valued at about $2 million.
In addition to Elks members maintaining the 138-acre lake, efforts to convert the adjoining woods into a recreation area were spearheaded by Thrive Allen County about 15 years ago.
