More press is covering the new Big Price – Little Benefit report released by Prairie Rivers Network and partners condemning proposed expansion locks along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.

Read press coverage from the Daily-Journal.com by seraching on “Prairie Rivers Network.”

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Yesterday, Prairie Rivers Network and our partners in the Nicollet Island Coalition released a report condemning proposed expansion of 7 of the 29 locks that aid navigation along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got Congressional authorization in 2007 to double the size of the locks, at a potential cost to taxpayers of $2.2 billion. Our report shows that the modest benefits the project aims to achieve can be achieved much more cheaply through other means. View our press release here. Download the Big Price – Little Benefit report here.

Tri-States Public Radio (Macomb, IL) covered the story.

The toll on river health of the Corps-maintained navigation system on the Upper Mississippi River is tremendous – the 29 locks and dams have altered the free-flowing and dynamic river between Minneapolis and St. Louis into a static series of enormous, homogeneous reservoirs. {Continue Reading »}

For Immediate Release: July 14, 2009

Prairie Rivers Network is asking Senator Roland Burris to vote for the Baucus-Klobuchar-Boxer Amendment to the Clean Water Restoration Act. This Act would reinstate protections for wetlands and streams that have been compromised over the past eight years. Before adjourning for the 4th of July recess, the Environment and Public Works Committee voted 12-7 to send the measure on to the full Senate. The Act already has the support of Senator Durbin.  {Continue Reading »}

Our paddling members and friends have set us straight on DNR’s proposed Dam Safety Rule, Rule 3703, now pending before the Illinois General Assembly’s 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 protect the public safety and prevent the needless drowning deaths that occur in Illinois rivers nearly every year. (Also see our post on the report evaluating costs of improving safety through removal or modification.) {Continue Reading »}

On Wednesday May 13th from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Homer Lake Forest Preserve’s Salt Fork Center (2573 Homer Lake Road, Homer, Illinois) the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Prairie Rivers Network, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale will be holding an informational meeting about the Vermilion River Conservation Opportunity Area (includes the Middle Fork, North Fork and Salt Fork Rivers) in the State Wildlife Action Plan. {Continue Reading »}

Illinois citizens have until March 27th to sign-up to get their river bottom, floodplain land into permanent easement as part of the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP). Up to $145 million will be available to eligible landowners nationwide as part of President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Funding will create jobs and restore an estimated 60,000 acres of frequently flooded land to its natural state. Public benefits include increased flood protection, enhanced fish and wildlife habitat, improved water quality, reduced future public disaster assistance, reduced energy consumption, and increased carbon sequestration. For eligibility requirements visit the EWP Floodplain Easement Site and NRCS Recovery Information. For more information contact Kim Erndt at kerndt@prairierivers.org.