Prairie Rivers Network is the Illinois Affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation
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Prairie Rivers Network congratulates our 2007 Award Recipients. We honor and thank them for their dedicated, countless volunteer hours to protecting their local river or stream.
Mike Musinski
Mary Pat Holtschlag
In order to honor and thank those individuals that have dedicated countless volunteer hours to protecting their local river or stream, Prairie Rivers Network created the River Steward Award. This award allows you the opportunity to nominate volunteers or groups in your own community that you feel deserve this recognition.
Out of numerous nominations that were sent in, we selected Fran Caffee of the Valley of the Fox Group as this year’s River Steward. Fran has donated countless hours over the years to protecting the Fox River. She formed the Sierra Club’s Valley of the Fox Group in 1992. While the work of the Valley of the Fox Group depends on its many active members, Fran has consistently been the ‘glue’ that pulls volunteers into new efforts, garners support and funding for their efforts and maintains the general atmosphere within the group that encourages Valley of the Fox Group members to do what they can on behalf of their local environment, especially the Fox River. The Valley of the Fox Group’s territory covers the towns of Kane and Kendall counties that sit on the Fox River. Congratulations Fran on being named Prairie Rivers Network’s 2006 River Steward!
Since we recently expanded our work to assist in the efforts underway to restore the Mississippi River Basin, we could not overlook one very special River Steward nomination. Normally our River Steward award is reserved for individuals or groups that volunteer their time to conservation efforts. This year, however, we received a nomination for someone that started out as a volunteer and found a way to make it their full-time job. Chad Pregracke is our Mississippi River Steward.
In high school, Chad Pregracke started cleaning trash out of the Mississippi one piece at a time in his john-boat. With his undeniable charisma, energy, ingenuity, and love for the Mississippi and all rivers, Chad took a one-man operation and turned it into a highly successful, not-for-profit organization dedicated to restoring bottomland forest, organizing community-based river clean-ups, and educating teachers and citizens about the importance of these precious river systems aboard their floating classroom.
Today Living Lands & Waters is comprised of 4 barges, 2 tow boats, 5 john boats, 6 trucks, and 10 full-time staff. To date with the help of over 30,000 volunteers they have removed over 3 million pounds of garbage from the Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Anacostia, and Potomac Rivers and planted close to 25,000 trees. Our sincere thanks and congratulations to Chad Pregracke, as our special “Mississippi River Steward”.
Every year at our annual dinner Prairie Rivers Network recognizes those volunteers that have worked directly with PRN and have gone the extra river-mile to protect their local stream. These people are our Volunteers of the Year. This year, we recognized Joe Petry and Eric Robeson of Champaign for their efforts in spearheading the very successful, first annual Boneyard Creek Community Day. Joe and Eric poured their energy, enthusiasm, and people skills into this first-year event dedicated to restoring, protecting, and cleaning up the Boneyard Creek and drew in nearly 300 volunteers to work on a Saturday morning in April! Plans are already in the works for the next BCCD and we hope to see that record broken. Our sincere thanks and appreciation go to Joe and Eric for all of their hard work!
This year, Prairie Rivers Network announced its new River Steward Award. This award recognizes those volunteers-individuals and groups-that stand out from the crowd, the ones that go the extra mile to protect and restore their favorite river or stream. In future years we will be asking people around Illinois to nominate volunteers they feel are worthy recipients of the title River Steward. There are many people in Illinois that are doing great things to protect their streams, and we cannot possibly know them all. We will need input from around the state to help identify them.
However, this year, the first year of our River Steward Award, we thought the choice was obvious. The first ever River Steward Award was given to a woman and a group that have demonstrated the strength, patience, wherewithal, and resourcefulness that it takes to be effective in protecting their local stream. We thank and recognize Jan Holder, President of Friends of Kickapoo Creek and the entire group of Friends as our 2005 River Stewards. {Continue Reading »}
Every year at our annual dinner, Prairie Rivers Network recognizes our volunteer of the year. In years past, this award has gone to individuals such as Brett Schmidt, who spent countless hours reviewing pollution permits, or Ellen Bullock, who donated her legal assistance when we took on the water pollution permit for the Black Beauty Coal Mine. This year, we honored not one, but three individuals that have donated their “spare time,” energy, drive, and passion to protect their favorite river. These individuals have stepped outside their usual roles as teacher, farmer and recreational outfitter to become organizers and fundraisers. They have rallied their communities around a cause. They have gathered hundreds together to help clean up the riverbanks. {Continue Reading »}