Congratulations Brenda Dilts, Prairie Rivers Network’s 2012 River Steward of the Year
Each year we recognize and celebrates outstanding river conservationists and their actions on behalf of Illinois’ rivers and streams. This year, Prairie Rivers Network honors Brenda Dilts as our 2012 River Steward.
Brenda chairs the grassroots group Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues. In 2006, when Brenda and others learned that a coal company wanted to open a thousand acre strip mine just upstream of Canton Lake, they were appalled. Canton Lake provides drinking water for all of Canton’s residents and surrounding communities. Because of the area’s extensive history of strip mining, they knew the threat to their water supply this mine posed.
But rather than resigning in the face of a dirty industry that always seems to get what it wants, Brenda helped local residents do something powerful: organize. Thanks to her leadership, Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues has built and sustained a successful grassroots campaign that has become a model for organizing efforts in Illinois communities faced with the threat of coal mining.
This is the difficult work that has to be done to protect our water resources; we are grateful to those who to take it up. And so, although there is still a long road ahead in the fight to protect Canton Lake, we thank river advocates like Brenda and all the members of Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues, for your work on behalf of clean water in Illinois.
