Joan Flecksing finds her calling, career in the outdoors
Joan Flecksing is in her element: outside.
Growing up on a small acreage near Toddville, she loved the outdoors, riding horses, archery, speed-skating, cross-country skiing and hiking.
“My love of the outdoors isn’t really based on typical sports or hunting. It’s more attuned to natural resources,” says Flecksing, the youngest of 12. “We grew up in a really environmentally-sensitive family. Our parents taught us respect for wildlife and the environment.”
Joan’s natural acumen, commitment and skills were well suited to a career in parks and recreation. She credits Kirkwood’s exceptional horticulture department with starting her off right.
She succeeded quickly. At 31, Joan has been the park manager at Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area near Palo for seven years. “When I pull into the parking lot every day, I can’t believe I get paid to come to work here,” she says.
Flecksing started at Kirkwood in 1995 with a few classes. Unsure of her next step, she decided instead to work until she found her focus. That came during a chance encounter while hiking with her sister at a park near Hazelton. Joan asked a park employee how he’d gotten his job. “Little does he know, he ended up changing my life,” Joan says, with a laugh. “He’d gone to Kirkwood’s Parks and Natural Resources program.”
The next day, Joan called Steve Atherton (now deceased), head of Kirkwood’s program at that time. He would become her teacher, advisor and mentor. Joan had found her niche. “I just loved it,” she adds. “I had never done so well in school in my life.”
She landed a summer internship with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) at Pleasant Creek. She was the only female on a staff of nine. Some of the work was physically demanding, involving heavy equipment and machinery. Flecksing wondered if she’d made the right choice, but the park manager was supportive and encouraging. She also knew that seasonal jobs like that are key to getting your foot in the door at the DNR. The work was literally on-the-job training.
Her work and deep love for conservation honed her dedication. But it’s also in her blood; Joan’s heritage includes Native American, Mexican Indian, French and German.
Joan returned to Pleasant Creek the next summer as seasonal park manager. She supervised eight male workers who openly resented her at times. She was only 22. “It was difficult for a while. I’m sure I made some mistakes,” she recalls. “But it was good for me because it was challenging. You learn about the workplace and how to deal with personalities. I needed to learn that.”
Growing up with seven brothers helped, as did the support from DNR management. “My supervisors gave me a lot of leeway and responsibility,” Joan adds. “They never treated me differently from anyone else. And they gave me confidence and respect.”
In 2000, her junior year, Joan was accepted into Upper Iowa University at Fayette. That same year, Pleasant Creek’s park manager retired and Joan applied for the job. Upper Iowa’s external degree program credits off-campus work, which enabled her to graduate in 2001 with an Associate of Applied Science degree from Kirkwood in parks and natural resources, and a Bachelor of Science from Upper Iowa in conservation management and public administration. The DNR hired her that May.
Pleasant Creek has 1,927 acres, including its 400-acre lake. Joan helped draft an ecological management plan to guide balanced use and development of the area, while also working with the Pleasant Creek Field Trial Council to manage the only public field trial grounds on Iowa state land. She has also helped re-establish prairie grasses on 110 acres.
“I have such a large variety of work,” she says. “It’s like I’m running my own business, really. I’m managing a piece of land. I relocate trails, teach and train, work on equipment, spend hours on paperwork, and work outside. I oversee environmental education programs—but I clean toilets, too, if that needs to be done. It’s all for the good of the recreation area.”
Looking back, Joan appreciates the hands-on aspects of Kirkwood’s horticulture program. “The program did so much for me,” she explains. “Kirkwood did a really good job getting me ready for my work.”
Starting in January, Joan Flecksing will give back to Kirkwood, teaching as an adjunct on parks maintenance and wildlife management. “I’m excited about teaching at Kirkwood,” she says. “The staff is awesome. All of them make conservation a priority in their personal lives.”
[This story originally appeared in Catalyst, the newsletter of the Kirkwood Foundation.]