Four years ago, a development company staked out nearly 2 acres on the Fox River’s west bank in Geneva for part of its condominium development.
Residents objected to that use of the riverfront and let political leaders know how they felt. As a result, that land, as well as another 2 acres or so, running north from Hamilton Street between the river and North River Lane will become a park.
Once complete, Geneva’s RiverPark and its prairie plant life will give the river a small environmental boost while allowing visitors to learn about the river’s ecosystem and history.
“What’s going to happen with the land is not going to affect the entire watershed, but it’s going to educate the public,” said Mary Zaander of Geneva, who led the grass-roots effort for the park and owns a small ecosystem restoration business in Geneva. “Hopefully, it’s something that can take a hold as an idea.”
A growing band of environmentalists up and down the Fox River Valley cite efforts like that led by Zaander as the kind of projects that, taken together, might ultimately protect the Fox River from the onslaught of development expected in the region during the next 20 years.
From 1990 to 1998, Kane County’s population rose to a little more than 390,000, more than a 23 percent increase, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. By 2020, the population is expected to reach about 550,000, according to November 1997 projections by the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, Chicago.
More to the point, the number of households is expected to nearly double from 1990 to 2020, from about 107,200 to nearly 200,000–and most of the growth is expected to take place near the Fox River or its five tributaries in Kane County, according to a January 1999 report by the Openlands Project, a 35-year-old, non-profit organization devoted to preserving and protecting public lands in the Chicago area.
When new homes are built, land that absorbed rainwater is covered, and when more roads are constructed, more water and pollutants are forced into the watershed and ultimately into the Fox River.
Storm-water runoff and the erosion it causes while dumping pollutants into the river, which environmentalists call non-point source pollution, is the greatest threat to the river, environmentalists say.
“We’ve really got to change the way we deal with storm water,” said Cindy Skrukrud, president of Friends of the Fox River. “The idea has to be to retain water on the land for a lot longer than we do now.”
More homes also lead to more toilets flushing and the bulk of that waste is treated and dumped into the river or the creeks and streams that feed it. Although the sewage-treatment plants built since the 1970s as a result of the federal Clean Water Act have drastically reduced the flow of contaminants, sewage is still a concern.
In the next 10 years the amount of treated sewage dumped into the river is expected to increase by 57 percent, as more than 600,000 people are expected to move into the entire watershed, from Wisconsin south to LaSalle County, according to a report by the Fox River Ecosystem Partnership.
As a result of the expected Fox River watershed population boom, American Rivers last year ranked the Fox River No. 7 on its Top 10 list of endangered rivers. (Washington-based American Rivers is a national conservation group focusing on the health of the country’s rivers.)
That, in turn, led the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to include nearly 18 miles of the river, from McHenry to Geneva, on a list of waterways in the state’s 15-year Total Maximum Daily Load study, under which more than 100 watevzrways are tested for pollutants and monitored for long-term health. Based on those tests, plans to prevent further degradation of the river are established. The program, according to state officials, lacks adequate funding.
The river’s inclusion in the study and other small steps being taken to address the health of its ecosystem have given hope to environmentalists. They point to the RiverPark along with a host of other efforts as an example of positive changes, including countywide programs to maintain and expand greenways along the river and, in some cases, remove dams that damage the ecosystem.
– Geneva and Kane County are creating the Prairie Creek Preserve on more than 400 acres in the Mill Creek watershed. Native plants and grasses will absorb and filter storm water, preventing further degradation to the creek and, ultimately, the river.
– Plans for a federally funded Stearns Road bridge across the river in the northern part of the county include a system of diverting storm water into prairie growth to absorb and filter the water and sediment traps.
– The Kane County Forest Preserve District in January agreed to take the lead role in a federal $2.2 million erosion- and pollution-control program.
– In the Oakhurst Forest Preserve on Aurora’s far east side near Waubonsie Creek, a lake was created and wetlands were enlarged to hold and filter storm water.
– Aurora, as part of its FoxWalk, plans to remove the North Avenue dam, although environmentalists have reserved judgment on the town’s RiverCity concept to redevelop 130 acres straddling the river on the south end of downtown.
– North Aurora is working with the Kane County Forest Preserve District and Fox Valley Park District to acquire the east-bank river property on which the Sperry factory now sits. That would allow the creation of riverfront park space from North Aurora Island Park to North Aurora Shoreline Park.
– In an unincorporated area outside of Geneva that comprises part of Mill Creek, developers were given approval to use a process called land application instead of the traditional sewer system. The process applies the waste water to the land, which filters the water back to its pristine state while the plants absorb nutrients that would have damaged the ecosystems of the creek and river. Phillip Bus, the Kane County development director, called land application “a viable alternative” to dumping treated sewage into the river and its tributaries.
– In Batavia, city planners have called for the 50-acre Braeburn Marsh, a natural area that filters flood water from the watershed surrounding the McKee tributary to Mill Creek on land east of Randall Road, to be expanded by 68 acres on the west side of the thoroughfare. City planners said they are in the final stages of drawing up that plan.
– In St. Charles, two nature preserves–the 45-acre, west-bank Ferson Creek Fen and the 70-acre, east-bank Norris Woods–were established in the late 1970s. They are owned and operated by the St. Charles Park District, which is completing a study on 2 1/2 miles of the Ferson/Otter Creek watershed with the aim of doing restoration work there. The Park District also has restored wetlands in the Mill Creek watershed along Randall Road near Illinois Highway 38, on land that’s part of the Illinois Youth Home at that location.
– Perhaps most promising to Fox River environmentalists was the 1996 formation of the Ecosystem Partnership by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The coalition has grown to 67 environmental groups, governments and concerned individuals working to protect the Fox River watershed. Through the Ecosystems Program of Conservation 2000, the partnership has been awarded more than $479,000 for specific projects.
In the end, planners and environmentalists hope to see a healthier river that is less inundated with storm water, is not treated like a regional sewer, has fewer dams, is lined with natural and recreational areas and is viewed as the natural heart and soul of the entire watershed.
“The river truly is the centerpiece, especially of those towns in Kane County,” Skrukrud said. “It really is the jewel of the community.”
The RiverPark concept comprises several of the long-range goals for the river. It includes paths, an amphitheater, a rock formation, natural prairie plants, swales to filter rainwater from the portion of the condominium project that was built and an archeological wall with artifacts from the property, a former industrial site. It aims to enhance the local ecosystem, educate and entertain.
When Shodeen Inc. in 1996 originally proposed the condominiums, Zaander and like-minded activists persuaded the city to acquire some of the land with tax increment finance district funds. Now it’s up to them to raise about $500,000 to complete the plan.
“There was a pretty strong message from the community that we think the river is important, and we don’t think a condominium development is a proper use of the shore, and the City Council responded,” Zaander said.
“That’s the way you have to start–a little bit at a time. It’s a big task, but you can’t let that overwhelm you.”
“There’s a lot happening,” said Mary Ochsenschlager, natural resources manager for the St. Charles Park District. “It’s good. We’ve got a progressive county and lots of good leadership. If anybody’s up to it, Kane is.”
