View PRN’s Prairie River Notes – Summer 2010 Newsletter (pdf) with the following articles:

• Big Wheels Keep on Rolling – Update on Traveling Science Center
• A Message from our Executive Director
• PRN Annual Dinner – October 29th
• River Steward Nominations
• Helping Champaign Homeowners Manage Stormwater Through Rain Gardens and Rain Barrels
• Illinois Contaminated by Coal Pollution
• How You Can Help Reduce Illinois’ Coal Pollution Problem
• PRN Studying Public Waterway Rights
• Ready to Unveil! Webpages for Watershed Groups
• Thank You Interns and Volunteers

Immediate Release:
August 3, 2010

CHAMPAIGN, IL — Long before the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico suffered from a chronic spill of chemicals that rush down the Mississippi River from Illinois and other Midwestern states. The influx of pollution results in an area appropriately known as the Dead Zone. Scientists from Louisiana just finished their annual research cruise of the Gulf and determined that this year the Dead Zone was 7,722 square miles, one of the largest since the cruises began in 1985 and almost the size of Massachusetts.

The Dead Zone is characterized by water so low in dissolved oxygen (<2 mg/L) that animals suffocate. When shrimp, crab, and other relatively immobile species cannot escape, fishermen must move to cleaner waters.

The primary cause of the Dead Zone is too many nutrients. According to recent studies by the U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois is the number one contributor of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to the Gulf of Mexico. {Continue Reading »}

So urgent is the coal ash pollution problem in Illinois that Prairie Rivers Network is taking the unusual step of issuing a special appeal to members and friends for financial donations to help us considerably increase our work on coal-ash issues and other coal-related problems.

An anonymous donor has pledged up to $15,000 to help Prairie Rivers Network in this work. This challenge grant will match, dollar-for-dollar, new and increased contributions. We need these new contributions by August 31, 2010.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Donations are processed through Network for Good, a secure online donation processing service for nonprofits.

Anonymous donations are available.

For more information on our coal work, click here.

Save the date!

Our Annual Dinner will again be at the I Hotel in Champaign on Friday, October 29, 2010.

The reception will begin at 6pm, and dinner will be served at 7pm.

The Rivers Corps of Discovery will bring the
beauty of our rivers to life with their presentation:

Impressions, Discoveries and Adventures.

The River Corps of Discovery, developed by biologists Dr. Michael Jeffords, Susan Post, and Carolyn Nixon, at the Illinois Natural History Survey, is based on the original Lewis & Clark Expedition that started in Illinois and became one of the greatest exploratory endeavors undertaken on the North American continent. The members observe and record the beauty and changing nature of Illinois’ river systems with sketches, photographs, journals, and other artistic media. Read an article on the founding of the Corps of Discovery here(pdf).

Read our post from last year’s dinner here.

Do you know a volunteer who is working hard to protect the state’s rivers and streams? Help celebrate and elevate their important work by nominating them for our 6th annual River Steward Award. Deadline is September 17, 2010. {Continue Reading »}

REGISTER NOW FOR OCTOBER 5th WORKSHOP

WHAT: As a pre-conference activity at this year’s  Illinois Water Conference, we are hosting a workshop to teach you about third- party TMDLs.

A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant’s sources. TMDLs set goals for pollution reduction that are necessary for the improvement of impaired waters. (View Illinois EPA’s TMDL website.)

This workshop focuses on explaining the third-party TMDL program to watershed groups and water resource managers.

Join U.S. EPA Region 5 experts Dean Maraldo, Chief of the Watersheds Section, and Dave Werbach, TMDL Coordinator, to learn:

• what a third-party TMDL is and isn’t
• how a third-party TMDL can benefit your watershed
• what the process is for TMDL development
• what the EPA requirements are for an approvable TMDL
• what the basics of watershed planning are related to TMDLs

{Continue Reading »}