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.

Boaters on Mississippi River

Historically, there have been significant human-caused environmental impacts along the Mississippi River, unfortunately only minimal environmental restoration activities have occurred. The Illinois portion of the river has been no exception to this poor situation. Although there have been noteworthy but relatively modest and spotty restoration works ongoing since the mid-1980s, without a major increase in long-term restoration efforts virtually every river system expert believes the river will further degrade.

The primary focus of the Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) program will be upon increasing awareness and improving conditions for restoration activities to occur along the Mississippi and Illinois River’s area within Illinois. Our program dedicates a River Restoration Coordinator specifically to organizing others to accomplish the goals related to improving river restoration in the state.

For more information, visit our Mississippi River Restoration page.

Champaign, July 11, 2003: Marking the one year anniversary of an ammonia nitrogen spill in the Salt Fork River that killed more than 105,000 fish and impacted countless other aquatic and riparian species, Prairie Rivers Network and the Salt Fork Rivers Partners urged the State agencies responsible to resolve the case and allow restoration efforts to begin as quickly as possible.

“It has been a year since the spill, and we are very concerned that measures to mitigate the impacts have not yet been identified,” said Jean Flemma, Executive Director of Prairie Rivers Network. “We urge the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Natural Resources to make their recommendations for a settlement to the Attorney General’s office as soon as possible, so that the long overdue recovery efforts on the Salt Fork can get underway.” {Continue Reading »}