Justice has finally been served in Iroquois County! In 2009, over 110,000 fish were killed after the R3E hog operation illegally discharged some 200,000 gallons of waste into a tributary of Spring Creek. The waste had been stored in holding ponds, but got into an underground pipe system that flows into the tributary. Earlier this week, the […]
Agriculture
Making Friends in Big Bureau Watershed
Prairie Rivers Network is one of the Friends of Big Bureau Creek Watershed. This multi-stakeholder group is devoted to reducing sediment and nutrient pollution in Big Bureau Creek and its tributaries in north-central Illinois. The Friends consists of government agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses working together to increase conservation on farmland in the highly agricultural […]
Our Priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill
The Farm Bill is a massive piece of federal legislation that is reviewed and reauthorized approximately every 5 years. It includes government programs for nutrition, rural development, energy, agricultural production, and conservation. Prairie Rivers Network seeks to influence the Farm Bill because it contains agricultural conservation programs that improve water quality. These programs have produced […]
Flooding Problems Best Solved with Nature Protection
Here is a guest commentary by Dr. Stacy James, Water Resources Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network. The article was originally published on May 1, 2011, and is reproduced here by permission of The News-Gazette, Inc. _______________________________________ Tales of eroding streambanks and increased flooding have become all too familiar across Illinois. People are literally losing their land […]
Agricultural Conservation Workshop a Success!
While the snow was falling January 11, 2011, some 30 people gathered in Rossville, IL for an agricultural conservation workshop. The workshop was sponsored by Lake Vermilion Water Quality Coalition, a group devoted to reducing water pollution in Lake Vermilion, Danville’s drinking water supply. Prairie Rivers Network sits on the Board of the Coalition and helped organize the event. Lake […]
