June 25, 2009
New Rules Concerning Dam Safety
Recently, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources issued a notice of proposed rules concerning Dam Safety. These rules may affect landowners, businesses, and recreationist along the river; particularly part 3703 of the rules. Part 3703 of the new rules, state that there needs to be mandatory 350′ exclusion Zones around dams. Specifically the “Exclusion Zone” means a segment of the river, beginning 50 feet downstream of a dam and proceeding to a point 300 feet upstream of the dam, that no one is allowed to enter for any purpose, except those purposes exempted by this Part. This zone includes the spillway, gates, piers and other appurtenant dam works that are not designed for the express purpose of general pedestrian access.
These new rules will undoubtedly hinder paddling on many streams, at least for the coming paddling season. And although Prairie Rivers Network feels strongly that people should be able to use and enjoy the river, we also care greatly for everyone’s safety.
Prairie Rivers Network’s stance on this position has always been that run of river dams are dangerous to humans and harm the environment as well. We support efforts to remove these dams and restore the streams to their natural state. However, until these dams can be removed, we support the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ decision to mandate exclusion zones around these structures and encourage citizens to obey the rules and take their safety seriously. It is our hope that the portages required to allow for safe paddling in these areas can be installed in the coming year so that only one paddling season is effected.
To read the dam safety rule visit http://dnr.state.il.us/LEGAL/PROPOSED/3703-Proposed.pdf
To view the Illinois Department of Natural Resources proposed rules site http://dnr.state.il.us/LEGAL/rule-status.htm
1 :: Scott Fairty :: June 25th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I am very disappointed to see that PRN actually supports this terribly flawed rule change. This rule will only harm paddlers and make inaccessible many sections of river currently paddled by thousands.
The people who consistently die on low head dams are those that are ignorant of the danger they pose. Those people will continue to perish in these dams regardless of the size of the exclusion zone –because they are ignoring the warnings anyway.
I strongly encourage PRN to reconsider its position on these rule changes–they are bad for river users.
2 :: Gary Mechanic :: June 26th, 2009 at 11:46 am
As Director of the Access Project of the Illinois Paddling Council and a long time friend and supporter of Prairie Rivers Network (from before it was even called PRN), I am very disappointed that Prairie Rivers Network has chosen to support the adoption of the proposed dam safety administrative rule as currently written.
This one-size-fits-all rule for signage and exclusion zones, is inappropriate for the wide variation in conditions at the 31 dams affected by this rule.
Being forced to choose between paddler’s safety and the adoption of the extreme and unreasonable exclusion zones, that will eliminate the existing and proven safe paths around the dams, is an artificial and false choice. This is not an either or situation. IDNR/OWR could write a rule that establishes exclusion zones that include most of the existing portages until they can be proven to be unsafe and replaced.
The people who have died at dams in Illinois in recent years, died because they did not use an existing portage or because there wasn’t a portage available. Criminalizing the use of existing portages that have been used safely by thousands of paddlers for decades will not result in less injuries or deaths. It will in fact result in more trespassing on private property, or more injuries and deaths by recreational users running over a dam to avoid a Class A misdemeanor arrest.
In a state that ranks 49th out of all 50 states in per capita access to recreational resources, and at one extreme end of the spectrum of all 50 states in terms of public access to our states’ waterways, IDNR has found a way to further limit recreational use on some of the very few, well used, well developed navigable watertrails that do exist in this paddler un-friendly state.
I hope PRN will re-consider its support of the adoption of Rule #3703 as currently written. I urge the citizens, voters and taxpayers of Illinois reading this to contact their local legislator and members of the JCAR committee and urge them to send the proposed rule back to IDNR for re-writing.
For more information please see http://www.illinoispaddling.org
and sign our petition to protest the possible implementation of the DNR’s Dam Safety Rule (#3703) as currently written.
Thank you,
Gary Mechanic
Director, The Access Project of the
Illinois Paddling Council
3 :: Dan Plath :: June 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
The Prairie Rivers Network unfortunately wrong in its decision to support the dam safety rule proposed. With the 300′ restriction, it is greatly overlooked that there are many existing safe portages that currently exist within these boundaries. The way it stands, it is very doubtful that portages can be installed in this season of paddling or even in the future with the exclusion zone parameters that have been established. I completely agree that Dam Safety is extremely important, but this heavy handed reactionary approach is without question, going to severely restrict paddling along many of the established water trails throughout the area. I grew up in Illinois paddling these same stretches for many years safely. I chose my profession and passion, protecting the environment and our waterways, after learning about watershed management paddling many of these stretches. I firmly believe that the Prairie Rivers Network is going to alienate themselves from some of the strongest supporters out there for supporting watershed efforts, the paddling community. The paddling group that I represent, the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association, works closely with watershed groups, Save the Dunes, Shirley Heinze Land Trust, the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Boys and Girls Club, and the Leave No Child Left Inside Program. We fundamentally believes that the best way to help foster environmental stewardship on a community level is to get people on the water to see for themselves the impact of man on our waterways. This rule is extremely counter-productive to current environmental trends and flies in the face of enhancing our water trails both in Indiana and Illinois. I would urge your organization to reverse the decision on supporting this misguided rule and not simply issue a weak statement to the paddling community that the Prairie Rivers Network hopes that portages will be constructed in the future. As a former public official in the environmental and natural resource management arena, I can almost guarantee you that this will not be done any time soon.
Sincerely,
Dan Plath
President
Northwest Indiana Paddling Association
(219) 871-9559
4 :: Lou Nelms :: June 27th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Work on the DNR and the state legislature to put in to place all the portage trails, signs, etc. before any of these ruled are applied. I don’t have any faith that your “hope” will get the job done after the ruled are implemented. I am disappointed that your organization has taken this position. I would also like to know what efforts you have supported to have these dams removed. A brief review of topics on your website does not reveal any under “dams” or “restoration”.
5 :: Prairie Rivers Network » Archives » Dam Safety Rules – Take 2! :: June 29th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
[...] Joint Committee on Administrative Rules). We expressed support for the proposed rule in a post last week. The rule would impose a 350-foot exclusion zone around all dangerous dams in order to [...]
6 :: Glynnis Collins :: June 29th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Thanks to all who have responded by Web site comments, phone, and e-mails. See above (http://prairierivers.org/articles/2009/06/dam-safety-rules-take-2/) for our response!
- Glynnis,
PRN Executive Director