Starting in December, Ames residents and ISU students will have a new way to enjoy the outdoors.

Ada Hayden Heritage Park, the former Hallett’s Quarry, is going through the final stages of construction, said Nancy Carroll, City of Ames parks and recreation director.

Mayor Ted Tedesco said the park will probably be open in late fall or early December.

“The citizens will get their money back multi-times,” Tedesco said.

The park is a total of 437 acres, including 130 acres of water, she said.

“This is going to be a tremendous resource, not just for Ames and Story County, but for all of central Iowa,” Carroll said.

The reservoir will serve as a second water source for the City of Ames, said Steve Lekwa, Story County Conservation Board director.

“This is a second water source for the City of Ames,” Lekwa said. “Through the restoration of the bank system at the old quarry, it will help keep the water quality higher.”

The new park is named after Ada Hayden, the first woman to receive a doctorate from Iowa State, said Deborah Lewis, curator for the Ada Hayden herbarium at Iowa State.

“It’s important for people to know the history behind the name of this park,” Lewis said.

A conservationist, Hayden was a botany professor at Iowa State until her death in 1950.

“Her story is worth telling, and this will be another way of getting her name out there,” Lewis said.

Lewis, Erwin Klaas, professor emeritus of animal ecology, and Jimmie Thompson, a retired Ames postal worker, first proposed the name, Carroll said.

“We proposed the name because of her work at Iowa State. She lived and grew up at the site where the park will be and worked with conservation,” Carroll said.

Lekwa said the park would be a welcome addition to Ames. The conservation board is involved in the planting and vegetation establishment at the park.

“We want to primarily return it back to native wetland and prairie habitats,” Lekwa said. “We’ll continue with the restoration process for the next five years.”