Chicago Whitewater Association & Kayak Club

Jan 6, 2012 DNR Meeting Report

by Dave McGovern

A short while back, Erik Sprenne invited me to join him, Tom Lindblade, and Gary Mechanic to attend a meeting in Springfield with the staff of the DNR concerning the Vermilion closure. While Gary was unable to attend, here’s what we learned Friday afternoon.

Arriving at the DNR building, we were greeted by a number of the Office of Water Resources (OWR) staff including Arlan Juhl, Director of OWR and Bob Mool, the DNR lawyer who negotiated the lease with Buzzi Unicem.

To give you a quick summary before getting into the details, it seems possible to get the river open this spring. The DNR has several criteria that must be met first,some of which has been completed. Three items must be completed before the river is opened:

  1. The DNR has not yet assessed the changes to the hydraulic at enough levels. They have viewed it and showed us pictures at low levels and very high levels, but they haven't been there at medium levels
  2. The DNR must successfully implement the proposed rule on the NO ENTRY zone near the dam. The DNR and Buzzi are unwavering in demanding that the specified area around the dam be entirely off limits at all times, even when the dam poses no threat (i.e. washes out). The chute on river right will be the only legal place to go. We will be contacting those who commented with a request to withdraw their comments. While we are opposed to the rule in general, the river will remain closed until it is enacted.
    Follow up, all comments have been withdrawn and the administrative rule is now on second notice with JCA, Hopefully this will be acted on at the March JCAR meeting.
  3. A sign needs to be placed at the put in showing the area that is off limits, and indicating that parts of the river are private property. This sign has been printed, but installing it is LaSalle County's job, and the DNR has not been able to get them to mount it yet. This seems like a petty task, but the river will not open until it is done. Consider contacting LaSalle County officials and encourage them to get the sign installed. According to the DNR, it has already been made, and delivered to the county. A sample of what the sign may look like is below and has been posted in the file section of Paddle,Party, and Play, and will be on the CWA vermilion page soon.

Now the nitty gritty. Bob Mool explained that the lease between the DNR and Buzzi Unicem is delicate, and Buzzi can give notice to cancel it at any time. The lease exists primarily because DNR Director Marc Miller pushed for it. Buzzi has little to gain by the lease, and this may be the reason Bob Mool is reluctant to re-open negotiations about the terms of the lease.

There are three phases of improvements specified in the lease: signage, short term dam improvements, and long term dam improvements. The signage, except for the put in sign is complete, as is the short term dam fix. Engineers are working on long term solutions to make the dam safer while maintaining the water storage capacity that Buzzi needs, and once the dam is permanently fixed, there will be no need for the restricted area. The timeline for this is several years, although Arlan did state that funding had been set aside.

There is another aspect of the lease that could be a problem, especially for ACA insured beginner trips. The lease does NOT allow for scouting or portage of either the dam or Wildcat. A huge portion of the land along the river is owned by Buzzi, and all of it isoff limits. The lease only covers land actually submerged in the water, not up to a fixed point such as a normal high water mark. Scrambling over mid river rocks is permissible, but obviously difficult at any flow that would warrant scouting.

Significant discussion of this topic ensued, and after some give and take, DNR staff began to understand the value of scouting and, if necessary, portaging. In the end, Bob Mool agreed to discuss it within the DNR, but he would not commit to talking to Buzzi about amending the lease to allow scouting or portaging.

It was also stressed to us that to protect the lease, conservation officers will be heavy handed in enforcing the restricted areas. If Buzzi Unichem sees someone where they don't belong, the DNR will respond. We as paddlers must be self policing prevent any issues. This specifically means that we must not surf the dam if it looks good, and that we must talk to anyone including rafters who look like they might be heading into the restricted area. Please remember, the offices of Buzzi overlook the dam, we will be quite visible to them. What we get in return is to get the river open sooner than the end of phase three.

A number of times during the meeting, DNR staff talked about wanting to partner with the paddling community to achieve mutually desirable goals. While I certainly have a healthy bit of skepticism, I think right now we should take the comment at face value and do what is necessary to get the Vermilion open to paddling as soon as possible.