Conversation about the Conservation Congress

October 26th, 2009 at 03:39pm Wally Haas

I was in Springfield last weekend for the Illinois Conservation Congress, the first such gathering in six years.

Read Chris Young of the Springfield State Journal Register HERE and HERE.

Read Dale Bowman of the Chicago Sun-Times HERE.

I have been interested in the outdoors and conservation for as long as I can remember. I’ve canoed, kayaked, hunted, fished, camped, biked and hiked (when I had my original knees). In high school, which was many, many years ago, I won a scholarship to a conservation workshop at Illinois State University. Recently, I’ve written columns about how the Illinois Department of Natural ResourcesĀ  was “decimated” by the Blagojevich administration and how I think new DNR Director Marc Miller can turn the agency around. Read latest column HERE.

One of the points made by Miller and others during the Congress was that DNR needs our (Congress members, the public) help to restore the agency to what Gov. Pat Quinn thinks should be “second to none.”

Funding is a big part of that, as Bowman points out. Politics, however, may be a bigger part.

Blagojevich was able to nearly kill the DNR because there was little public outcry when the agency was being cut. Some of my Congress colleagues disagreed and said there was plenty of outrage where they lived. I didn’t see much concern about the agency and the work it does until Blagojevich closed the state parks. That helped focus outdoor lovers, but by that time it was too late for DNR.

Another Congress participant said because the DNR had cut itself off from constituents, the constituents didn’t care anymore.

The Congress brought together what Bowman termed an “eclectic” group. I counted more than 90 affiliations. There were traditional hooks & bullets types and all kinds of advocates for parks, waterways, trails, etc.

A couple of participants urged this eclectic group to become a political force, to keep outdoor issues in front of a legislative power structure whose knowledge of the outdoors ends at the Daley Plaza.

If the Congress members become politically active, it could help the DNRĀ  provide more public access for outdoor activities. Illinois ranks 48th out of 50 states in land available to the public. That’s abysmal.

The Congress was an opportunity for those of us with varying interests to get to know each other and each other’s issues and perhaps find common ground so we can enjoy the activities we advocate.

I’ll have more about the Congress in Friday’s print and online editions.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized