Conservation’s godfather, Theodore Roosevelt, once stated, “It is a good thing for us, by speech, to pay homage to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, but it is an infinitely better thing for us in our lives to pay homage to his memory in the only way in which that homage can be effectively paid, by seeing to it that this republic’s life, social and political, civic and industrial, is shaped now in accordance with the ideals which Lincoln preached.”
In 1865, Roosevelt, the grandfather of public lands and waters, watched Lincoln’s funeral procession pass through New York City. In 1903, President Roosevelt honored President Lincoln at Lincoln’s Tomb back in Illinois. By 1907, Roosevelt had protected 16 million acres of forests across the U.S., and by the end of his administration that acreage had grown to 150 million acres.
Roosevelt paid homage to Lincoln’s memory by conserving accessible lands and waters for all people to enjoy, across the nation.
However, Lincoln’s home state currently has an accessibility problem in regard to its public waters.
Eight-hundred and eighty miles of the Illinois border is created by water flowing down the Mississippi, Wabash and Ohio rivers. In Illinois proper, there are 87,000 miles of waterways. But the Illinois Supreme Court confirmed that large areas of flowing water in Illinois are privately held by the landowners owning water frontage.
The court supported landowners along private waterways down to the middle of the waterway, including the water itself. The flowing water belongs to the landowner, the court found, and anyone floating along is trespassing.
This limitation stems from outdated laws and definitions. Federal law recognizes all waterways as public as long as they are considered “navigable,” floatable for means of commerce at any time in U.S. history. “Navigable” is a term open to interpretation and by Illinois state law is given a slightly different definition that does not align with federal law. Not all federally navigable waters in Illinois are open to the public due to Illinois law.
In the early 1900s, the DuPage River floated a wheel boat for public transportation, a clear representation of commerce and navigability, but by Illinois law, this river remains private. The water turns muddier, however, as the DuPage has public access boat ramps to lead you into private water just downstream and even has been designated a “water trail,” with signs guiding floaters down the private stream, which, remember, is illegal. You can even rent a tube and float the DuPage, as long as you are content to risk the possibility of trespassing.
While I certainly respect property lines, borders drawn across moving water seem quite different from the ol’ fence row.
Is your water trespassing on your neighbor’s water? Who’s caring for the water? Who even knows?
As Roosevelt showed, if a resource is owned by everyone, it will indeed be left for generations to come.
Water, a building block of life, a resource so plentiful, so important, is inaccessible to most of us in Illinois — inaccessible to the angler looking to escape to the local stream or the family looking to float and connect outdoors. By contrast, accessible waterways create the opportunity for others to recognize the importance of natural resources, and in turn, they recognize the value of public lands and waters, not just for weekend adventures but for the future prosperity of all Illinoisans.
I call on the Illinois legislature and governor to commit to working toward a solution that guarantees public recreational access on the state’s waterways to all.
It is time to pay homage to Lincoln and Roosevelt and secure water access for all to enjoy for generations to come — or we will continue to float along in muddy waters.
Drew Kazenski is the co-chair of the Illinois chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
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