Support Stable Funding for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Illinois needs a strong, stable Department of Natural Resources to manage our state parks, and to protect water, land and wildlife in Illinois. Budget cuts and sweeps in the past have left the Department in a precarious financial position without the resources it needs to […]
Articles
Crop Insurance Subsidies Should be Linked to Land Stewardship
Congress must demand a higher return for the environment in exchange for our more than $8 billion annual investment in agricultural subsidies. Maintaining the status quo is a risky over-reliance on largely voluntary measures that have and will fall short of keeping our waters clean.” Agricultural pollution is a top cause of degraded rivers and […]
Residents and Farmers Raise Concern Over Coal Mine
It was Standing Room Only at Public Meeting on Proposed Underground Coal Mine Near Village of Homer in Vermilion County by Traci Barkley, Water Resources Scientist On Wednesday evening, over 100 residents, farmers, landowners and Salt Fork River stakeholders turned out to an informational meeting and public forum at the Salt Fork Center at Homer […]
Illinois Livestock Industry Subject to Pollution Permit Fees
An end to unfair fee exemption for “CAFOs” (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) Today the Illinois Senate passed the Clean Water Funding Fairness Act (HB 5642), ending the livestock industry’s unique exemption from paying fees for their Clean Water Act permits. We are grateful to Representative Tryon (Crystal Lake) and Senator Frerichs (Champaign), who became the bill’s […]
Exploring Potters Marsh By Canoe
Potters Marsh is not just a place – it is a river restoration success story. Located within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, the construction of Lock and Dam 13 downstream of the refuge area in the late 1930s drastically affected this unique backwater area. Sediments and silt accummulated behind the dam, […]
