Pack Our Park set for Saturday

Bureau Valley students from Manlius work on leaf etchings during an outdoor forestry class Tuesday morning at the Hennepin Canal State Parkway, northeast of Sheffield. The students will attend another class today, Thursday, at the Hennepin Canal State Parkway also taught by educators with the Bureau County Cooperative Extension Service, University of Illinois. The canal has been used for a variety of activities including fishing derbies, bike trips, nature hikes and other educational programs. (BCR photo/Donna Barker)

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SHEFFIELD — Bureau County residents are asked to show their support of the Hennepin Canal State Parkway and attend a Pack Our Park event Saturday at the Hennepin Canal Visitors Center near Sheffield.

On Wednesday, Pat Stier, secretary/treasurer for the Friends of the Canal, said petitions will be available Saturday for anyone not yet registering their support to keep open the Hennepin Canal.

“We are encouraging anyone and everyone to come out to the visitors’ center, especially between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m. on Saturday, to show the governor that we want our state parks to remain open. We need our state parks to remain open,” Stier said.

If people can not make it to the Sheffield park site during the 10 to 11 a.m. hour on Saturday, they are still encouraged to go to another site along the Hennepin Canal at any time throughout the day, Stier said.

“We want to show the governor how much people enjoy their parks and that we don’t want him to close them,” Stier said. “The bigger the crowd that shows up, the better.”

The Pack Our Park (POP) event at Sheffield is part of a statewide event organized by the Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD). Illinois POP is designed to show Blagojevich that state parks are important to the residents of Illinois and to the state’s economy, an IAPD spokesperson said.

 Stier said the Friends of the Canal group is disappointed Blagojevich has not listened to the public outcry of citizens who oppose the closing of the Hennepin Canal State Parkway, as well as another 10 state parks. The governor isn’t even listening to legislators who met in special sessions to approve bills calling for reinstatement of the park funding cuts, Stier said.

“It looks to me like the governor has his own agenda,” Stier said. “At this point, I’m not holding out a lot of hope that he will listen to anyone. But we are not letting this go away. We are still asking people to call or e-mail the governor’s office. We have to keep the pressure on him.”

On Tuesday, a group of Bureau County students spent the morning at the Hennepin Canal visitors’ center studying plant life through a program presented by staff of the Bureau County Cooperative Extension Service through the University of Illinois.

Extension program coordinator Trent Munson said the Hennepin Canal is an important asset to the Bureau County area. Through his Extension work, he has used the canal for fishing derbies, bike trips, nature hikes and various educational school programs. The nearby Hennepin Canal provides a great variety of learning opportunities dealing with things like forestry, wildlife, and land and water ecosystems, Munson said.

If the Hennepin Canal park closes on Nov. 30, as planned by the governor, the future of the park will be in jeopardy, Stier said.

“You can’t just close the canal and think it will maintain its own integrity,” Stier said. “If the governor leaves one person in charge to maintain the 104 mile canal, it just can’t be done.

“I worry about vandalism and levee breaks and drainage issues. Everyone who lives along the canal and who enjoys the canal needs to be concerned,” she said.

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