by Scott Hays, President of USRC

USRC member Bruce Colravy enjoys paddling the Sangamon
USRC member Bruce Colravy enjoys paddling the Sangamon

A new group has formed to preserve, maintain, monitor, and promote appropriate public use and awareness of the Sangamon River in Champaign County. The volunteers of the Upper Sangamon River Conservancy (USRC) care deeply about the Sangamon River. The organization engages in activities such as river clean-ups and monitoring and provides a local resource for anyone interested in finding out more about the Sangamon River.

The USRC’s mission includes education, recreation, and stewardship. The educational mission involves informing the public that the upper Sangamon River is a true resource; a healthy, mostly pristine river that deserves attention and protection. With much of the land along the riparian corridor in thick deciduous vegetation, the river in this area flows under a rich and diverse canopy of Sycamore, White Oak, Silver Maple, Honey Locust, and several other species. As part of Illinois Riverwatch, first year invertebrate monitoring by USRC members indicated that the water in the river is in “very good” health. In addition, this area of the river has been identified as an area of “ecological significance” by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Anyone who spends an afternoon on this part of the Sangamon will easily see why.

Part of the recreational mission is to promote the Sangamon River to local residents seeking a unique natural experience. Conveniently, a number of public lands along the river in Champaign County provide public access. These include the Sangamon River Forest Preserve near Fisher, Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve, Barber Park (a municipal park in Mahomet), the “Open Space Lands” just south of Mahomet at the SR47 bridge, and Riverbend Forest Preserve. While these access points make it relatively easy to put together shorter or longer Sangamon River trips, nearly all are in need of various types of improvements to make the river more easily and more safely accessible. The USRC will work with public officials to facilitate such improvements.

The stewardship mission involves preserving and maintaining the health of this vital resource and includes keeping the river free of garbage and trash. While USRC members strive to leave the river cleaner than we found it with every outing, we also schedule specific trips with garbage pick-up as the goal. River monitoring and improving river access points are also major components of the stewardship mission. Finally, as part of the stewardship mission, the USRC has developed ten Sangamon River “Best Practices” for people who visit the Sangamon River.

The USRC, still relatively new, has plenty of volunteer opportunities for new members. These opportunities include helping with clean-ups, river monitoring, staffing information booths, helping with the web site, and many more. Members can even act as volunteer photographers and submit river photography to the website. Mostly, however, the USRC simply hopes to make more local residents aware of the local treasure that is the Sangamon River in Champaign County.

For more information, or if you want to get involved, visit www.sangamonriver.org.