On April 15th and 16th in Chicago, Illinois, the America’s WETLAND Foundation – a non-profit working with industry and other NGO’s to restore wetlands on the Gulf Coast – will hold a conference with Governor Quinn on maintaining waterway commerce on the Mississippi River.

The Chicago location makes this event an ideal occasion for Governor Quinn and the state of Illinois to put forth a bold vision for the future of Chicago’s waterways. It is not in Illinois’ long term interests, either economic or environmental, to defer to a few commercial operators whose business model is one of taxpayer-funded river degradation.

Army Corps data has shown that commodity shipments through the Chicago Area Waterway System have declined precipitously in the preceding decades, with an approximately 45% drop in tonnage from 1994-2009. This is a timeframe that includes periods of significant growth for the national economy, and yet the trend is steadily downward.

There is no reason to allow the barge industry to hold Illinois hostage to a dying economic model. Chicago is one of the world’s great cities, and yet its rivers have been neglected, marked by a lack of public access and a legacy of pollution, as barges continuously churn up toxic sediments accumulated in the bottom of canals. Illinois need not go down with the ship, however. The state would be wise to transition to a green economy that showcases water as a community asset — making it publicly accessible, cleaning it up, and dealing with the invasive species problem.

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Asian carp were introduced to the southern U.S. in the 1970s in an effort to filter fish ponds. Unfortunately, they escaped into the wild, and as you can see from the map below, they’ve wasted no time spreading throughout the great river systems at the heart of the country.

Map created by the United States Geological Survey and National Wildlife Federation

According to the latest science, the Great Lakes are ideal habitat for Asian carp, so those big blue lakes up north are in serious danger of turning red. And with the Chicago Area Waterway System as the most likely route for invasion, steps must be taken to protect the invaluable Great Lakes and their many precious tributaries.

This map makes one thing abundantly clear – Asian carp and invasive species are a national problem, and we are going to need a solution scaled to the level of that problem. We need leadership, vision, and coordination between all levels of government and the private sector.

Traci Barkley and Robert Hirschfeld of Prairie Rivers Network sat down with the Smile Politely Radio team to discuss a number of important issues facing Illinois’ waters. The conversation covered agricultural and landscape runoff, a proposed Central Illinois coal mine, Asian carp, green infrastructure, and the effects of improperly disposed pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals.

Listen to the full podcast here.

Prairie Rivers Network helps found Healthy Water Solutions to address need for waterway improvements to stop invasives

More than a dozen Illinois organizations have announced the formation of a new coalition committed to stopping the two-way transfer of invasive species — including Asian carp — between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin.

“Stopping Asian carp and other invasive species is an economic and ecological imperative,” said Robert Hirschfeld of Prairie Rivers Network, a founding member of the new Healthy Water Solutions coalition. “But it is also just one piece of a greater plan for improved water quality, flood control, recreation and transportation in Illinois.”

HWS was formed in response to the need for Illinois residents and organizations to promote locally focused solutions, rather than wait for federal agencies and regionally contentious lawsuits.

“HWS exists to complement the work of federal and state agencies, while recognizing the importance of local action to help move issues like invasive species forward when they are stalled by outside forces,” said Jared Teutsch of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, also a HWS coalition member. “We encourage the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and other governmental groups to work with the rest of the region to fashion a modern solution to the growing problems of invasive species and decaying water infrastructure.”

The new coalition will advocate for reinvestment in the Chicago River system, a critical piece of infrastructure that affects the waters of the entire state.

“The Chicago River system can be so much more than a conduit for our wastewater,” said Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club’s Illinois Chapter. “The threat posed by the Asian carp and other aquatic invaders is also an opportunity to restore the Chicago River and make it a clean, healthy resource that attracts wildlife, people and economic development.”

Invasive species protection promises to provide benefits to Chicago and Lake Michigan, as well as businesses and communities around the state.

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By Robert Hirschfeld

A highly-anticipated report clearly demonstrates that it is possible to separate the artificial connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins and prevent the transfer of invasive species through the Chicago River system.

Authored by the Great Lakes Commission and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, “Restoring the Natural Divide”  re-envisions the Chicago River as a system which not only prevents the transfer of aquatic invaders such as Asian carp, but also better serves its functions of moving people and goods and managing stormwater, while improving water quality. {Continue Reading »}

It is National Invasive Species Awareness Week. For the past hundred years, man-made canals in the Chicago area have connected Lake Michigan to the Illinois River, creating a connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi  River basins. This connection has allowed unwanted aquatic plants and animals to quickly spread between North America’s two greatest freshwater systems. The zebra mussel invaded the Mississippi River and the western US through this pathway, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars per year in control efforts. Right now Asian carp threaten to move from the Mississippi basin to the Great Lakes, putting a $7 billion/year recreational and fishing industry at risk.

Our top priority right now is to restore the natural separation between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins. With quick decisive action we can halt the spread the Asian carp and other species poised to wreak havoc.

More broadly, lawmakers need to get serious about a long-term, comprehensive, and proactive approach to protecting our natural resources from new invasive species. Hitchhiking on the ever-increasing flow of goods and people around the world, transplanted organisms often devastate natural communities where they end up. We need national and international efforts to slow the flood of invasive species that exacerbate already-stressed ecosytems around the world.