The University of Iowa is debating whether to renew its lease on the Macbride Nature Recreation Area, which hosts thousands of students each year for wildlife camps, research projects and educational opportunities.

A special university committee estimates it would cost nearly $15 million to make upgrades to cell phone service and repave the roads. Connie Mutel is a writer and conservationist with previous ties to the university and thinks the estimated costs are overblown. “I don’t think that they need to spend large amounts of money to install that cell phone coverage and pay for it every year. And in terms of Wi-Fi coverage, I have no understanding why they feel that would be required,” Mutel says.

Mutel says she thinks the report exaggerated some of the costs. “The press for complete technological connections with that area kind of astounded me. Field biologists, field scientists, are used to doing research in remote locations –way more remote than anything in Iowa,” she says.

The report was submitted to university president Barbara Wilson, but the University has not said when a decision may be made..

(By James Kelley, Iowa Public Radio)