Big Marsh WMA
Iowa DNR Wildlife Management Area — about 8,364 acres across 12 separate parcels, Butler County. Primitive camping is allowed statewide on Iowa DNR wildlife areas by rule — no permit, no camping fee — for up to 14 consecutive days, UNLESS that area posts restrictions on site (Iowa Admin. Code r. 571-51.11). The DNR can close any individual area to camping just by putting up a sign, and there is no statewide list of which ones have, so read the signs at the entrance and treat a posted restriction as final. Iowa DNR's own camping article also says to stay 100+ yards from parking lots, boat ramps and jetties; that sentence was dropped from the rule in the June 2025 rewrite, but it is still good practice and may be posted locally. These are working wildlife areas, not campgrounds: expect a gravel parking area and nothing else — no water, no toilet, no table, no fire ring. Pack water in and everything out. Much of this unit is marsh, river bottom or seasonally flooded ground — dry, level tent ground can be genuinely scarce and access roads can be under water in spring. Fall is a hard time to use these: Iowa's shotgun deer seasons and waterfowl season put a lot of hunters on WMAs, and blaze orange plus a different destination is the smarter call. The pin is a representative point inside the official DNR boundary, NOT a campsite or a parking lot — scout the actual access off the DNR atlas before you commit to it after dark.
Everything you need — measured from Big Marsh WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA
- FFuel5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- RxPharmacy7 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- +Urgent care7 mi
- MMechanic8 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- OOutfitter15 mi
- DDump18 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- WWater21 mi
The read: water is a real 21-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 5 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Big Marsh WMA
Nearby & resupply — around Big Marsh WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA (OpenStreetMap)
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~17.7 mi
- GroceriesCasey's General Store · ~5.3 mi
- PharmacySiech's Parkersburg Pharmacy · ~7.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicUnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine – Parkersburg · ~7.4 mi
- HardwareMiller's True Value Hardware Store · ~18.5 mi
EV charging — from Big Marsh WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.0 mi straight-line E — Roling Ford, Shell Rock, IA · Blink Network · J1772, CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 18 within 50 · 120 within 100 · 218 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)22.7 mi — DANDEERY-TOYOTA DDT-EXPRESS280, Cedar Falls
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO19.0 mi — 808 4th Street SE, Hampton
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)14.0 mi — Roling Ford, Shell Rock, IA · Blink Network · J1772, CCS · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 374701 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Big Marsh WMA · Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources · IA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Open Big Marsh WMA elsewhere
How we know this — Big Marsh WMA
What we don’t know about Big Marsh WMA
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it