As Army Corps study stalls, future still uncertain for Fox River dams: ‘It’s just going to run its course’

Brian Pohrte got into kayaking after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The longtime St. Charles resident started out biking with his family as a way to get outdoors, but then decided to try his hand at paddling.

“We’ve got the Fox River right there,” Pohrte, 42, said. “I’d go over the river every day, and it’s like, ‘Man … that’s a great resource we have. … I should try that out.’”

He soon joined the St. Charles Canoe Club and has since become a regular on the Fox.

But this natural resource he’s come to rely on for exercise and recreation has weathered some uncertainty in recent years, as the state and federal government have looked at removing a number of the Fox River’s dams in the suburbs.

Recently, the river has been the subject of intensive study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has been evaluating the possibility of removing some of the Fox River dams.

Dams have become the subject of removal for numerous reasons, including public safety, improved water quality and a better habitat for wildlife.

But in the Fox’s case, the suggestion has been met with opposition because removing the dams would negatively affect recreational use of the river and impact property owners along the waterway, among other reasons.

An initial recommendation by the Army Corps in 2023 to tear some of the dams down was met with community backlash. It eventually went back to the drawing board, with plans to study the issue again and report back.

But now, that study’s been paused for review by the federal government, leaving residents and local officials to wait, while some forge ahead with their own vision for their community’s dams.

The history of the Fox River dams

The dams dot the Fox River from Elgin to South Elgin, St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, North Aurora, Aurora and Montgomery.

Most were built in the 1800s to run flour mills or sawmills that have long since closed. Such low-head dams, which let water flow over the top, create a dangerous backwash that can suck victims underwater, causing drownings and near-fatal accidents.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has removed about 30 dams on rivers throughout the state, including the Carpentersville dam on the Fox.

The dam removal push is part of a nationwide movement to restore free-flowing rivers. Studies generally have shown that removing dams improves water quality and increases the number and diversity of fish.

Under a directive from Congress to clean up rivers, the Army Corps of Engineers examined dam-related measures to improve water quality in the Fox River — including rock ramps, bypass channels, partial removals and leaving the dams as they are.

In 2023, the Army Corps tentatively recommended removing nine dams along the river as the only way to improve water quality and restore habitat, while requiring little to no maintenance costs. Dams in Algonquin and McHenry would remain under the proposed plan, keeping the north end of the river and Chain O’ Lakes intact for powerboating.

Removing the dams is expected to lower water levels significantly, which likely would make parts of the waterway impassible for large motorboats, pitting boaters against kayakers. But it would achieve part of the federal government’s goal of improving water quality and the amount and diversity of habitat for fish, mussels and other aquatic life, according to the Army Corps.

The 2023 study estimated that removing the nine Fox River dams would cost a little under $16 million. The Army Corps would pay up to 65% of the cost of each dam removal on the Fox, with the state expected to pay the rest. If municipalities oppose removal, they would be expected to take over the ownership, maintenance and liability for their dams.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is interested in dam removal primarily for public safety reasons, an agency spokesman said. It is also interested in water quality benefits, fish passage, boat passage, reduced sediment build-up and reduced maintenance costs. Of the dams in question, the state owns six — South Elgin, St. Charles, Geneva, North Aurora, Montgomery and Aurora.

But residents who want to keep their municipalities’ dams have pushed back against the plan in recent years, with local groups cropping up in places like St. Charles and South Elgin.

St. Charles created a task force to gather additional information for the city as it decides whether or not to remove the dam there.

And local officials, for their part, have raised concerns about how removal would affect things like drinking water, sewage treatment and recreation.

The Army Corps ultimately agreed to do further analysis on the impact of dam removal, including how it would affect water levels and what sediments might be released.

Federal study on pause

Now removal of the Fox River’s dams faces a new hold-up: delays from the federal government.

Asked about the status of the Fox River study, a spokesman from the corps’ Chicago District recently confirmed the study is in the “Feasibility Study Phase.”

“Our nation’s aging infrastructure requires significant investment, with numerous critical programs, projects and activities regularly being evaluated for funding with limited federal resources,” the Army Corps spokesman said in a statement. “We are focused on strategically allocating available resources to prioritize the most pressing infrastructure needs across the country.”

In response to requests for comment, the Army Corps did not provide further details on the study timeline.

Emails obtained by The Beacon-News, however, reveal that the project was paused months ago.

An October email, for example, from an Army Corps official to St. Charles City Administrator Heather McGuire, said that “all activities associated with this study (were) paused due to the lapse in appropriations.” Another email to McGuire indicates that the project was “paused while under Senior Administrative Review.”

Officials had planned to make a final decision on most of the dams in 2025, but that deadline has passed.

How the dam removals on the Fox River would be funded also appears to be in question.

Illinois still has nearly $20 million set aside for removing dams. But the state had been expecting the Army Corps to contribute more than half the total cost of removing the Fox River dams, the IDNR spokesperson confirmed.

While the state would prefer to work with the Army Corps to share costs, the spokesman said that’s “not a requirement.” Though the IDNR was notified that the Army Corps had “placed its efforts on hold,” according to the spokesman, the state’s Office of Water Resources is still moving forward.

How municipalities and residents are responding

With an uncertain future for the Army Corps study, municipalities, residents and advocates are left waiting for its results — and, in some cases, forging ahead — as they consider their dams’ futures.

Batavia, for example, is looking to eventually remove its city-owned dam. The city previously attempted to deed the dam to the IDNR, according to Batavia City Administrator Laura Newman. The state didn’t accept it, she said.

Geneva has signaled that it wants to remain in the federal study, and hasn’t committed to removal of its dam.

At a meeting in November, Geneva City Administrator Alex Voigt explained to the city council that remaining in the study — which the council ultimately opted to do — doesn’t obligate the city to remove the dam. But taking itself out of consideration would close the city off from receiving further information about its results.

“We’re interested in hearing what their plans are, in terms of what they find and what their recommendations will be,” Voigt said at the meeting.

St. Charles, on the other hand, appears poised to maintain at least the impoundment created by its dam. The impoundment is essentially the body of water that forms upstream as a result of a dam.

Like other nearby municipalities, the city was told that the study was paused, and it had put its dam-related task force on hold, McGuire said.

But the city continues weigh the dam’s future.

“Because it is ultimately affecting development along the river,” McGuire said. “People selling their houses, they want to know what the future holds.”

St. Charles residents recently got a hint. A resolution approved by city council members in June indicates St. Charles’ intention to keep the impoundment created by the dam. The measure also formally terminates the city’s dam task force.

The resolution essentially establishes a formal city position that had not been laid out in policy before, McGuire told The Beacon-News. It does not, however, preclude the city from continuing to work with the IDNR on modifications to the dam, nor does it require the dam structure itself remain intact, she explained, only the impoundment.

The policy could allow the city to retain its reputation as a destination for recreational river use, McGuire said, while still allowing it to pursue efforts to improve the health of the river.

In St. Charles and beyond, recreational use has come up consistently in the conversation about the dams’ future, with some skeptical of what removal would mean for boaters and paddlers.

Pohrte, the paddler from St. Charles, explained that the city has “excellent access points” for kayakers. And the impoundment from the dam gives paddlers a long run to use for their purposes.

He suggested removing dams on a case-by-case basis but advocates against tearing down the St. Charles dam.

“I can see the environmental advantages of removal,” Pohrte said. “It’s just, I also see the recreational advantages … at some level, it does make sense to have environmental impacts for the benefit of people.”

The 2023 study cites recreational users as a group that stands to benefit from dam removal, since allowing the river to flow freely would eliminate paddlers’ need to portage around dams and reduce their risk of going over or getting stuck on a dam.

Cecily Nordstrom, a Batavia resident who has been paddling on the Fox for years, said she isn’t in favor of total dam removal, expressing concern about the possible changes to water levels, though she pointed to improved water quality and better biodiversity as upsides.

Nevertheless, the matter doesn’t appear close to a resolution, she thinks.

“The consensus is, from people that I speak with, is, ‘Oh yeah, this has just been going on for years. They’re never going to do anything,’” Nordstrom said.

Todd Surta — a longtime resident who works with the Fox River Preservation Society, a group that has advocated for preserving St. Charles’ dam — suggests there’s only so much that can be done as locals invested in the matter wait for updates.

“This was one of those things where you can’t compel something to happen,” Surta said. “It’s just going to run its course.”

Education and study efforts at the local level remain underway, even as progress appears to have stalled at the federal level.

The Fox River Study Group — a coalition of municipal leaders, Kane County and other stakeholders — said in 2025 that it completed a water quality study and a biological survey of freshwater mussels at the Carpentersville dam site, to compare with data collected before the dam was removed in late 2024.

And this year, the study group is undertaking a joint project with the IDNR’s Office of Water Resources to provide a detailed river flow model from the Stratton Dam in the north to Yorkville in the south.

Now, amid the studies, the politics, the hold-ups and continued efforts by municipalities and local groups, some are just looking for answers — and attempting to move forward, whatever that might look like.

“I think there’s just a lot of fatigue,” Pohrte said. “Now that it’s been two, almost three years … it just gets to be a lot.”

mmorrow@chicagotribune.com