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 »}