Prairie Rivers to disband
Comments (...)HENRY — Prairie Rivers Resource Conservation and Development will soon be no more, another victim of budget cuts.
The Prairie Rivers Committee voted 14 to 1 to disband on Nov. 15, 2012, as the funding for the council was zeroed out of the federal budget.
Prairie Rivers is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Resource Conservation and Development Program. The program is designed to foster local decision-making to address natural resource and rural economic problems, and encouraged and improved the capability of volunteers to plan and carry out local projects that address local priorities and issues.
Prairie Rivers, one of 10 in the state, serves Bureau, LaSalle, Livingston, Marshall, Putnam, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell and Woodford counties.
Bureau County Board member Mike Kohr has been on the board for about a year. Kohr said it was clear to him the program was run professionally, was a good steward of taxpayers’ money, and a credit to its mission and vision.
“Excepting the director and small staff, the board members were unpaid volunteers, and yet many had long been members whose dedication and service to the citizens of the district should not go unrecognized,” Kohr said.
Kohr said the cut in funding was a result of the efforts of the president and Congress to reduce the size of the federal deficits.
“As we recover from the second greatest economic downturn in our nation’s history, mean priorities have to be set, and tough decisions have to be made; there will be blood on the floor,” he said. “It is unfortunate when such well-run agencies and programs such as the PRRC&D fall under the knife, yet understandable given the scope of the underlying fiscal situation.”
County Board member Loretta Volker preceded Kohr on the board and held that position for many years.
“I was happy to serve on that because my dad had been a lifelong conservationist,” she said. “I kind of caught the bug early, and I really liked what they had been able to do for us.”
Volker said Prairie Rivers did a great job of linking together several counties that were trying to do various projects or get funding. Some of those projects included the Big Bureau Creek Watershed Study, renovation of the former Echo Bluffs Girl Scout Camp, the Galena Trail and Coach Road, the Illinois River Scenic Byway, and the Interstate 39 Logistics Corridor Association.
“Especially today with the turn down in the economy, these intergovernmental agreements and these partnerships are key to survival and economic development and getting things done,” she said.
Volker said word Prairie Rivers was disbanding made her “terribly sad” and would be a loss for the county.
Terry Madsen also was a part of Prairie Rivers, and he said the organization had been involved in many conservation matters that have impacted the region in significant ways, although most people have probably never heard of it.
“They’ve done some great things over the years under the leadership of some forward thinking and conscientious people from a broad swath of central Illinois,” he said.
Madsen said others will be able to pick up much of what Prairie Rivers does to some degree but not with the focus or broad base of leadership that Prairie Rivers delivered.
“It is another casualty of the reality of the federal budget, and its absence will be felt in many ways,” he said.
Pam Horwitz is also a member of Prairie Rivers. Horwitz said the organization was a tremendous local asset, working to protect and enhance the area’s natural resources in ways that many people may not have understood.
“As one of the Bureau County at-large council members, it was my pleasure to serve with such wonderful people who care deeply about their communities and who worked to not only protect its natural resources, but to bring education and awareness to new ideas, technologies and innovations that would benefit our community,” she said.
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I have a suggestion on how to solve the problem. It is called VOLUNTEERISM.
The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
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