Leaving Indiana - it won't solve the problem
by Marty Lucas - 1.21.2002
In Kankakee River refuge efforts switch to Illinois from the Jan. 20 edition of the Gary Post-Tribune [reproduced here by permission - article will open in new window] Tim Zorn reports on the decision of the US Fish & Wildlife to abandoning, at least for now, efforts to establish a wildlife refuge in the Indiana portion of the Kankakee watershed. The service will close its Plymouth field office, and move to Watseka Illinois. Project director Tim Bodeen will be reassigned to a preserve at Midway atoll in the Pacific. The article cites opposition of congressman Steve Buyer, persons who viewed the project as a federal land grab, farmers concerned about drainage, county commissioners, and a lack of an enthusiastic support base in Indiana for the decision.
My opinion. We live in a democracy, and so it's fitting and necessary to consider the local climate in decisions of these types. However, it's difficult to imagine how the problems of the Kankakee - and indeed the problems of any and all rivers in the midwest - can be addressed without major management changes going all of the way to the headwaters. Obviously, a federal wildlife refuge is only one possible tool to help restore the upper Kankakee, and local land use is (within some limits) an appropriate matter for local politicians to address.
But with a growing dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, being traced to excessive phosphorus and nitrogen running off Midwestern farm land, and with the dismal economic conditions I see around me every day here in Starke County, I can't help thinking we need to start doing some things differently. And, in my opinion, the Starke County commissioner's resolution purporting to ban land acquisitions for wildlife purposes exceeded the legitimate bounds of local land use control.
I remain hopeful that the Army Corps of Engineers study will offer a more enlightened watershed management future for the Kankakee watershed in Indiana. I cannot imagine a Corps study that fails to point out that Indiana's present streamside management practices contribute most of the sediment burden burying the river in Illinois. Perhaps opponents of the refuge will be more receptive to recommendations from the ACOE. At some point it's not unlikely that the federal government will conclude that Indiana's management of the Kankakee watershed causes unacceptable negative consequences downstream. At that point, the federal government will be justified, perhaps even compelled, to step in and address the problem. [ml]