Keep Vermilion open to public

A serious injustice has been levied against fisherman and all waterborne enthusiasts in the plight of the Vermilion River in LaSalle County, an issue that has the potential for grave ramifications across the state. With the Illinois Department of Natural Resources acting to enforce private property rights to the lower section of this river on behalf of a private corporation alongside this waterway they are acting in violation of federal law.

Water has been defined as a public resource from ancient times and is specifically to be protected in trust by individual states. It is in violation of this law to enforce private property rights that encroach on the use of the waterway, doubly so if that property is commercial in nature. While tragic, the loss of life should serve as a reminder of these dangerous artifacts in low-head dams that plague many of the state's waterways. But restricting the use of this water to experienced boaters who understand the risks and risks and successfully navigate this section of river is an incorrect response. And a poor substitute on the part of IDNR to addressing the real issue by modifying the dam face to prevent hydraulic formation, or removing these dams entirely and restoring the waterway.

State Rep. Frank Mautino of Spring Valley has a bill for this coming session that would ceremoniously declare this section of the Vermilion to be a public body of water in an effort to correct the erroneous IDNR assertion that a landowner can prohibit public conveyance on a public resource.

Support Rep. Mautino's efforts to legislatively declare the Vermilion River a public body of water, After all, we own it.

Chris Doing

Carpentersville