Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 3 EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK STAFF Publisher: Edward R.Wojcicki Editor: Peggy Boyer Long Editor Emeritus: William L

July/August 2000 $3.95

IllinoisIssuesA publication of the University of Illinois at Springfield

Natural encounters More Illinoisans are coming face-to-face with wildlife. And more of them welcome the experience CONVERSATION WITH THE PUBLISHER THE BOARD

CHAIR Philip J. Rock, attorney, Rock, Fusco, and Garvey, Ltd., Chicago.

VICE CHAIR Doris B. Holleb, professorial lecturer, University PUBLIC TV STATIONS of Chicago. MEMBERS WEIU Michael J. Bakalis, professor, public management Charleston and policy, Northwestern University, Evanston. James M. Banovetz, professor emeritus of public administration, Northern Illinois University, WILL DeKalb. Champaign Penny Cate, vice president, government relations, Quaker Oats Corp., Chicago. WMEC/WQEC/WSEC Robert J. Christie, director, public affairs, FMC Macomb, Quincy Corp., Chicago. Christopher Cohen, attorney, Byers & Rubin, Jacksonville/Springfield Chicago. Let’s find out: Darcy Davidsmeyer, director, state government WQPT relations, Motorola Inc., Schaumburg. Moline James L. Fletcher, attorney, Fletcher, Topol & Are civic habits declining? O’Brien, Chicago. WSIU Nancy L. Ford, executive director, Institute for Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Carbondale Springfield. by Ed Wojcicki Sharon Gist Gilliam, executive vice president, WTVP Unison Consulting Group Inc., Chicago. Peoria Rey Gonzalez, home office director, diversity, Harvard University professor finds collaborating with the United Way of McDonald’s Corp., Oak Brook. WUSI Ait significant that Americans are Illinois and the Institute for Public Samuel K. Gove, professor emeritus of political Olney science, University of Illinois at Urbana- attending fewer picnics than they used to Affairs at the University of Illinois at Champaign. WYCC half as many in 1999 as in 1975. We re Springfield to measure the level and Jetta Norris Jones, attorney, Chicago. Harness the power Robert J. Klaus, president and CEO, Oral Health Chicago also playing far fewer card games, forms of Illinoisans civic engagement. America, Chicago. thereby creating fewer opportunities for Our emphasis will be on participation in Jack H. Knott, director, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at of public broadcasting informal conversations about community local groups and activities, formal and Urbana-Champaign. PUBLIC RADIO STATIONS issues. And every year since the mid- informal. Joan W.Levy, past president, Illinois Association of 1960s, fewer Americans believe that More important, we intend to conduct School Boards, Winnetka. across Illinois... William E. Lowry, vice president for Human WBEZ FM most people can be trusted. far more than a research project. We also Resources and Administration, The John D. and Chicago Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago. So says Robert Putnam, a professor of want to find out why some people are Roberta Lynch, deputy director, American WCBU FM public policy whose new book, Bowling engaged and others are not. We will share Federation of State, County and Municipal Peoria Employees, Chicago. Alone: The Collapse and Revival of our findings and bring people together to M. Veronica Lynch, chief deputy assessor, Cook WDCB FM Chicago and the suburbs American Community, is destined to discuss strategies for sustaining and County. Diana Nelson, director of public affairs, Union Glen Ellyn Rockford to Carbondale stimulate critical national dialogue for enhancing civic engagement in its many League of Chicago. years to come. I hope it does, because he forms in Illinois. It s a long-term project. Dawn Clark Netsch, professor of law emeritus, WGLT FM Charleston to Quincy Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago. Normal contends that nearly every form of social Thanks to funding from two Illinois Taylor Pensoneau, president, Illinois Coal connectedness among Americans has corporations and the Woods Fund of Association, Springfield. WILL AM been on the decline in the past three Chicago, we are starting our survey this Betsy A. Plank, principal, Betsy Plank Public Urbana Relations, Chicago. decades. summer. We hope to announce initial Chuck Scholz, mayor of Quincy. Nina Shepherd, higher education governance WIUM/WIUW FM But is he right? Some scholars say findings at the United Way s Governor s consultant, Winnetka. Macomb, Warsaw he s asking the wrong questions and Breakfast this fall. Paul Simon, director, The Public Policy Institute, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. WNIJ FM looking in the wrong places for Putnam asks some compelling Hon.William G. Stratton, vice president, Associated DeKalb, Rockford, Get the undivided attention of the most influential, answers. The critics say forms of civic questions about social interaction, and Bank of Chicago. Douglas L. Whitley, Batavia, Ill. Sterling, LaSalle, Freeport educated, and affluent citizens in Illinois along involvement may be changing but not he asks whether it matters. Wim Wiewel, dean, College of Urban Planning & with the top business decision makers. declining. We think it does, and we think our Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Chicago. WNIU FM Edward R. Wojcicki, ex officio. Rockford, Dekalb Putnam s book follows his short, civic engagement project will help Tap into public radio and television stations around controversial scholarly article, Bowling Illinoisans learn something important WSIE FM Alone, published in 1995. The catchy about themselves. Representatives of Edwardsville the state and make your underwriting dollars title alludes to his conclusion that more most groups seem to be asking, How can WUIS/WIPA FM work for you with a single phone call to the Public Broadcasting Cooperative of Illinois at Americans are bowling, but fewer are we get more people involved? While our Springfield, Pittsfield joining bowling leagues. project is not designed simply to answer MEMBERS EMERITUS About two years ago, I began asking that question, we believe it could provide (years served on board in parentheses) whether Illinoisans civic habits are the valuable insights for leaders in the William C. Harris (1986-93), David Kenney 630/585-7596 (1978-90), Louis H. Masotti (1978-92), James T. same as other Americans . No one seems nonprofit, private and public sectors of Otis (1975-94), David J. Paulus (1988-94), Carl to know. So I m delighted to announce Illinois. I ll keep you posted about our Shier (1978-87). that we intend to find out. We are progress in the months to come. ❏

www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 3 EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK STAFF Publisher: Edward R.Wojcicki Editor: Peggy Boyer Long Editor emeritus: William L. Day Circulation & IllinoisIssues A publication of the University of Illinois at Springfield marketing manager: Charlene Lambert Assistant to the publisher: Laura Hogan July/August 2000 Volume XXVI, Nos. 7&8 Business manager: Chris Ryan Statehouse bureau chief: Burney Simpson Projects editor: Maureen F. McKinney Associate editor: Beverley Scobell Sections editor: Rodd Whelpley Art director: Diana Nelson Contributing editors: Madeleine Doubek Patrick E. Gauen James Krohe Jr. Our design is more inventive Charles N. Wheeler III James Ylisela Jr. and inviting. And that benefits you Editorial assistant: Debi Edmund Public affairs reporting intern: Heather Nickel No rooms, no inns, page 21 Owls and bats and coyotes, too, page 12 Make way, page 30 by Peggy Boyer Long FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 3 Conversation t’s hard to miss, we think. This the ones she didn’t use are gorgeous, Diana has a special talent for 12 Owls and bats and coyotes, too by Alf Siewers with the Publisher I year’s annual environment issue is and some of us managed to find more integrating the visual and the written Throughout the Chicago metropolitan region, by Ed Wojcicki a stunner. than one opportunity to stop by her texts. Before she came to the more Illinoisans are getting an up-close look at nature. Color helps, of course. It’s the light table just to look at the “critters” University of Illinois at Springfield’s 4 Editor’s Notebook second time we’ve run four-color as she made the final choices. Those Institute for Public Affairs, which 18 Citizen scientists by Beverley Scobell by Peggy Boyer Long inside the magazine. (The first was she did choose appear throughout the includes Illinois Issues, she spent a Ordinary people doing extraordinary work. For free. last December’s arts issue.) For his following pages. decade as art director for another 6 State of the State enthusiastic support of this endeavor, We don’t want to pass up this journalistic publication. But we had 21 No rooms, no inns by Heather Nickel we want to thank our publisher Ed chance to thank her, too. Over the last no idea how multiskilled she would Southern Illinois could lure visitors to lush forests by Burney Simpson China vote could affect Illinois Wojcicki. Thanks also to our printer couple of years, Diana has begun to turn out to be. It’s no wonder she was and stunning waterfalls. But there are few places to spend the night. Multi-Ad of Peoria for the extra develop a distinctive new “look” for chosen last spring by her peers as a attention color requires. Illinois Issues. We believe it’s more university Employee of the Month. 24 Spotlight by Burney Simpson 8 Briefly The photographs help, too. For that, inventive and inviting and, as a result, She’s responsible for the design of our Invisible enemy by Rodd Whelpley we need to thank the many talented more informative. The photographs, Roster of State Government Officials Cleaning the pollution we can’t see from Illinois’ lakes nature photographers who shoot for illustrations and graphics complement and all of the institute’s books, 36 People and streams could hit the state’s farm economy hardest. the state departments of natural the words, sometimes telling their own including works by such scholars by Rodd Whelpley resources and transportation, as well stories. as campaign finance expert Kent as The Nature Conservancy and And that benefits you, our readers. Redfield. And she’s our Webmaster, 26 Review by Harold Henderson Lincoln Memorial electronic guru Save the planet, make money 40 Letters Garden and Nature and (endlessly Natural capitalism’s four-part solution 41 A View from Chicago Center in Springfield. patient) techie promises profit, not sacrifice. Special thanks are due troubleshooter. by James Ylisela Jr. City’s integration efforts over to avian experts Vern We’d like to clone by Robert McGregor Kleen and Dennis her. But, then, we’d 30 Review essay Oehmke for granting probably have to ask Make way 42 Politics us access to their pho- for her help. Illinois is spreading out. In the meantime, marsh hawks, bobcats, by Charles N. Wheeler III tographic collections We want to thank even bobwhite quail are on the way to becoming mythological creatures. Time for fiscal caution of Illinois birds. you, too, for your All told, art support through Credits: The owl on our cover was photographed by Dennis Oehmke. Thanks also to the departments of natural resources and transportation, The Nature Conservancy and Lincoln Memorial Garden and Nature Center. ©2000 by Illinois Issues, University of Illinois at director Diana another year. This Springfield, P.O. Box 19243, Springfield, IL 62794- Nelson managed is our last issue Editorial and business office: Building K-10, University of Illinois at Springfield, P.O. Box 19243, Springfield, IL 62794-9243. 9243. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or Telephone: 217-206-6084. Fax: 217-206-7257. E-mail: [email protected]. E-mail publisher: [email protected]. E-mail editor: in part without prior written permission is prohibited. to round up some 130 for the summer. [email protected]. Subscription questions: Illinois Issues, Subscription Division, P.O. Box 251, Mount Morris, IL 61054 Illinois Issues is published by the University of photographs to select We’ll be back in or call 1-800-827-0266. 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4 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 5 STATE OF THE STATE will be lost to poorly paid Chinese Illinois delegation to the U.S. House NAFTA,” says Phelps. “We have the workers. split evenly along party lines. Ten lowest commodity prices since the The AFL-CIO, which represents Democrats opposed the trade measure Depression. We’ve lost American Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. is a nearly one million Illinois workers, has and 10 Republicans supported it. jobs in textiles and steel after NAFTA. China booster, too. That company actively fought the proposal. That Opponents in the delegation are I’m sure we’ll lose jobs after the opened an office in Beijing more than organization charges American skeptical that China would abide by its China vote.” 20 years ago and now has about 500 corporations would locate in China, pledge to open its borders. In his U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, a Democrat employees in the country. One pay subsistence wages and sell their agonizing decision to oppose the whose district includes Chicago’s Chinese operation, the An Tai Bao products to the Chinese. “This is for measure, U.S. Rep. David Phelps, a Chinatown, also voted against the coal mine on the border of Inner multinational firms, not for workers,” Democrat who represents workers in measure. “This will benefit China, the Mongolia, uses 160 pieces of Cat says Bill Looby, the group’s the Decatur Caterpillar plant, as well multinational corporations and some machinery, including massive $2 spokesman. “[China businesses. But how million trucks that were manufac- doesn’t] have to abide does that benefit tured at the firm’s Decatur factory. by rules of workers get to the average Meanwhile, the promise of tariff rights or human rights. GOING GLOBAL citizen?” A congressional vote could lure reductions has lots of other Illinois They have forced labor U.S. Sen. Durbin exporters salivating over the prospect camps where workers llinois exported $33.2 sees both sides of the more Illinoisans to the dragon’s lair of selling to the 1.2 billion Chinese. earn pennies.” Ibillion in goods in 1999, equation. He says labor By 2005, tariffs on agricultural The AFL-CIO is for according to studies for the and business represen- by Burney Simpson commodities could be cut in half and international trade, state’s commerce depart- tatives have valid entirely eliminated for high-tech says Looby, as long as ment. In an effort to boost points. But he chides goods, according to goTrade, a workers aren’t pitted that figure, Gov. George unions for not embrac- n Western tradition, the dragon lobbying arm of the Business Round- against workers in a Ryan opened Illinois’ eighth ing globalization. Iis the embodiment of evil. (In myth, As a major exporter table. The organization found that race to the bottom. overseas trade bureau in “We have to accept St. George slew one to win the hand of agricultural and industrial Illinois exported goods and services “Trade is good if it’s Johannesburg last May. the reality of world of a princess.) But in the East, the worth $1.03 billion to China in 1998. fair. Exports mean He’s also talked about leading a trade. This is a fact. dragon is a sign of good luck. And goods, this state could profit That’s substantial, but minor jobs. Our workers are trade mission to China, though And to think we can it’s this image of the dragon, long the compared to the $36.5 billion the among the best in the there are no plans to open another office reverse it and go back cultural and national symbol of from increased trade with state exported that year. world. We just don’t in that country. to some day in the China, the U.S. Congress will choose China. But Illinois also The city of Chicago also is want [trade] where the past and see prosper- if it votes to give that nation aggressively wooing the Chinese. The game is rigged.” BUREAU TARGET AREA 1999 EXPORTS ity, I don’t think that is permanent normal trade status. could lose jobs to poorly paid public/private Chicago Partnership According to the Brussels Europe $8.6 billion realistic,” he says. The designation would eliminate Chinese workers. for Economic Development sent a Economic Policy Budapest Eastern Europe $80 million Instead, Durbin the need for the annual review that delegation of several dozen high- Institute, a progressive Hong Kong Pacific Rim $3.6 billion believes, unions has been required over the past two powered business representatives, think tank, the United should have grabbed Johannesburg Sub-Saharan Africa $489 million decades. To promote the deal, China academics and legal experts to States could lose this opportunity to pledged to lower tariffs on imports, the company is eager to take Shanghai last month, addressing 872,091 jobs in the Mexico City Central America $3.2 billion demand better train- agreed to allow foreign-owned advantage of cuts in tariffs, which questions about e-commerce, next decade as firms Tokyo Japan & Korea $3.1 billion ing for workers who businesses greater access to its drive up costs of goods shipped in intellectual property law and venture move their operations Toronto Canada $8.7 billion could lose their jobs. consumers and promised to abide by and out of overseas ports. capital in a series of seminars. to China. Illinois, Warsaw Baltic States $384 million In fact, he argues, international trade rules. Motorola already claims to be the Other proponents of the change in according to that more American jobs So what’s the potential impact on largest American investor in China, China’s status, though, are wary report, would be could be lost to PROPOSED OFFICES Illinois? Like the image of the having pumped $1.5 billion into about making precise projections on among the hardest hit technological change dragon, it could be good or bad, that market over the last decade. how much Chinese trade could grow. states, losing more Israel Middle East $1.3 billion than to cheap foreign depending on whom you ask. Motorola’s sales to China accounted “I think some have been making than 38,000 jobs. Sao Paolo South America $2.1 billion labor. As a major exporter of agricultural for about 10 percent of the company’s promises they can’t keep. It’s up to China’s low-cost In the near term, and industrial goods, this state $31 billion in revenues last year. And us to increase our [exports],” says products already are Source: Department of Commerce and Community Affairs he supports an presumably could profit from it employs about 10,000 Chinese who Mark Lambert, communications flooding this country. “antisurge” safeguard increased trade. Farming interests are making such products as phones director for the Illinois Corn Growers The U.S. Department to prevent under- believe the move would help reverse and pagers, says Norm Sandler, Association. Still, Lambert says of Commerce has reported that the as agricultural interests, expressed priced Chinese-made products from years of sagging commodity prices. director of global strategic issues. Illinois corn farmers could triple the United States is on track this year disappointment at the results of the flooding the United States and wiping And telecommunications and heavy “We want more opportunities to current 47 million bushels they send to a trade deficit of $80 billion with 1994 North American Free Trade out American producers. equipment manufacturers believe sell to Chinese consumers. And we to China annually. China. Agreement among the United States, In any event, a thumbs-up congres- Chinese consumers are hungry for want to level the playing field with Political reaction has been mixed. Canada and Mexico. Supporters of sional vote — with President Bill their products. our competitors,” Sandler says. Those There isn’t unanimous support Illinois’ U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin, a that agreement also argued it would Clinton’s certain signature — would Schaumburg-based Motorola, for competitors include Nokia and in Illinois for change. Democrat, and Peter Fitzgerald, a mean more jobs and increased exports. guarantee more Illinoisans visit the one, estimates China would become Ericsson, two European firms that Union and human rights activists Republican, each support normalized “I think the benefits [of China trade] dragon’s lair. It remains to be seen the second biggest market for cellular might have a leg up if Congress does see it as a sellout to corporate trade relations. But the 20-member are overrated, just as they were with whether anyone will get burned. ❏ telephones, behind America. Thus, not agree to permanent trade status. influence. They argue American jobs 6 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 7 REPORTS Prejudicial punishment, legislative conflicts of interest Canoeing Cook • African-American males make up 90 percent of the drug offenders in and the collars BRIEFLY Illinois prisons, according to “Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in Imagine floating down a tree-lined Edited by Rodd Whelpley the War on Drugs” by Human Rights Watch. Further, says the New York-based stream in a 26-foot canoe with only advocacy group, black men are being sent to Illinois prisons on drug convictions the rhythmic sounds of the paddle. Shallow waters Photograph by William A. Britten 57 times more often than white men. A blue heron is stalking a fish in an The study looked at U.S. Department of Justice data for those going to prison inlet shallow. The bumblebees are trouble Lake for drug crimes in 37 states in 1996, the most recent year for which complete feeding on sweet-smelling purple numbers were available. The report cites mandatory sentencing for drug offenses thistles, and the beaver parents are Michigan boaters and police targeting of crack cocaine users in poor, minority neighborhoods as busily chomping down river willows ake Michigan is the reasons behind the racial discrepancy in incarceration rates. to carry back to their wetland lodges. L This could remind a person of that slowly dropping. So • Curious about whether your state legislators have a personal stake in a piece time when adventurers and settlers of legislation? Want to know if their jobs outside Springfield are influencing traveled primarily by way of Illinois’ are profits associated with their votes in the Statehouse? Would it help to find the type of investments they many rivers and streams. the Great Lakes shipping are making? That is, until a 747 out of O’Hare If you’re trying to find such information about an Illinois legislator, you’ll rumbles over. This canoe trail flows industry and prospects for likely have a tough time. According to the Center for Public Integrity, Illinois through one of the most developed, ranked 42nd out of the 50 states in what it requires to be made public about heavily populated regions of the a carefree pleasure boating legislators’ private income, other assets and potential conflicts of interest. That state: Cook and its collar counties. season. may sound embarrassing, but when the center handed out report cards, 23 other “Yet there are places where it is so This shows Lake Michigan’s shoreline in Chicago at full pool. Low water levels this year states received the same failing grade. peaceful you would swear you were As of mid-June Lake Michigan make it a good time to start shoreline protection projects. For its report, “Our Private Legislatures: Public Service, Personal Gain,” the nowhere near civilization,” says Gary water levels were nearly two feet center analyzed the 1998 financial disclosure forms of more than 5,700 legisla- Mechanic, chairman of the board below their average level for that time shipping capacity by 3,000 tons per lake levels mean whiter beaches and tors nationwide. The Washington, D.C.-based center is a nonpartisan, not-for- for the Des Plaines River Watershed of year. load over the last two to three years. less storm damage to lakeshore profit research organization. Alliance and a member of the Don Wadleigh, operations manager Little boats feel the pinch, too. property, they also result in the loss of Nationwide, 25 percent of state legislators sat on committees that regulated Illinois Paddling Council. for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waukegan, Portage and Michigan coastal wetlands and the destruction their business interests and 18 percent had connections to the businesses and Mechanic and his fellow canoe in Chicago, says the reduced lake City, the three major recreational of some fish spawning habitats. organizations that lobbied them. In Illinois, 21 percent of legislators sat on enthusiasts and river conservation- levels are taking their toll on both harbors near Chicago, are all being For the long haul, though, Toby committees that regulated their professional interests. Lawmakers defend the ists are creating a system of nearly commercial shipping and recreational dredged to allow access to the lake, Frevert, Great Lakes coordinator for practice, saying they sit on certain committees because that’s their area of 500 miles of water trails for nonmo- boating. Wadleigh says. The Waukegan the Illinois Environmental Protection expertise. Farmers work on farm proposals, for instance. torized boats, canoes and kayaks. Most of the commercial ships dredging alone will cost $150,000. Agency, doesn’t seem worried. “The The center’s report is available online at The plan was approved last coming into southern Lake Michigan But there are navigational issues, as [water] levels will come back.” www.publicintegrity.org/reports/50states/project.html. Visitors to the site can September by the Northeastern are stopping first in Toledo or Cleve- well. Boaters need to be wary of the Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon hopes also view Illinois legislators’ financial disclosure forms. Burney Simpson Illinois Planning Commission and land to lighten their loads before danger posed by submerged objects limited recreational opportunities on developed in conjunction with going on to Chicago. One business, that may be closer than usual to the the lake this summer will encourage Openlands Project and the Illinois Lafarge Corp., a cement distributor, surface. people to focus more on water WEBSOURCE Paddling Council. The Illinois estimates it has had to reduce its Wadleigh says that while reduced conservation. He believes Lake Department of Natural Resources Michigan water issues are going to Frogs R Us provided funding. Shoring up the shoreline become increasingly controversial Frogs and other amphibians are like the canaries in a coal mine: When completed, the system will over the next decade, as water Their demise is a warning sign the environment is not safe. link 174 access and portage sites Toby Frevert, Great Lakes coordinator for the Illinois Environmental supplies in California and other parts Amphibians have a two-part life cycle. Their eggs and young live in water, along 10 waterways, including Lake Protection Agency, says this is a good time to work on Chicago’s of the southwestern United States are and the adults live at least partially on land. So they sample two environ- Michigan, the Chicago River, the shoreline project because low lake levels make the shore more accessible. depleted. “There will be pressure to ments during their life cycles. “With this realization came a shift in concern Des Plaines River, the DuPage River In fact, the state is planning to spend $42 million over five years to rebuild get water from areas of the U.S. that from the disappearance of a few frogs and toads to the real possibility that and the Fox River. Lake Michigan’s eroding shoreline. have it and send it to areas that the health of our planet is deteriorating,” says Christopher Phillips, associate “The 10 major waterways of “The existing structures that guard the Lake Michigan shoreline in Illinois don’t.” In his 1998 book Tapped Out: research scientist and curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Illinois northeastern Illinois encompass the from flood and storm damage not only have expired, they have crumbled The Coming World Crisis in Water Natural History Survey. best of several worlds of paddling. away,” Gov. George Ryan said in a printed statement boosting the project. and What We Can Do About It, The survey has released a new field guide covering the state’s 102 species They are urban and rural, crowded The initiative, which has been under way for about a decade, is expected to Simon explores the potential for of amphibians and reptiles. A Web version can be found at and empty, easy and challenging. cost $301 million. But most of the money will come from federal sources. using desalinated seawater to satisfy www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/herp_links/TOC.html. They present a spectrum of paddling To qualify for those dollars, Chicago must come up with $128 million. human needs. But he argues the best The guide includes full-color photographs and biological descriptions experiences found in few places in The state’s share is part of Ryan’s Illinois First program designed to upgrade plan right now is to decrease demand of all species living within Illinois’ borders, their natural history, a statewide the world in such close proximity,” infrastructure statewide. Heather Nickel by making water a more costly distribution map divided by county and an easy-to-follow key. says Mechanic. commodity. Heather Nickel Beverley Scobell Beverley Scobell

8 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 9 Ryan vetoes abortion restrictions PRESS BOX UPDATES Gov. George Ryan last month rejected a politically controversial plan to prevent Governor reduces the number • Courts need to give more weight to parents’ wishes when the state from paying for abortions for poor women whose health is endangered by of boards; the price could go up deciding whether to grant grandparents rights to visit their pregnancy. grandkids, according to a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling Gov. Ryan signed into law a bill that abolishes several boards, Ryan’s action means Illinois statutes will continue to allow for state funding of on a Washington state law (see Illinois Issues, June, page 28). commissions and panels and reconfigures others. But the new abortions in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is at stake. In his veto The first all-Internet Illinois university, approved last month law also hikes wages of the members of key commissions. Prior • message, Ryan said, “I find it impossible to separate health from life. We live in a very by the state Board of Higher Education, will offer graduate to the signing, two Chicago newspapers published stories on the health-conscious society, with a special concern for women’s health. Why, then, would degrees in business and computer technology beginning this issue. we not be concerned about the health of a pregnant woman — rich or poor?” fall (see Illinois Issues, February 1999, page 22). Ryan campaigned on an anti-abortion platform, and the action disappointed much The Chicago Mercantile Exchange voted last month to move Chicago Sun-Times reporters found that Gov. Ryan has • of his conservative constituency. Virginia Nurmi, director of public policy for the from a membership organization to a for-profit business led rarely named women or minorities to fill posts on state Illinois Family Institute, an anti-abortion organization, says the decision is “inconsis- by a management team, a response to competition from boards and commissions. More than 90 percent of those tent with where he [Ryan] was before.” all-electronic trading (see Illinois Issues, April 1999, page 24). selected for paying positions have been white and 77 percent But abortion rights forces, which argued that the measure would have discriminated Missouri became the fifth state to outlaw the suspected police have been men. And of the 112 appointees who could expect • against poor sick women, voiced satisfaction with the decision. Steve Trombley, practice of racial profiling when Gov. Mel Carnahan agreed annual compensation of $1,000 or more, only 10 have been president and CEO of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area and the Coalition of last month to legislation requiring officers to record minorities. Reporters Dave McKinney and William Illinois Abortion Rights, says, “The governor showed he is a true compassionate the race, age and sex of all motorists they stop and to indicate Hatfield tracked more than 1,000 Ryan appointments. A conservative by putting people above politics.” whether a search was conducted (see Illinois Issues, June, spokesman for the governor said the racial makeup of the The state paid for nine abortions in 1999 to protect the health of the mother, page 18). boards is a work in progress. Last year, Ryan issued an execu- according to the Department of Public Aid. Pan American Airways will become the first air carrier to tive order calling for greater diversity in state government. • An override of the governor’s veto would require the support of three-fifths of provide passenger service from the heavily subsidized Chicago Tribune reporter Ryan Keith found that the plan the legislature. MidAmerica Airport near Mascoutah (see Illinois Issues, to streamline state government by abolishing or consolidat- Heather Nickel March, page 28 and September 1997, page 18). ing some boards and commissions could end up costing an The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision additional $500,000. Keith learned that most of the positions • GOVERNOR’S ACTION last month that Cynthia Herdrich, formerly of being eliminated were nonpaying, while members of newly By mid-June, Gov. George Ryan had signed 185 of the 247 proposals the General Bloomington, could not sue her HMO under federal law consolidated boards would see raises. Burney Simpson Assembly sent to his desk last spring. He vetoed two, one of which would have restricted (see Illinois Issues, April, page 10). abortion options for poor women, and he suggested changes in another. Here are some bills the governor signed that Illinois Issues has been watching.

Driver data The court records of drivers who have had violations in more than one county will be centralized in a database maintained by Secretary of State Jesse White. This change comes in response to last year’s Bourbonnais truck and train crash that killed 11. The truck driver had four traffic violations from several Illinois counties but stayed behind the wheel under court supervision. White says if his office had had all the information prior to the crash, it would have rescinded the trucker’s permit. Judges, prosecutors and the police will have access to the database. The law takes effect October 1.

Fuel additives Gas with more than 2 percent MTBE will be labeled at the 1/3 PAGE AD 1/6 PAGE AD pump. The additive cuts fuel emissions but pollutes groundwater. MTBE is a OMNI AD HERE ILLINOIS WATER competitor to corn-based ethanol, an additive produced in the Midwest. PICK UP RESOURCE ILLINOIS ISSUES CAMERA READY Bad bugs Nurseries that knowingly transport the Asian long-horned beetle MAY 2000 and other insects under quarantine could face fines ranging from $500 to $5,000. PAGE 15 The beetle has devastated trees on the North Side of Chicago and has been found in that city’s south suburbs. This summer, the Illinois Department of Agriculture plans to add gypsy moths to its list of insects under quarantine.

Generic drugs Illinoisans will have an easier time getting generic drugs that have been approved for use by the Federal Drug Administration. Gov. Ryan vetoed a similar bill last year, but the measure he signed this time around gives the state’s advisory drug council authority to review any drugs. At presstime, the governor and lawmakers were heading into a special session to consider action against high fuel prices. Among the options was a temporary suspension of the state’s share of the sales tax on gas. Burney Simpson

10 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 11 Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation

OWLS AND BATS AND COYOTES, TOO Throughout the Chicago metropolitan region, more Illinoisans are getting an up-close look at nature. And more often, they’re welcoming the experience

by Alf Siewers

Courtesy of Lincoln Memorial Garden and Nature Center dusty road through an old in environmental perspective is under- Aindustrial wasteland leads to the way in some quarters. The melancholy Hegewisch Little League’s ball field, late-20th century search for the mythi- built on old steel mill slag in one of cal native Lake Calumet thismia plant Illinois’ worst-polluted urban areas. has been tempered by a recognition But in the twilight, when the that surviving Chicago-area ecosys- parking lot security lights come on tems, though damaged and abused, and Little League organizer Larry are powerfully resilient. Ox-eye daisies, I-290 at Thorndale Avenue exit Wedryk sits with kids in the Rising public interest in still-viable Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke bleachers, it’s not the homer in the flora and fauna has encouraged the gloaming but nature they see. resurgence of remnant habitats. As “They come out of what we call the have government-funded efforts to swamp, the bushes and weeds and preserve, even restore, abandoned underbrush, come flying out of spaces. Just last month, Gov. George nowhere and there they are, all this Ryan and Chicago Mayor Richard wildlife,” says Wedryk. Raccoons, Daley unveiled a joint public-private foxes, rabbits, herons, sandpipers, plan aimed at revitalizing a 6,000-acre opossums, red-tailed hawks. They tract in the Lake Calumet area. The Magnolia warbler have all paraded through, above and state will contribute $20 million to around the Chicago field and parking the effort, the city $14 million. The Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke lot that at night becomes a “wild king- project calls for another $6 million dom” for Wedryk and his buddies. from the federal government and And don’t forget the big snapping $28 million from corporations and turtle behind the left field bleachers. Baby raccoon foundations. The idea is to blend new This adaptation of bird and beast in commerce into the natural environ- the Lake Calumet region on the city’s Neighbors are going to bat for ment, restore wetlands and establish a southeast side, an area sometimes coyotes. And “citizen scientists” have center that will highlight the region’s written off as irreparably damaged by armed themselves with clipboards and industrial past and natural history. the industrial revolution of the last two are tracking critters large and small, Situated between North Woods, centuries, testifies to an unfolding story furry and slimy, through wood and Great Lakes and prairie belt, under a — two, really: nature’s continuing field, vacant lot and back alley. major global butterfly and bird flyway, resourcefulness, and the evolution of built on an old complex of marshes relations between wildlife and people. But Hegewisch is as good a place that (together with the Kankakee This is not a local story only. as any to start this tale. River valley) once rivaled the Ever- Throughout the Chicago metropol- The economic shifts of the past glades in size, this is one urban region itan region, more Illinoisans are couple of decades swept industry and with a lot of natural history. Neigh- getting an up-close look at nature. people out of the region. And nature boring Indiana Dunes National And more often, they welcome the has been moving back in. Even the Lakeshore, for example, recently was experience — even when it comes to lake sturgeon has been spotted once ranked almost as rich in species as the wildlife’s less cuddly representatives. again trying to come up the formerly Grand Canyon and Great Smoky Soccer moms are learning to build heavily polluted Calumet River to Mountains national parks, though houses for once-maligned bats. spawn. At the same time, a sea change only a fraction of their size. Mourning dove

12 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 13 And ironically, though it has meant pests and they are also not pets, that habitat destruction on a large scale, they are really wild,” says Stephen

Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke the region’s very urbanness has served Packard of the National Audubon to protect some species on a small Society’s Chicago region office and a For more scale. While relatively homogeneous key mover in the Chicago Wilderness information farming throughout most of the state habitat coalition. has reduced flora and fauna drastic- Here’s how to get details about ally, Chicago-area preserves, parks, Still, all is not peaceable in the programs for wildlife and wildlife suburbs and industrial wastelands urban wildlife kingdom. habitats in urbanized areas have become dwindling havens of With more people living closer to of Illinois: biodiversity. And while more delicate other mammals pressed for space, the species continue to lose ground to Illinois Department of Natural UrbanWatch. This Illinois urban sprawl, others seem to thrive. Resources’ tally of animal nuisance Department of Natural Deer, beavers, coyotes and Canada complaints from people has gone “up, Resources project trains volun- geese, for example, were once thought up and away,” doubling in the past 10 teers in collecting data that can Brown thrasher Dickcessel Hooded warbler virtual goners in the area, but are years, according to state wildlife be used by land managers and Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke now increasing in city and suburban biologist Bob Bluett. In 1999, the scientists to nurture healthier environments where they’ve department received reports of 67,057 urban ecosystems for wildlife. accommodated to human-related complaints (most of which involved www.fmnh.org/urbanwatch, or food sources. In some cases, their extermination efforts by permit- (888) 428-0362. populations now exceed those of holding individuals and agencies), presettlement times. 86 percent in the nine counties of the The Habitat Project of the There’s been accommodation greater Chicago region, most of those National Audubon Society. This by human inhabitants, too. “It seems involving raccoons, squirrels, skunks privately funded program can there are more and more situations and opossums. Further, Chicago-area provide information on frog, bird coming up where people are trying to forest preserve districts and munici- and butterfly monitoring projects become involved with more animals palities have had to resort to sharp- that use volunteers in metropoli- that are out of the norm of bunnies shooters to take down hundreds tan areas. (847) 965-1150 ext. 12; and cardinals,” says Ders Anderson, of surplus deer each year, a highly [email protected]; or Habitat greenways coordinator for the controversial policy, but one that Project c/o National Audubon Openlands Project of Illinois and an naturalists generally advocate on Society, 5225 Old Orchard Rd., organizer of the Friends of the Fox grounds that the lack of natural Suite 37, Skokie 60077. River group. Those bat houses, for predators for the resurgent species example, are designed to draw flying can lead to overpopulation and Chicago Wilderness Magazine. mammals for insect control. And threaten native ecosystems through This is a quarterly clearinghouse there are other more nebulous overgrazing. of information on wildlife and reasons to attract, or not repel, Although deer and coyote contro- habitat activities and issues in nature. When a coyote ate a poodle in versies in particular tend to polarize northeastern Illinois. A one-year suburban Inverness, some residents neighbors who find wildlife in the subscription costs $14. opposed the call to trap the coyotes backyard — pitting sentiment against P.O. Box 5054, Skokie 60076. on village lands for the simple reason fear — Bluett, Anderson and others www.chicagowildernessmag.org. that they liked hearing them howl. dealing regularly with human See www.chicagowilderness.org For any number of reasons, reactions to wildlife say they also are for information on the Chicago practical and otherwise, over the past witnessing the emergence of a more Wilderness project as a whole. decade thousands of volunteers have mature attitude toward wild animals accepted the call of wildlife habitat among a growing portion of the Protecting Nature in Your projects in northeastern Illinois. public. This emerging ethic is shaped Community. This is a new Regional coalitions in developed in part by greater emphasis on Northeastern Illinois Planning areas along the urban crescent that ecological education in schools and Commission guidebook designed sweeps north from Lake Calumet ubiquitous TV nature programs to help local officials protect to McHenry County have organized and by the increasing number of regional biodiversity. $15 plus $6 community leaders around wildlife volunteer restoration and monitoring shipping and handling. (312) 454- issues. projects that touch suburban and city 0400, or NIPC, 222 S. Riverside “It used to be that people thought neighborhoods. There is, they say, a Plaza, Suite 1800, Chicago 60606. of wildlife as either pests or pets, better understanding of ecosystems and there is much more of a sense as wholes in which the balanced now that nature can ‘be’ in the health of wildlife populations is part I-74 west of Morton in Tazewell County Carolina wren metropolitan area, that they are not of the potential riches of the region.

14 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 15 There are actual riches to be migratory seasons to avoid luring such as University of Illinois at years, the lion’s share of these subscribers, is spotlighting and of their family routine. “We get to made, too. Realtors, and politicians, birds into lethal window crashes. Chicago geographer emeritus Jim volunteer efforts (about a quarter to marketing formerly diverse and sites a half hour after dark — moist have taken note. That trend is reflect- And that brings us back to Lake Landing knew about it. Today, a a third) have occurred in heavily isolated efforts to renew wildlife warm weather conditions are best — ed nowhere better than in Chicago’s Calumet. An important flyway stop, sophisticated and accelerating developed northeastern Illinois. habitats. A regional biodiversity and go give it a listen. And then we wildlife and ecosystem policies. Under the region is a repository of state coalition of agencies and community A new component of the project, recovery plan and a new Northeastern record what the sky color is, the wind Mayor Daley’s administration, nature endangered or threatened avian groups is taking action to help clean UrbanWatch, run by the Field Illinois Planning Commission book, speed, general weather conditions, — and, of course, good schools — is species. Formerly, only a few bird and preserve the wetlands that Museum in the Chicago area, is the Protecting Nature in Your temperature,” Andersen recounts. now seen as the ticket for keeping the enthusiasts and community activists provide wildlife for nocturnal human first program in the nation specifically Community, are among the early “Then we sit quietly and listen for a middle class in the city. The postwar audiences in the Hegewisch Little designed to monitor city while, and try to discern all Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke suburban boom proved people like League bleachers. wildlife. It systematically the different frogs that we to live near nature, or at least their With property available and melds volunteers with scien- can, and keep them separate definition of it, and in the postindus- increasing interest in natural habitats tifically designed methods of from the birds and ducks and trial era, the city sees an opportunity and wildlife, Anderson says effective data collection. cars.” to best the suburbs at their own game. community leadership is working It also will use a CD-rom Trained through the pro- “It’s a new kind of ecotourism, real- with city, county and state leaders on and Web site to train what is gram to identify specific frog ly,” explains Chicago Environmental a number of initiatives. The Paxton expected to become a much calls, Andersen takes with her Commissioner Bill Abolt, former landfill has been cleaned up, a larger pool of urban wildlife into the night in her neigh- director of the suburban Northwest comprehensive study of other sites and plant monitors. borhood’s suburban “wilds” Municipal Conference. Among other in need of preservation is moving About 60 “citizen a cell phone, thermometer, projects, the city is developing a new forward, the Burnham greenway trail scientists” were trained for journal, flashlight, and a network of neighborhood nature from Chicago to the Lansing-Indiana the new program in the past chart of frog sounds and centers and working with the U.S. border is falling into place, Illinois- year; a second class of some names. She had no previous Army Corps of Engineers to restore Indiana meetings are revving up on 100 more completed training experience in such volunteer urban riverbanks. the future of restoring Wolf Lake, a recently. They are assigned or scientific work, but since City Hall’s new sense that wildlife coalition is working to found a such sites as golf courses, she joined the program, she are members of a metropolitan national heritage corridor for the cemeteries, vacant lots, parks Killdeer has identified one frog species Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke ecological polity is reflected in two Calumet River system (like the one and preserves, where they that was thought to have been recent acts: the creation of a mayoral along the Illinois & Michigan Canal), periodically walk a route, extinct in Kane County. Barred owl wildlife advisory committee, and Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke and the Department of Natural noting the presence or Illinois, which experienced Chicago’s ratification this year of the Resources has designated the area one absence of certain species some of the quickest human Urban Conservation Treaty for of its key “eco-partnerships” of local of animals and plants. changes to ecosystems of Migratory Birds with the U.S. Fish groups and agencies. Much of the wildlife any region in world history and Wildlife Service, making the city Much work, especially toxic monitored through this during the 19th and early only the second one nationwide cleanup, remains to be done, and the program consists of smaller 20th centuries, also became an (after New Orleans) to do so. Chicago future of delicate habitats, including organisms, including snails, important early nursery for and the federal agency each pledged a heron rookery, remains uncertain. slugs, butterflies and beetles, the new science of ecology. $100,000 to improve urban bird But Anderson argues that all of this important indicators of Jens Jensen, the Danish- habitats; the agreement was signed activity in the Calumet region would habitat health. born landscape architect along the lakefront, where in recent have been unheard of 10 years ago. Nor is this the only effort whose influence shaped many years skyscrapers have become Such efforts are under way else- involving volunteers in of Chicago’s parks, as well as nesting grounds for peregrine falcons Great horned owl where, too. Through the state natural habitat projects that stress the Killdeer nest the region’s forest preserves (elected the official city bird). During resources department’s EcoWatch interrelation of humans and and the Indiana Dunes park- the ceremony, Jamie programs, volunteers, biodiverse wildlife in urban areas. fruits. land, saw healthy wildlife ecosystems Rappaport Clark, community (often Since the late 1980s, thousands of One of the region’s latest biodiver- as also healthy human ecosystems. director of the federal schools) and environ- volunteers in northeastern Illinois sity efforts is the Audubon Society’s In a 1920s plan, he envisioned wildlife service, hailed mental groups are have been involved in prairie and Habitat Project. Using private and preserving and renewing a patchwork Chicago as “the Editor’s choice monitoring key savannah ecosystem restoration public funds, the project launched a of farmland and natural habitats on O’Hare of migratory species in rivers, spearheaded by The Nature volunteer frog monitoring program, in Chicago’s West Side that would build birds.” A Birder’s Guide to the Chicago Region forests, wetlands Conservancy, a private nonprofit coordination with similar existing bird a communitarian ethic among the More symbolic, by Lynne Carpenter and Joel Greenberg and prairies so that group. A key sign of the success and butterfly monitoring networks in residents. “Some day,” he wrote perhaps, of the Introduction by Kenn Kaufman scientists and land of that effort has been the return the Chicago area. The goal is to devel- prophetically, “the West Side will feel political importance Northern Illinois University Press, 1999 managers can track of butterflies and Cooper’s hawks in op data that scientists and land man- betrayed, and will feel the loss of park of urban wildlife, the health of local area preserves. agers can use to nourish better bird- and playground, which it needs for a the city also is Want to know where and when to spot a common loon or a snowy ecosystems. About In addition, the Chicago Wilderness related ecosystems in built-up areas. healthful development of hundreds of encouraging down- owl? This guide details the best sites for getting a look at the full 2,000 volunteers and eco-partnership in northeastern Marcy Andersen, a hospital worker thousands of workers who have found town building owners range of resident and transient bird species in the Chicago region, 13 AmeriCorps field Illinois, which now involves 107 in St. Charles, signed up with her their homes there.” to dim Chicago’s and in nearby counties in Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. trainers are involved agencies and organizations, and daughter to listen to frogs for the This century’s plans for the Calumet skyline during statewide. In recent publishes a magazine with 7,000 Audubon program. It’s become part region are every bit as ambitious. The

16 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 17 Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources area’s wetlands were once an “icebox” the edge of extinction in Illinois. The loss will be greater than a few for native peoples, an integral part of On the one hand, Anton says, “in species. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that the their way of life, Potawatomi Indian Cook County’s forest preserves, we’ve wildness of fairy tales is more impor- historian Jerry Lewis of Crete notes. lost only five of the presettlement tant to adults than to children because Today, their remnant wildlife offers reptile and amphibian species. To still it reminds us of a universe larger than some hope for a Grail-like renewal have 33 of them left, let alone the ourselves. Likewise, urban encounters of an industrial wasteland, a better adaptable mammals, in such an with wildlife offer that possibility to balance between humans and nature. urbanized county, I think that’s cause Illinoisans. Nature connects us to our Still, Thomas Anton, a Winnetka- for hope. But if I get married some past, as well as our future. ❏ based environmental consultant, day and want to show my son a Alf Siewers studies and writes about recognizes that any children of his will Massasauga, I will never be sure I landscape and culture at the University likely not be able to observe in the would be able to do that. The genera- of Illinois in the wilds of Champaign- wilds of the Chicago area, as he did tion we’re handing nature off to is Urbana. in high school, such species as the going to be vastly more enlightened, Massasauga rattlesnake, teetering on but will remember less to enjoy.”

CITIZEN SCIENTISTS Ordinary people doing extraordinary work. For free

Most of Illinois’ forests look like this patchwork of trees. This fragmented forest would not be large enough for ForestWatch volunteers to by Beverley Scobell monitor. It takes an area 150 meters by 150 meters to collect usable data.

Courtesy of the Illinois EcoWatch Network n a warm and water appearance anthropologist who has worked in added to hundreds of others collected agricultural soils, then other ecosystem Osunny day last and odor, the team most of the nation’s premier natural from rivers and streams statewide soils, is still in the planning stages. May, a team of volun- used nets and history museums and now teaches at and then entered into a database All of these programs, though, will teers met in a parking buckets provided by the local college. maintained by EcoWatch, the state get off the ground more slowly than lot next to a bridge RiverWatch to scoop Mitch White, a civil and environ- organization that also coordinates expected because the General over Case Creek, a samples of rocks and mental engineer who runs his own ForestWatch, PrairieWatch, Assembly turned down Gov. George tributary of the Rock other material from hydroelectric plant and works as an WetlandWatch and UrbanWatch. Ryan’s request for permanent funding River near the Quad the creek’s bottom environmental consultant, agrees. Through those programs, more than for EcoWatch. Ryan asked for Cities airport. Mike, and bank. Finding a “It’s been a steady decline each year,” 2,000 adults and 16,000 high school $500,000 for the program in the Mitch and Jim pulled level place on a he adds. science students have helped monitor natural resources department’s 2001 on chest-high wading sandbar, they spread But Jim King, a benthicecologist the state’s environmental health since budget beginning this month. boots, checked their their trays, tweezers (someone who studies macroinverte- RiverWatch was launched in 1994, PrairieWatch, which will survey equipment and and magnifying brates on the bottoms of rivers, lakes followed by ForestWatch in 1996 and a native grassland plants and animals, headed for the creek glasses to get ready and oceans) was surprised to find so pilot WetlandWatch last year. was to have started statewide this fall, bottom, which was to “count critters,” few animals in the sample. “Yet there is PrairieWatch and UrbanWatch, a but will be restricted to the northern already overgrown or macroinverte- still life to be found,” he says, noting program aimed at monitoring plants region for now. WetlandWatch will be with tall plants and brates to biologists. though that siltation inhibits oxygen. and animals that live in city environ- curtailed even more, says Dana vines, some of those These RiverWatch volunteers are recording the stream depth, one of the three When the sample This degradation of stream life is ments, are gearing up. SoilWatch, Curtiss, coordinator for the poison ivy. measurements taken to determine how much water is flowing in Geneseo Creek was thoroughly just one piece of the environmental which will look at the health of EcoWatch network. Mike and Mitch in Henry County. gleened of all insect puzzle citizen scientists provide for have been wading larvae (some barely professional scientists. And for the first Though the RiverWatch trio through this bottom for five years — teer teams to help professional visible to the naked eye) and other time in this or any state’s history, an might be called the Dream Team of it’s Jim’s first year — to survey the scientists keep tabs on the status of the small creatures that live in streams, assessment of Illinois’ environmental Citizen Scientists, Mitch, Mike and stream’s health. They’ve given up four state’s environment. they transferred the collection to a jar health will include volunteer monitor- For more Jim, like all the program’s volunteers, hours of one weekend in each of those On last spring’s outing, this trio of alcohol, which was later turned over ing data, weighted equally with that of information spent six to eight hours in classroom years to gather data for RiverWatch, of citizen scientists followed a to their RiverWatch field office. the natural resources department’s preparation learning to identify their a Department of Natural Resources RiverWatch instruction manual to the “This is the fewest number and least scientists. Their report is due out this Go to the EcoWatch Web site at specific “indicator” species. (The program that uses their surveys and letter. After measuring water and air diversity we’ve seen coming out of this summer. dnr.state.il.us/orep/inrin/ecowatch decline or loss of these more fragile information gathered by other volun- temperature, creek depth and flow, creek,” says Mike Diamond, an The Quad Cities team’s sample was plants and animals is an early warning

18 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 19 that an ecosystem is under threat.) environment in 1992. In a 1994 report, the data was interchangeable,” says They then spent a full day of field they warned that the condition of the Curtiss of EcoWatch. study guided by one of the 13 state’s natural ecosystems is rapidly Still, the state verifies that data on regional EcoWatch trainers. declining. They concluded the decline three levels. Citizen scientist data For all volunteers, follow-up prac- is due to fragmentation of habitats, a sheets are reviewed for completeness tice and review sessions are offered result of farming and other develop- and accuracy by group leaders and periodically. Trainers are available to ment, pollution and the spread of again by EcoWatch trainers. Next, all answer questions and provide techni- exotic species that crowd out native data are entered through an online NO ROOMS, NO INNS cal support. Further, the department plants and animals. system that includes automated provides equipment and a step-by- They also concluded that, despite quality control checks. Finally, about Southern Illinois could lure visitors to lush forests, rolling hills step procedure outlined in a monitor- amassing one of the largest and most one-third of all citizen scientists are and stunning waterfalls. But that region is unlikely to become a tourist mecca ing manual. Citizen scientists also comprehensive collections of environ- randomly selected to submit macroin- anytime soon. There are too few places to spend the night receive on-site help during their first mental data anywhere in the world, vertebrate specimens (what they put in monitoring season, and can attend there were still too many gaps in the jars of alcohol at the stream site) supervised open-lab sessions to help knowledge to accurately assess trends or leaf collections for accuracy checks them identify specimens and fill out in the health of the state’s ecosystem. by staff scientists. by Heather Nickel data sheets. For example, the exact impact of Program requirements differ. barge traffic on river ecosystems is not As an extra check, EcoWatch ForestWatch volunteers, for instance, well understood. Nor is the amount trainers conduct “shadow studies.” he drive down Route 127 from the Shawnee National Forest, lush Illinois’ most photographed land- monitor their sites twice a year, a of fertilizers and pesticides applied to They go to a site that has been TMurphysboro to Anna in deep pastures give way to thousands of marks, the quaint Pomona General spring survey of ground cover and a croplands or to urban areas known. monitored by volunteers and replicate southern Illinois is only about 25 acres of towering native oak hard- Store. A right turn on a narrow gravel fall survey of trees, shrubs and vines. In short, researchers would need an the data collection using the same miles long, but stopping to see some woods interspersed with non-native road leads to the 90-foot-long During spring monitoring, those “army of biologists” to survey all the procedures. State scientists then of the sights along the way could pines. Signs direct drivers off the Pomona Natural Bridge. A left turn volunteers are asked to estimate how areas that should be monitored. compare their data to that collected easily stretch the trip into several beaten path to such natural wonders leads to the brand new Von Jakob much of the ground is covered by So they got that army by enlisting by the volunteers. To date, the results hours. as Little Grand Canyon, with its Vineyard, where guests sip home- plants and, using equipment provided the help of such volunteers as Mitch, are encouraging. Accuracy rates The state highway winds up and cliffs, waterfalls and breathtaking made wines while marveling at the by ForestWatch, measure tree canopy Mike and Jim. As a result, they’ve of citizen scientist data exceed down gently rolling hills dotted with views of the Big Muddy River beauty of the surrounding Shawnee. height as well as observe downed been able to cover more ground. 80 percent. One-half of RiverWatch old-fashioned barns and country bottoms. Unless travelers want to sleep under woody debris and signs of human use The state’s biologists conduct detailed data exceeds 90 percent. Other houses. As travelers descend into Farther down is one of southern the stars, though, what they’re likely or disturbance. In the fall, they biodiversity surveys on 30 randomly comparison studies have confirmed identify and measure the diameter selected sites in each of the four high levels of precision and correla- Courtesy of The Nature Conservancy, Illinois Chapter ©Kim Harris of trees, survey the shrub layer and ecosystem types (forest, stream, tion between citizen scientist and monitor the density of the tree canopy grassland and wetland), which results EcoWatch scientist data. foliage. They are to take note of the in 150 sites being monitored for each That’s surprising, given that citizen presence of gypsy moths and dogwood habitat once every five years. Citizen scientists begin the program with anthracnose, a fungal disease that kills scientists, on the other hand, collect such different levels of expertise. “Our dogwood trees. And they are asked to data from nearly 500 sites each year. volunteers range from people trained look for such regional exotic species as And the data is solid. In the first in the natural sciences to those who the Asian long-horned beetle. year of a three-year comparative haven’t had a science course since high The need for volunteer help in analysis, Ed DeWalt, an aquatic school. They are teachers, business monitoring the state’s environment entomologist, found that data owners, homemakers, hourly workers was spotlighted by professional collected by RiverWatch volunteers and retirees,” says Curtiss. scientists who completed the first was close to that of natural resources What all the volunteers have in comprehensive assessment of Illinois’ department scientists. “In many cases common, she says, is an interest in the outdoors, a hunger for information and a willingness to get involved in local issues that affect their quality of life. Editor’s choice Whatever their background, citizen scientists bring qualities to The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants the program that allow the state’s by Charles S. Elton professional scientists to trust the Forward by Daniel Simberloff data they collect. “Illinois is leading The University of Chicago Press, 1958 and 2000 the nation with its citizen scientist program,” says Curtiss. “This is not Want to know the history of the gypsy moth? This study on the worldwide on the fringe. This is mainstream distribution of non-native species by the “founder of ecology” provides a biological data collection.” ❏ good resource for understanding the damage such invaders can cause. Cypress and tupelo swamp in the Cache River Wetlands in far southern Illinois

20 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 21 Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke

Wood duck Mallard

notes Debbie Moore, director of the Gatlinburg, Tenn. But — and here’s hostelers. Bed and breakfast public land. The Shawnee alone with proper marketing. He suggests Carbondale Convention and Tourism that catch — even if southern operations aren’t allowed to sell or accounts for 12.6 percent of the total that a regional approach is the future Bureau. That ratio reflects the wide Illinois invested in such Branson- serve alcohol. And it’s difficult to put square miles in the southernmost 11 for tourism in the southern 35 coun- range of outdoor attractions, but it and Gatlinburg-like attractions as historic homes into compliance with counties. ties. “I am a personal supporter of a Editor’s choice fails to fully exploit this impoverished theme parks and country music the city’s handicapped accessibility Robert Winchester, deputy chief of group of counties promoting each region’s economic potential. By one stages, it would lack the lodging requirements. staff in southern Illinois for Gov. other, not just themselves.” Southern Illinois Birds: official’s estimate, tourism accounts needed to accommodate new visitors. George Ryan, has suggested develop- This strategy is already taking An Annotated List and Site Guide for about a fifth of the region’s And without the rooms, there’s little There’s more at stake than the ing a public-private partnership to shape. Walker says, for example, her W. Douglas Robinson economy, but without the marketing money to finance any projects that lost room rental fees. “Little lodging build rustic overnight lodging in the bed and breakfast operation in Southern Illinois University Press revenue to attract a broader might boost tourism. creates little taxes,” Benefield says. Shawnee. But he’s not optimistic Jackson County has been included in 1996 cross-section of overnight tourists, The eight most populous of the Local tourism bureaus are funded on that score, what with the already- a Union County promotional effort. that base is unlikely to grow. state’s southernmost counties have through a 5 percent state hotel/motel heated disputes over land use in the And Moore says she collaborates Want to know what species of And for southern Illinois, tourism just 2,000 rooms spread among tax. Those dollars are funneled federal forest. with Benefield and other local birds John James Audubon found is more than a matter of pride: It may hotels, motels, bed and breakfast through the Illinois Department of Geographic pride can also conflict tourism directors on ways to bring in when he traveled through southern be a necessity. The counties from establishments and state park cabins. Commerce and Community Affairs. with a desire to welcome outsiders. more visitors. Illinois in the early 19th century? Jackson on the western edge of the Cindy Benefield, bureau director for County or municipal governments Some locals, Moore says, don’t want Winchester hopes to extend that And which ones are no longer region and Gallatin on the east down six of the southernmost counties, says have the authority to levy another to expand tourism for fear of kind of cooperation to neighboring around? Or how the fragmentation to Alexander at the very tip of the no more than two communities in 5 percent on room rentals. Still, that damaging the area’s beauty. “This is states. He’s working with politicians of the region’s forests in the late state are home to some of the poorest her region have the facilities to doesn’t add up to much. “We survive ours,” they say. “We love it and we on the Mississippi Delta Initiative, an 20th century is affecting the song- communities in Illinois. The coal accommodate a motor coach tour, on a little more than $100,000 per don’t want anyone coming in and idea spurred by President Bill Clinton bird population? mines that were once the economic which requires a minimum of 22 year,” says Benefield, whose agency messing it up.” For that reason, when he was governor of Arkansas. Southern Illinois’ wooded tracts, lifeblood of southern Illinois have rooms per night. serves some of the poorest areas of Moore aims to promote low-impact The plan would grant federal funds to hills and floodplains still provide a closed or slowed production over the Moore, of the Carbondale visitor’s Illinois. activities, perhaps hiking from a seven-state area to improve tourism, rich habitat for birds of all sorts. last decade because the high sulfur bureau, notes that her region draws She believes marketing efforts Pomona to Hickory Ridge along a recreational opportunities and mass This guide details area species and content of that coal violates federal thousands of visitors during SIUC’s would be helped if the structure of river-to-river trail, or viewing wild transit. Sixteen southern Illinois identifies the best birding sites in clean air standards. graduation and parents’ weekends. the hotel/motel tax was changed so turkeys and Cooper’s hawks in Giant counties would be included in the the state’s bottom 17 counties. Increasingly, the region depends But she has to direct many of those that all of the locally collected City State Park. program. on Southern Illinois University at visitors to neighboring communities money would be directed to tourism Southern Illinois’ value as a tourist U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, an not to find south of the St. Louis Carbondale, small businesses and to find a place to spend the night. bureaus. Instead, she says, several attraction is that it is relatively Illinois Republican, is sponsoring the Metro East area is a place to spend such state facilities as prisons to Though there are some bed and counties in her area keep a portion of pristine, says Glenn Poshard, a proposal in his chamber, and U.S. the night. provide desperately needed jobs. breakfast establishments in the local tax. former U.S. representative and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, also Here’s a southern Illinois Catch-22: But that hasn’t been enough. The southern Illinois, they aren’t able to The city of Metropolis in Massac Democratic gubernatorial candidate an Illinois Republican, is backing Fewer accommodations mean April unemployment rate for Illinois’ meet the demand. Frances Walker County, for one, collected about who is now vice chancellor for the measure, which has gained tourists are less willing to tarry in 11 southernmost counties was 5.7 owns Sassafras Ridge Bed and Break- $90,000 from the municipal administration at SIUC. “For years, bipartisan support. Ultimately, that part of the state. And fewer percent, compared to 4 percent fast in Carbondale. She says she had hotel/motel tax in the 1999 fiscal year. some people have said we need to Winchester says, he would like to overnight room rentals means less statewide. In Pope and Pulaski to turn away more than twice as many The visitor and convention bureau build a theme park. But I don’t think see the Mississippi Delta states money to promote southern Illinois counties, 8.4 percent of the labor customers as she could accommodate received about $25,000 and the city our people want that.’’ coordinate special events to entice to visitors. That’s because the force was jobless in April. last Memorial Day weekend. kept the rest for such events as the Though it lacks such surefire draws travelers to vacation in several states. primary funding for such marketing Some see the expansion of the Walker, who is also the marketing annual Superman Celebration and the as theme parks, tourism commands a Despite the difficulties in develop- comes from taxes on hotels and fledgling tourism industry as the director for the Illinois Bed and German Fest, according to Metropolis relatively large share of the southern ing tourism, southern Illinois has motels, which, again, southern region’s best hope for economic Breakfast Association, notes there city bookkeeper Deborah Beal. Illinois economy. Winchester much to offer. “It is a hidden treasure Illinois is short on. improvement. And with a little are fewer than 1,000 rooms in There are geographical obstacles to estimates that tourism may account for the state of Illinois,” Winchester Certainly, this area draws those development, the area could become Jackson County. But, she suggests, tourism development, as well. Moore for as much as 20 percent of the argues. Still, it would be wise to pack who are ready to rough it. “We have a tourist mecca on a par with nearby some of Carbondale’s local ordi- notes that building lodging is difficult southern Illinois economy and a sleeping bag on that trip down as many campsites as hotel rooms,” hotspots Branson, Mo., and nances may discourage prospective in an area that encompasses so much believes this figure could be boosted Route 127. ❏

22 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 23 fertilizers, pesticides and livestock Gilson since 1947. “If you don’t have times was expressed by Randy wastes. Soil erosion also contributes to to do it, some won’t even do it for their Newman in his song “Burn On,” a Spotlight the problem. Thus, agriculture will own safety.” sarcastic tribute to the Cuyahoga River face new pressures under the scrutiny Meanwhile, the state hired Harza in Ohio. It had become so clogged with of these continuing studies. If Engineering Co. of Chicago and debris and spillover from oil tankers research finds that pollution in a CH2MHILL of St. Louis to analyze that it caught fire. Public demand watershed comes from existing and pollutants and their sources on the forced regulators to focus on these INVISIBLE ENEMY newly regulated sources, polluters initial six watersheds. Harza will study egregious sources of discharge that who have invested time and money in the Kaskaskia River in Clinton and could be seen with the naked eye. The latest focus in the nation’s campaign for clean water is on the sources of pollution that cannot meeting previous standards could be Marion counties, the Cache River in The 1972 act set tougher limits on be easily seen. In Illinois and other farm states, that’s likely to put the spotlight on agriculture hard-pressed to take additional, and Union County, the Big Muddy River discharge levels, forcing polluters to costly, steps. Instead, says Albert in Franklin County and Rayse Creek clean up their emissions or face fines or Ettinger, water issues coordinator for in Jefferson County. CH2MHILL will other penalties. States also required the Sierra Club, those interests will analyze the East Branch of the permits for those discharging waste by Burney Simpson join environmentalists to lean on the DuPage River, and Salt Creek in into a watershed.

Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation agricultural industry to reduce its DuPage and Cook counties. Since then, activists and regulators pollution. The research and analysis will take have declared victory in this part of the A common chemical in fertilizer is about 18 months and will include battle. And in Illinois, a combination nitrogen, which encourages plant public hearings, says Gary Eicken, of the act’s reforms and changes in growth. When nitrogen and its head of the watershed management farm tilling practices has improved the derivatives — nitrates and nitrites — planning unit at Illinois’ Bureau of Illinois River, according to Derek drain into a body of water, the plants Water. The bureau is searching for Winstanley, chief of the Illinois State consume all of the oxygen, killing fish firms to study another 13 watersheds. Water Survey. He’s finishing a study and other aquatic life. Further, when it Even when plans have been written of the Illinois River that goes back to enters drinking water, it poses a dan- for all 338 watersheds, the state will presettlement days, and he’s found that ger to infants because it blocks oxygen need assistance from the federal gov- nitrate levels in the river are back to the from being circulated through the ernment and other states, says Eicken. levels they were in the 1800s, prior to body, causing “blue baby,” a potential- Illinois’ two largest watersheds, for massive use of fertilizers by farmers. ly life-threatening condition. Though instance, are Lake Michigan and the The possibility of federal standards the syndrome is rare in Illinois, it is Mississippi River. Finding and clean- for nitrogen in drinking water looms monitored by water regulators. The ing the hidden discharges in those two despite these improvements. But source of pollution may be invisible, bodies of water will be a massive job. Winstanley cautions against rushing to but nitrate and phosphate runoff can Further, the problems will vary in the add regulations. He notes that the river be visible in the water in the form of state’s numerous watersheds. For was never as pristine as some believe. excessive algae, plant growth that can example, central Illinois’ Lake Decatur, Once it had a high nitrogen content turn the water dark green. which draws on water from five coun- due to buffalo waste and the sediment The Illinois Farm Bureau argues ties, has already been closely moni- from burning prairie grass. In that Vermilion River there’s a voluntary approach in tored for nitrites. “Of all the water context, the 15-year life of the state place that is already working to cut bodies polluted by nitrogen, Lake analysis seems short. A long-term view agricultural pollution, particularly in Decatur has had the biggest impact on may be necessary when the enemy is an ater gets dirty. We can see that. mental officials throughout the coun- The Illinois Environmental the case of erosion. “We’ve reduced humans because it is used for drinking invisible one. ❏ WWe bathe in it, wash our clothes try are gearing up to monitor limits on Protection Agency has hired two soil erosion by 30 percent,” says water,’’ says Robert Moore, executive in it, pour our wastes into it. But what the amount of “invisible” pollutants consultants to research and analyze six Nancy Erickson, the bureau’s director director of the Prairie Rivers Network, used to be obvious has now become an that enter our streams and lakes. of this state’s watersheds in an effort to of natural and environmental a 30-year-old statewide water quality Editor’s choice invisible danger. And this time, the onus for dirty determine the level of these so-called resources. “We’re concerned there will watchdog group. Looked at one way, this is good water is likely to fall largely on farmers. invisible discharges and the safety of be a one-size-fits-all mandatory news. Nearly 30 years after the The contaminants to be monitored the state’s water supply. Watersheds are approach. That’s not going to work for It’s too early to determine the final Fresh Water passage of federal clean water more closely are technically known as those areas where water, including agriculture. The weather, for example, cost of the project, says Eicken. For by E.C. Pielou standards put the onus on factories to “nonpoint source” pollution. The storm runoff, drains into a river or doesn’t cooperate.” now, the two firms conducting the six The University of Chicago Press clean the nation’s waterways, we are no counterpart, “point source” pollution, lake. Over the next 15 years, the agency Nonetheless, according to state surveys will be paid about $800,000. 1998 longer faced with the spectre of got its name because observers can plans to examine 338 of them. During environmental officials, voluntary And the state’s water bureau continues burning rivers. literally point to a source, such as an that time, it will devise plans to reduce efforts have not eliminated the to sort the next batch of watersheds to Want to know how water moves But our expectations are higher. A industrial pipe dumping waste into a pollution in all of those watersheds. problem. And environmentalists are study. But this emphasis on invisible from vapor to land to sea to vapor recent federal study found that 20,000 river. The nonpoint source, or unseen In Illinois’ urban areas, the culprits pushing to enhance regulations. sources of pollution indicates how far again? As a natural history of bodies of water in the United States pollution, occurs through less obvious behind invisible source contaminants Even some farmers agree. “A the nation has come in its struggle for fresh water, this book provides a remain polluted, though overt means, such as farm field runoff include parking lots with oil, gas and voluntary system for the average clean water. The fight against water technical grounding for readers sources of contamination have been carried by precipitation to rivers, lakes asphalt tainted runoff. Elsewhere, farmer won’t be able to cut it,” says pollution originated in the 1972 federal interested in the water crisis. reduced considerably. So environ- and groundwater. contaminants include runoff from Jane Johnson, a family farmer in Clean Water Act. The tenor of those

24 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 25 landfilled sooner. its profits. even bankrupt the company. The necessary additional natural- As long as Interface thought These authors bypass both sides of capitalist steps have been taken of itself as being in the business this tired debate. Instead of trying to Books by the Atlanta-based company of “selling carpet,” it could only solve the same problem in the same Interface. Step two, closing the reduce its resource consumption and way, and getting stuck, they encour- production loop, is represented by waste by so much before running into age what they call “whole-system Solenium, that company’s new the so-called law of diminishing engineering” and what most people polymer product that can be returns. That “law” shows up all the might call “stepping back and look- SAVE THE PLANET, MAKE MONEY “completely manufactured back into time in environmental disputes. ing at the big picture,” all the while itself” and provides a keeping in mind that it Natural capitalism’s four-part solution promises profit, not sacrifice better surface as well. Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources would be a good idea to Step three, moving reduce waste, consume from product to service, fewer resources and Review by Harold Henderson is Interface’s imitate natural process- changeover from es. In other words, they selling carpet to leasing reconceive the problem floor-covering services. by asking a different As the authors say, and (usually) larger “Whenever indicated question. by monthly inspections, The plodders are NATURAL CAPITALISM:CREATING THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Interface replaces correct in the short run. Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins, 1999 overnight the 10-20 If you confine yourself Little, Brown and Co. percent of the carpet to thinking of ways to tiles that show 80- recycle existing carpet- 90 percent of the wear. ing, you will find that This reduces the after a while you are left amount of carpet with carpet backing aul Hawken, Amory Lovins and replacement value, and the exploita- very nearly nothing at all — but ideas.” material required by that is so broken-down PHunter Lovins believe our envi- tion of living systems as if they Consider your office carpeting. about 80 percent it would cost an absurd ronmental problems stem not from were free, infinite, and in perpetual Every decade or so it’s ripped up, because the unworn amount to try to refash- the greed of capitalists, but from renewal, it is people who have landfilled and replaced by different part of the carpet is ion it into anything. their failure to be greedy about the become an abundant resource, carpeting, disrupting work and left in place. That sort of dead end right things. In other words, they see while nature is becoming disturbingly exposing people to carpet-glue “It also provides is a sign that it’s time pollution, extinction, resource deple- scarce.” fumes. Nor is time all that’s wasted. better service at to try rethinking the tion and global warming as mainly Chances are, only the carpeting in reduced life-cycle business of floor cover- the fault of — bad accounting. Natural capitalism’s four-part high-traffic areas is even close to cost, increases net ing from first principles. If we kept track of what nature solution promises profit, not being worn out. And “it takes two employment (less By looking at the whole is really worth, they say, we’d take sacrifice: (1) Use natural resources at pounds of fossil fuel to turn one manufacturing, but system (instead of better care of it. And taking care is least 10 times more efficiently. Then pound of mainly petro-based more upkeep) and griping about environ- more important now than it was, say, use even less (2) by redesigning feedstock into carpet, plus an eliminates disruption, mentalists who know 250 years ago. industrial processes so as to reuse additional amount to transport it to since worn tiles are nothing of carpet “At the beginning of the industrial all waste, and (3) by redesigning the customer and back to the landfill, seldom under furniture. backing chemistry), revolution, labor was overworked business plans to sell services rather where it resides for the next 20,000 Because the carpet is Interface was able to and relatively scarce (the population than products. Businesses that do years or so.” laid in the form of find ways to provide was about one-tenth of current these things first will get an edge on Natural capitalism to the rescue. tiles, glue fumes are floor-covering services, totals), while global stocks of natural the competition, and as they take Step one, resource productivity, also significantly drawing on fewer capital were abundant and unexploit- over the economy they will (4) lobby would be to recycle the old carpet by reduced or possibly natural resources and ed,” they write in Natural Capitalism: to end government subsidies for “downcycling” it into carpet backing, eliminated.” emitting much less Creating the Next Industrial misuse of resources and allow nature as some companies are already Note that, as a waste. And they were Revolution. In those days, manufac- to restore and replenish itself. doing. But eco-efficiency is not service provider, the able to do so profitably, turers could take nature for granted. “As each of those multiplying enough by itself, maybe even company now profits from reducing Environmentalists call for stricter instead of spending money trying to Of course the river would cleanse savings turns less green land into counterproductive. If all a company waste and making more durable car- emission controls; manufacturers refine an outdated design. their effluent, and the next cold front brown wasteland, less fossil fuel into is doing is downcycling old carpets, it pet, rather than from making and complain they’ve already made their To jump-start the process of would disperse their smoke. But no climate change, less stuff into waste, will still have to landfill the backing disposing of ever-larger amounts of plants 90 percent cleaner than they invention, it helps if we want to longer. “After two centuries of rises [they] will accelerate the restoration eventually. And being able to make carpeting. By following this strategy, were 20 years ago. Getting them up restore natural capital. (Interface’s in labor productivity, the liquidation and increase the abundance of carpet more efficiently might just we are told, between 1994 and 1998 to 95 percent cleaner will cost a lot CEO was reportedly inspired by of natural resources at their natural capital.” In the long run, we encourage us to carpet more surfaces Interface doubled its revenues, nearly more, and reaching 100 percent (zero reading Paul Hawken’s The Ecology extraction cost rather than their can prosper and live on “a net flow of with cheap stuff that has to be doubled its employment and tripled emissions) would be absurd. It might of Commerce.) It helps to reflect on

26 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 27 how nature works and to consider resource, too, needs to be fostered. project that would give fishermen natural capitalism can get the job what services we really want from In a command economy like that of a direct economic interest in the done? Inquiring minds want to know, products — from carpets to cars. the former Soviet Union’s, most sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico and they won’t find out from this It helps to know the book’s ingenuity goes to waste, leading to red snapper fishery by assigning inspiring, but flawed, book. ❏ cautionary tales about waste. environmental horrors worse than individual transferable quotas to each Harold Henderson is a writer for the But the ultimate resource, as the late capitalism has brought about. boat, in effect creating property rights Chicago Reader. economist Julian Simon pointed out, in the fish catch. This approach is human ingenuity. And that Carpeting is one of dozens would place an appropriate monetary of examples. The authors ran out value on a newly scarce natural Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation of room in the book and packed more resource, but it goes unmentioned. Courtesy of Lincoln Memorial Garden and Nature Center into a Web site (www.natcap.org). A similar confusion beclouds the Their enthusiastic and lovingly book’s relatively brief discussion of detailed descriptions of ultra-light the big policy picture. On one hand, hybrid cars, superwindows and ink the authors say in their preface that that floats off paper almost conceal public interest legislation is the holes in the book’s intellectual unnecessary. Going green makes so fabric. much money “companies that ignore The book’s argument devolves the message of natural capitalism do through three stages. At first, so at their peril”— the train will leave Hawken, Lovins and Lovins say the station without them. Likewise, capitalism is in danger of destroying we don’t have to convince business- itself because industries do not pay people of the danger of global warm- the full cost of resources or pollution. ing, they argue in a later chapter, But then, they acknowledge that they because the needed countermeasures don’t know how to properly price are so profitable. “Those who worry these things (and that maybe some of about climate can see the threats them are priceless), so as a practical to it ameliorated. Those who don’t matter, businesses should just proceed can still make money.” as if natural resources and services This is great news if true, because are worth something more than zero, it seems unlikely that we can save the even though we can’t say exactly how environment by piling regulation much. Finally, in their examples (such upon regulation. Not only is that as the one about Interface), they process cumbersome, at some point it describe how companies can prosper risks stifling the ingenuity that is the on entirely conventional terms by mainspring of both economic and eliminating waste and redesigning environmental progress. processes and rethinking their But toward the book’s end, the businesses. No particular worry about authors take back their good news in nature is required. The plain ordinary a most peculiar way. They suggest profits to be made by eliminating that progressive carpeting companies waste of energy and materials are so should try to get a law passed great that even CEOs with anti-envi- banning old carpets from landfills. ronmentalist convictions should rush This is exactly what they said up to embrace them, simply as a matter front would not be necessary. And of business self-preservation. indeed, what would be the point, The result is a fascinating book if the progressive companies were that takes us on a tour of American already expanding and profiting by businesses’ fantastic and environmen- bypassing landfills? Why wouldn’t Illinois River bluffs in Pike County tally damaging wastefulness. But it is their competitors be avidly imitating Black-eyed susans a bit odd that the authors display no them? Why do Hawken, Lovins and interest in grappling with the hard Lovins suggest that Interface should accounting questions — figuring out use time, money and ingenuity to how natural resources and services lobby Congress for a special favor? should be priced. Couldn’t that same time, money and As it happens, market-oriented ingenuity be better employed to environmental groups are working on make the business more profitably this very problem. Environmental earth-friendly? Where along the way Defense, for instance, is pioneering a did the authors lose their faith that

28 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 29 Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation

Books

MAKE WAY Illinois is spreading out. In the meantime, marsh hawks, bobcats, even bobwhite quail are on the way to becoming mythological creatures

Review essay by Robert Kuhn McGregor

FOR THE HEALTH OF THE LAND Edited by J. Baird Callicott and Eric T. Freyfogle, 1999 Island Press Nachusa Grasslands, Lee County Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke he commercial types have care of that. And the superstore, homes on tiny lots. Streams are T opened another superstore up that’s another hundred acres or so disappearing, odd groves of ancient the road a piece. A couple of miles buried under tons of concrete — the trees are becoming piles of smolder- south, the rattle of hammers finest soil in the world, sentenced to ing slash, windbreaks painfully announces the raising of roofs for a mercantile sterility. As if we need planted during dustbowl days are new subdivision. At the end of our more shopping venues. As if the field being plowed under. Make way. block, road scrapers prepare to mice, the foxes, the hawks, the owls Illinois is spreading out. In the double the lanes at the intersection, need fewer homes. As if we need less meantime, marsh hawks, bobcats, a dirty process that covers my house peace and quiet. even bobwhite quail are on the way and trees with a thick patina of gritty For reasons personal and madden- to becoming mythological creatures. brown dust. ing, I have suffered a fair number I have not seen a fox in my part of Progress, so they say, is everywhere. of occasions to travel in central town in 10 years. Once, Reynard That new intersection accelerates Illinois recently, eastward toward was a common fellow in my neigh- the process of urbanizing our little Champaign, southward as well. borhood, and he is supposed to be village neighborhood. The new Everywhere the story is the same: adept at dealing with urban sprawl. subdivision occupies a hollow where commerce imposing ever more gaudy How I wish I could tell myself this a tiny rivulet used to run; they emporia on rural neighborhoods, is just a bad dream, an aberration, a installed a big drainage pipe to take surrounding them with upscale product of the moment. That’s the Bobwhite

Courtesy of Lincoln Memorial Garden and Nature Center Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke

Male and female bobwhites Carolina wren

30 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August ❏ 31 Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation problem with being a historian. was prepared to admit the flaws in I cannot lie to myself. We may have this pursuit. For the deer to flourish, become more efficient, more he concluded, an entire ecosystem grandiose in our desires to turn has to be protected, and that includes The destruction of the wilds nature into one huge suburb, but we the wolves, coyotes and mountain is often a product of those are not doing anything new. The urge lions. But that was in 1948. What this to stamp out wilderness, to make new collection makes transparently who love the natural world. nature say money, is older than clear is how much Leopold’s initial That we destroy for profit America. What is worse, the destruc- devotion to the natural world was tion of the wilds is just as often grounded in his fervent desire to hunt is readily understandable. a product of those who love the game animals. natural world. That we destroy for This is not especially surprising. That we destroy out profit is readily understandable, if The early history of nature enthusi- of love is harder to swallow. hard to accept. That we destroy out asm in our culture is peppered with of love is harder to swallow. such images. English naturalist After five centuries of tampering, Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation we have no choice but to continue, generally with conflicting goals and little comprehension of nature’s make plain that his wildlife own ways. management initiatives are intended This sobering dilemma has come to promote game production. home in a rather odd way over the Despairing of the destructive, past couple of weeks. I’ve been ground-clearing habits of Wisconsin reading For the Health of the Land, farmers, Leopold chronicles his a new collection of “lost” works efforts to encourage cooperation written by the great conservationist between farmers and hunters. Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, Monroe County Aldo Leopold (1886-1948). Leopold Leaving bottomland in cover, Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation was a pioneer in wildlife manage- selectively cutting woodlands, leaving ment, working for the U.S. Forest brush: These measures are not Service before going on to an intended to protect or assist wild academic career at the University nature, but to produce large coveys of Wisconsin. His most famous of quail. Any benefit to the larger work, A Sand County Almanac,a ecological community is, at this stage collection of essays first published in of Leopold’s career, absolutely 1949, is regarded as a fundamental incidental. Hunting is the “highest volume in the library of the environ- use” of any wild land. mental movement. This new selection Standing at the brink of the 21st of essays, rescued from obscurity and Gilbert White, author of what many century, this seems an anomalous assembled by J. Baird Callicott of the regard as the first comprehensive heritage. That hunters need nature, University of Wisconsin and Eric modern natural history, regularly that they prefer woods to subdivi- Freyfogle of the University of shot specimens for inspection. John sions and superstores, I have no Illinois, is a record of Leopold’s James Audubon, our most celebrated doubt. And hunting does serve formative years, when he struggled to nature artist, captured those vivid important functions. Along with achieve an ecological vision. Reading colors and arresting features by the fishing, it represents a vestige of the the volume, I am intrigued by the simple expedient of shooting several ancient, sacred concept of the public awkward, at times dubious, nature examples of each species and nailing commons, where all share equally in of his journey. The roots of environ- them to perches as models. But our the means of living. Where I grew up, mentalism are many, varied, and not greatest ecological voice, Henry for example, a poor family’s success always pretty. David Thoreau, came to his most in deer season meant the difference Aldo Leopold spent the early profound appreciation of nature between a bounteous Thanksgiving portions of his career doing consid- after giving up his gun. And his and a helping of beans. And many erable harm to the thing he loved. He intellectual descendant, John Muir, wealthier hunters contributed their is quite honest about this in A Sand lectured Theodore Roosevelt on the prey to orphanages. County Almanac, confessing to an “childish habit” of hunting. Yet, It is also true that after four unremitting determination to while the nature lover with gun in centuries of “wildlife management” eliminate such predators as wolves to hand is a paradoxical image, it has that meant the destruction of Scarlet tanager Rock River and prairie restoration, Castle Rock State Park promote the population of deer. been a commanding one. cougars, timber wolves, grizzlies By the last year of his life, Leopold Several of Leopold’s earliest essays and other beasts with sharp teeth,

32 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August ❏ 33 hunting is an ecological necessity. much more is learned. Eventually, as As expressed in this collection, Without the hunters, we would be up in Thoreau’s case, there might even Leopold’s chief concern during the to our clavicles in deer. The deer come a recognition that nature Depression era was to address and population in Illinois is too large as it operates as a completed whole. enhance the values of private stands; to do away with hunting Aldo Leopold did arrive at some- landowners, especially the farmers. would prove disastrous — for the thing resembling a holistic point of From his own experiences, he deer especially. view, but his attitude shifted slowly, understood both the powers and Hunting can and does nurture and never changed altogether. The limitations of federal conservation an appreciation for the wilds, too. Courtesy of Dennis Oehmke efforts. While the national govern- Peter Fitzgerald, Illinois’s new and ment could and did manage millions S maverick Republican senator, attrib- of acres of wilderness, the fact Readin utes his surprisingly “green” voting remained that 99 percent of um er g record in Congress to a regard for America’s lands remained in private m nature instilled during childhood hands. If wild nature were to survive, hunting expeditions with his family. if there were to be game to hunt, Throughout the 20th century, resource managers were going to “sport” hunters have pushed for have to speak the language of the legislation protecting birds and actual landowners. animals, preserving wilderness. Certainly Aldo Leopold grew No animals, no sport: That much intellectually in the years after is obvious. writing most of these essays. The From Shadrach Bond to George Ryan, Whether hunting is the “highest defense of nature expressed in A use” of wilderness, I have sincere Sand County Almanac rests on an this book introduces you to all the state’s chief executives. doubts. Leopold’s essays do nothing ethical concept: Nature has rights to assuage them. In an essay written that no human being may deny. eet the governors and sort out the professional in 1938, he quotes with evident People are citizens of the landscape, achievers, the career failures, the partisan approval the sentiments of Edward, as are the flowers, the pheasants and Mloyalists, the mavericks, and the enemies. Duke of York, from the 15th century. the foxes. Our rights do not extend Each has his story, and they are all worth remembering. Edward was one of those sporting to the denial of the rights of other On the whole, they were guys; to him, nothing was more Red-bellied woodpecker species. Studying For the Health wholesome than hunting with his of the Land, the reader comes Mostly Good and Competent Men. buddies. The idea of staying home heart of the essays collected in For to understand that this land ethic with his wife and family was an the Health of the Land is a series of originated in a desire to create a Do you know them? invitation to the seven deadly sins. short pieces published as “A democratic community of responsi- $ 95 Was $19.95 Now Far better to get up early in the Landowner’s Conservation ble landholders, a community where 14 plus $3.00 shipping and handling morning, join his pals and go shoot Almanac.” These essays, written men and women would work to something. Not for the food, mind. between 1938 and 1942, were mostly protect and support nature because Edward clearly knew where his next published in the Wisconsin it is the moral thing to do. Whatever meal was coming from. For Edward Agriculturalist and Farmer, a popular the foundations of the love of nature Almanac of Illinois Politics-2000 — and for Aldo Leopold — the farm newspaper. Devotees will might be, that love holds the key to essence of hunting is the growth of recognize in the pieces, arranged nature’s survival. The #1 guide to Illinois government proper virtue. But that virtue derives sequentially according to season, Half a century later, I put down ince its first edition in 1990, the biennial Almanac of from killing living things. Small the prototype for much of A Sand these essays to listen to the deter- Illinois Politics has been the resource for information wonder we say nothing when another County Almanac. Here, in the guise mined grind of a road grader, the on the key players in Illinois government. fox den is buried beneath the asphalt. of advice to farmers, are the poetic persistent tapping of hammers. S • U.S. Senators, Congressmen, State Senators and State As much as I respect Aldo observations of nature at work, the Aldo Leopold’s utopian world of Representatives Leopold’s intellectual gifts to envi- plea for a deeper understanding and democratic, moral, nature-loving • Phone numbers, fax numbers, ronmentalism, I have to go with respect for nature’s subtle ways. farmers seems like a dream. It is a e-mail addresses and their web sites Henry Thoreau. Even before moving Each is written as one enthusiast to dream. The ruthless, ongoing • Voting records on the top issues of 1999 to Walden Pond in 1845, he had another. Leopold was a scientist, destruction of habitat in the name of • Top PAC contributors to legislators and their opponents given up the youthful practice of but in these essays he made clear his unheeding consumerism is the reality. shooting. What good is a spectacular connection to farming folk: the love What values do these developers $ 00 hawk, a crafty owl, dead in the hand? of the land, the curiosity about have, that we might appeal to them to 44 plus postage and handling ($3.00 first book, $.50 for each additional book) Better to watch the squirrel frisking animals, the desire to hunt. The spare a hawk’s nest or a fox’s den? ❏ among the corn cobs outside the Almanac was to establish common Robert Kuhn McGregor, an environmental cabin, play tag with a living, laughing ground between those who used the historian at the University of Illinois at Order these books today! Please refer to the tear-out order form at the back of this issue! loon on Walden Pond. There’s the land and the scientist who would Springfield, is a regular contributor to same outdoor experience, but so advise and direct them. the magazine.

34 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues PEOPLE SPRINGFIELD TO SOWETO Edited by Rodd Whelpley Illinois explores trade with South Africa

Feds review bench appointment process Last spring Gov. George Ryan opened the state’s eighth goods. The same thing is happening here. There are some BIG PEOPLE Federal authorities are investigating the way the Illinois Supreme Court has trade office, this one in South Africa. He and 100 other places where poverty is terribly high — it’s 40 percent in ON CAMPUS made appointments to fill vacancies on the Cook County Circuit Court bench. Illinois officials and business representatives spent a week on Soweto — and these are places where public officials are Justice Charles Freeman said last spring that federal officials interviewed him University of Illinois President that continent, visiting Johannesburg, where the office will be begging the governor to come and bring anything that can and Justices Michael Bilandic and Mary Ann McMorrow as part of a grand jury James Stukel will recommend to located, as well as Cape Town, Pretoria and Soweto. Some help them. investigation into judicial appointments. the board of trustees that Chicago members of the delegation, including state Senate Democra- Officially, the entire seven-member high court appoints judges to vacant campus interim chancellor Sylvia tic leader Emil Jones of Chicago, also met with former South Q. Tell us about some of the businesspeople who circuit court seats. It’s generally accepted, though, that Supreme Court justices Manning get the post permanently. African President Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned pick replacements for their own judicial districts. are traveling with this trade mission. What kinds But Stukel’s decision has raised for nearly three decades under apartheid. Illinois, which Freeman said the federal agents asked how the three Cook County justices of industry do they represent? concerns among some members of tallies $33 billion in exports each year, already has offices picked judges in their districts and wanted to know which justice recommended It’s everything from big to small. There are pharmaceut- the faculty on that campus. in Brussels, Budapest, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Tokyo, each of the lawyers appointed to temporary judgeships over the past 10 years. icals. There is manufacturing. There’s even clothing stores. Professors Donald Marshall and Toronto and Warsaw. Shortly after the justices were questioned, a federal grand jury indicted Cook And they all are exploring what the opportunities might be William Bridges called on the faculty Chicago Tribune reporter Ray Long traveled with the County Circuit Judge George Smith on charges that he evaded currency transac- over here. senate to examine whether Stukel Ryan delegation. While riding on the press bus through tion reporting requirements. The charges apparently stem from the bypassed the search committee. Johannesburg, he spoke by cell phone with Rich Bradley, federal investigation into judicial appointments. Q. What criteria would the governor use to Nevertheless, the board of trustees news director at public radio station WUIS/WIPA of the The U.S. attorney’s office alleged Smith structured the withdrawal of $20,100 measure success or failure on this trip? is expected to approve the hiring at its University of Illinois at Springfield. This is an edited version in such a way that his bank failed to file required reports. Smith’s ex-wife That’s a tough one because not every deal is going to go July meeting. of that conversation. reportedly claimed that he withdrew the money to pay a politician to assure his through the office. But if they see a big spike in exports, Manning has served as chancellor appointment to the bench. Smith pleaded not guilty. they can point to the office, whether that was the reason since 1999, when David Broski left. Q. What will be the purpose of this office? Freeman was the Supreme Court justice who backed Smith’s first appointment or not. She holds a doctorate in English What they hope to do is bring together Illinois compa- to the bench. It also was disclosed that Freeman had business ties with the Illinois is one of a handful of states with posts in South language and literature and has been nies and South African companies. They want to increase family of another Cook County judge, Marvin Leavitt. Freeman also backed Africa. The office will be headed by former state Rep. a professor and an administrator at trade both ways. Illinois hopes that it can increase exports Leavitt’s bench appointment. Monica Faith Stewart, a Chicago Democrat. the University of Southern Califor- and bring more jobs to the state through more sales of Both Freeman and Leavitt have denied improprieties related to the nia and the University of Illinois. She business ties. came to the U of I in 1994. Aaron Chambers Statehouse reporter, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin

QUOTABLE Scandal by the number There were 33 Death Federal authorities won a conviction in the first Operation Safe Road truck-licenses-for-bribes case to be contested in court. “Row inmates that had 1/6 PAGE AD Last month, a jury convicted former truck driving school instructor Alex been represented by trial McLeczynsky of helping to rig written exams for truck license applicants. 1/3 PAGE AD CHICAGO SYSTEMS Secretary of state staffers used the bribe money to purchase fundraising tickets WIUM GROUP attorneys that had either to benefit George Ryan. PICK UP PICK UP been disbarred McLeczynsky is one of 28 people convicted in the ongoing investigation. ILLINOIS ISSUES ILLINOIS ISSUES MAY 2000 JUNE 2000 or suspended. And it PAGE 39 PAGE 11 happened here in Illinois. Gov. George” Ryan to National Public Radio on his decision to place a moratorium on death penalty executions. In June, a Number of people charged in Operation Safe Road: ...... 32* study by Columbia University found that between 1973 and 1996 Number of people who have pleaded guilty: ...... 27 two-thirds of the nation’s death Number of people convicted in contested cases: ...... 1 sentences had been overturned on appeal due to errors in the process. Number of people sentenced: ...... 17 Illinois matched that error rate. *All figures as of mid-June

36 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 37 Tippler may topple liquor tax increase ENVIRO UPDATE One man’s dissatisfaction over a 90 cent jump in the price of a bottle of Smirnoff Governor unveils smart growth initiatives Get the vodka could lead to cramped classrooms and rutted roads. Saul Wexler of Evanston Opting to reward good behavior rather than punish bad, Gov. George Ryan sued the state, claiming last year’s liquor tax hike is unconstitutional. The tax was announced the state will encourage communities to limit sprawl by offering a enacted to pay a portion of Gov. George Ryan’s $12 billion Illinois First infrastructure smorgasbord of state incentives. program. Wexler argues the legislature didn’t follow all the steps needed to approve the Calling the program “Illinois Tomorrow,”Ryan also created a balanced growth VIDEO! tax proposal and that the measure included unrelated matters. The state counters sub-cabinet made up of officials from the departments of transportation, natural proper procedures were followed and that dropping the tax would take money from resources, agriculture and commerce and community affairs to coordinate efforts ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT loss of habitat to urban sprawl and what it needed Illinois First projects. Cook County Circuit Judge Alexander White ruled on metropolitan growth and development. Renee Cipriano, a senior adviser to the means for wildlife and our quality of life? Wexler hadn’t proved that the measure is unconstitutional. But the judge decided the governor on environmental issues, will chair the group. Illinois Issues THE ILLINOIS AUDUBON The state’s leading public affairs magazine 90 cents would be held in a special fund while the case moves forward. Meanwhile, The sub-cabinet will focus on five major areas: traffic congestion, open spaces, urban SOCIETY IS WORKING ~ presents ~ Attorney General Jim Ryan asked the state Supreme Court to overturn Judge White’s reinvestment, potential state and local government partnerships and quality of life. decision. At presstime, the new liquor taxes are being collected and funneled into the But Cipriano also would like to shine a light on some less visible plans, such as the FOR WILDLIFE AND OUR ILLINOIS state’s general revenues. Except for the 90 cents. Loss of liquor tax revenues could have $32 million Prime Sites program designed to bridge infrastructure projects with job ENVIRONMENT a crippling effect on Illinois First. According to the revenue department, about $80 creation and the $6 million Linked Development program intended to encourage two “Changing times, million in liquor-related taxes could be collected annually in the next five years. potentially complementary projects. Some programs are already under way. In Recent projects include: changing Illinois politics” Arlington Heights, the state contributed about 10 percent of the $4.5 million needed to • 80 acres of wetland in relocate a Metra commuter train station near a new high-rise development. McHenry County State Supreme Court gives mother her day in court • 40 acres of old-growth woods in Hamilton County Sheila Jones, a Chicago Heights woman who blames a health maintenance organi- A Daley takes the reins of the Dems’ presidential bid • 120 acres of critical zation for her daughter’s brain damage, should be allowed to proceed with her lawsuit Vice President Al Gore named soon-to-be-former U.S. commerce Secretary grassland habitat in Jasper County featuring in Cook County Circuit Court, says the Illinois Supreme Court. • more acquisitions underway Gov. Jim Edgar William Daley as his presidential campaign manager. Gov. William Stratton In a May 18 ruling in Jones v. Chicago HMO Ltd. of Illinois, the high court said an Senator Philip Rock, former Democratic Senate President Daley, who is Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s brother, has served as special JOIN US NOW!! Senator William Harris, former Republican Senate President HMO may be held legally liable under the theory of “institutional negligence.” counsel to President Bill Clinton, coordinating the passage of the North American Call 217-446-5085 Jones asserts that Chicago HMO negligently overloaded physician Robert Jordan Free Trade Agreement. Clinton tapped him as commerce secretary in 1997. In or visit our web site: with more patients than he could handle. Evidence shows he had been assigned that post, Daley has presided over the effort to admit China into the World Trade www.illinoisaudubon.org between 4,500 and 6,000 patients, says the court’s majority opinion. MODERATED BY BRUCE DUMONT Organization and the administration of the 2000 census. HOST OF ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS AND PANELISTS Jones’ lawsuit dates to January 1991, when her then-3-month-old daughter Daley takes the campaign reins from Tony Coelho. Shawndale got sick. The child had medical coverage through the Illinois Department of Public Aid and its contract with Chicago HMO. When Jones called Jordan’s office to report her daughter’s ailments, an assistant VIDEO ORDER FORM advised giving the girl castor oil. Later, the physician said the same thing. The next day, Shawndale went to a hospital emergency room and was diagnosed with bacterial Item Quantity Unit TOTAL Price PRICE meningitis. VIDEO: “Changing times, The high court said: “We can easily infer from this record that Dr. Jordan’s failure to 00* changing Illinois politics” $25 see Shawndale resulted from an inability to serve an overloaded patient population.” Chicago HMO’s attorney Joshua Vincent calls the ruling “an unfortunate decision *Includes shipping and handling. for people.”Vincent says, “It may, in the short term, help Sheila Jones in the sense that SHIP TO: she gets her shot, her day in court, but it really does a disservice to society at large.” 1/3 PAGE AD Name ______According to Vincent, the ruling, while likely to affect only “a very small segment” ILLINOIS PRESS ASSOCIATION Company ______of the HMO patient population, could alter the way HMOs do business. “It may have PICK UP Street ______a tendency to drive private HMOs out of the business of working with state govern- ILLINOIS ISSUES City______State_____Zip ____ ment to provide [health] care in the Medicaid context.” JUNE 2000 BILL TO: The result could be less health care for the indigent, who then might not obtain PAGE 11 Name ______treatment until they are seriously ill. Adriana Colindres Company ______Statehouse reporter, Street ______Copley Illinois Newspapers City______State_____Zip ____

PAYMENT: BIT Check enclosed (make payable to Illinois Issues) O Mail payment to: Illinois Issues, K-10 University of Illinois at Springfield, Luellen Laurenti P.O. Box 19243, Springfield, IL 62794-9243. MasterCard VISA Longtime lobbyist on women’s issues Luellen Laurenti died June 17 of Account #______Exp Date ____ complications from cancer. She was 60. Her clients included the Illinois chapters Signature ______of the National Organization for Women and the American Association of University For more information call: 217-206-6084. Or visit our Web site at www.uis.edu/~ilissues. Women. “She was a stalwart at the Capitol,”says fellow lobbyist Pamela Sutherland, president of Illinois Planned Parenthood. “And she was a very involved Democrat.”

38 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 39 LETTERS A VIEW FROM CHICAGO build a few units in white neighbor- Look at over-reliance How to write us hoods. But residents and politicians on property taxes remained adamantly opposed to the Your comments on articles and in funding schools program, forcing the developer to get columns are welcome. Please keep creative. Over the years, Habitat built I write in response to the taxes in Illinois to fund the letters brief (250 words). We most of its scattered-site units in Latino article titled “Illinois has a new costs of local school districts reserve the right to excerpt them. areas, a solution that complied with the spending plan”(see Illinois Issues, has not. Send letters to: letter, if not the spirit, of the Gautreaux May 2000, page 10). The fact that Second, most other states have judgment. Latino neighborhoods the General Assembly has to use made efforts to alter the way their public Letters to the Editor Illinois Issues weren’t exactly white, but then they revenues from the tobacco settle- schools are funded. Most of the Mid- University of Illinois at Springfield weren’t black, either. ment to provide property tax relief western states, which are comparable to Springfield, IL 62794-9243 Now, property values have made it too shows how bad this problem has Illinois in diversity and economic back- e-mail address on Internet: [email protected] expensive to acquire the few parcels still become. ground, have passed legislation to available in white communities. And in change the way their schools are funded. In with a bang, out with a whimper: Relying on property wealth (or lack the coming year, the CHA plans to tear thereof) creates numerous problems. Poll results demonstrate Illinois’ Chicago’s racial integration is over down about one in six existing scattered- First, property ownership today has a taxpayers are willing to accept a modest site units, unless the city beats them to it. much smaller relationship to one’s net increase in the personal income tax to Why do we neglect our children’s education? by James Ylisela Jr. The Reporter found that some of the worth than in Colonial times. Today, provide new revenues to public schools, buildings, though protected by the with several ways of earning tax- as long as there is property tax relief. Why do the citizens of the United ater this summer, perhaps early this Gautreaux judgment, already are on the deferred income, such as IRAs and The issue was not addressed in the States not provide financial equality for Lfall, Chicago will mark a historic With no federal cash, and no city’s fast-track demolition list. 401(k)s, there are several methods to early 1990s because the state had severe our high school students? moment. And chances are no one will No one should care about this, the increase one’s personal portfolio. How- financial problems. Now that the state is Money spent per student in 1998-99 notice. That’s when The Habitat Co., a stomach for a fight, the city’s politicians tell us, because the Daley ever, they do nothing to educate children in better fiscal shape, when is the varied in Illinois from $4,051 in Dallas private developer appointed by a federal housing authority will end Administration has come up with a in public schools. How net worth is appropriate time to fix the problem? City in Hancock County to $13,527 in judge, will turn the last scattered-site better solution. Instead of moving black determined has changed over the past James T. Durkin New Trier High School near Chicago. public housing unit over to the Chicago its inglorious struggle to people into established white neighbor- 200 years, but the reliance on property Woodridge The Dallas City high school is closing Housing Authority. desegregate public housing. hoods, the city is creating new because there is not enough money to Don’t expect a parade. With no federal neighborhoods, where lots of poor black make repairs to meet safety standards cash, and no stomach for a fight, the people used to live. The idea is simple: required by the state. Whereas, New Trier CHA will end its inglorious 34-year tones, and at community meetings their Tear down those old public housing offers 240 courses, including art and struggle to desegregate public housing aldermen would fire up the crowd with a developments and build “mixed- music, for its students. by moving African-American tenants to veiled reference or two. To these folks, income” units, everything from fancy Is this fair? units in white neighborhoods. scattered-site housing was insidious, like townhomes to working-class bungalows, Lillian M. Snyder As chronicled in the June issue of communism. Open the door a crack, with a smattering (or should I say Professor emeritus The Chicago Reporter, the CHA and and it would creep in overnight. scattering?) of public housing. Western Illinois University Mayor Richard Daley are giving up on That was in 1980, 14 years after a Many of these new communities the scattered-site program, citing high group of public housing residents led by might attract whites or Latinos, but WUIS U of I enigma property and construction costs, and the Dorothy Gautreaux filed a class-action that’s not the point. The goal is no 1/3 PAGE AD lack of land and money. lawsuit against the CHA and the U.S. longer racial integration. So if we tear PICK UP Why should undergraduate students That’s all true, but the unspoken Department of Housing and Urban down the Robert Taylor Homes and ILLINOIS ISSUES pay exorbitant tuition and expenses to reason for throwing in the towel on Development, charging them with build a nice neighborhood, maybe some attend the University of Illinois to be scattered-site housing has never discrimination because public housing middle-class black folks will settle there. JUNE 2000 taught by other students when they can PAGE 36 changed: Middle-class white people just was concentrated in black neighbor- The CHA estimates about 6,000 attend Illinois junior colleges for one-fifth don’t want poor black people living in hoods. In 1969, a federal judge ordered public housing residents will be of the cost and be taught by experienced their neighborhoods. They didn’t want the CHA to end that isolation by scatter- displaced by this plan. They will be given professors with doctorates and master’s them 30 years ago, and they don’t want ing public housing in neighborhoods federal Section 8 rent subsidies and sent degrees? them now. This makes everyone that were decidedly not black. into the private marketplace, where, the George E. Brazitis uncomfortable, because Chicago no Nothing happened. The CHA officials tell us, they will be much Champaign longer thinks of itself as racially dragged its feet. By 1980, as I watched happier than living in public housing. insensitive — at least not so blatantly. Northwest Siders working themselves Hey, it just might work. But if it Correction And we have come a long way. into a lather, the agency had built but a doesn’t, don’t expect another federal The Juvenile Justice Commission Twenty years ago, as a young reporter handful of units — and most of those court order. Chicago’s attempt at racial advises the Department of Human working on the city’s Northwest Side, I were in black neighborhoods. In 1987, integration just ended. ❏ Services, not Children and Family remember hearing the term “scattered an exasperated federal judge, concluding James Ylisela Jr. teaches urban reporting at Services as reported in the June issue site” and wondering what the hell the CHA could not be trusted, appoint- Northwestern University’s Medill School of (see page 34). everyone was talking about. Home- ed The Habitat Co. to get the job done. Journalism. He’s the acting editor of The owners spoke those words in hushed Habitat tried, and even managed to Chicago Reporter.

40 ❏ July/August 2000 Illinois Issues www.uis.edu/~ilissues www.uis.edu/~ilissues Illinois Issues July/August 2000 ❏ 41 POLITICS approved and Ryan signed already played in submerging the state in red provides for lengthening the Medicaid ink in the early 1990s. payment cycle to free up some $70 Illinois Comptroller Daniel More generally, Hynes is concerned million for other spending. Moreover, by the rapid growth in state spending Hynes is concerned by general funds available balance of the budget also taps tobacco the last two years, during which time, some $1.4 billion, almost $900 million settlement money to provide tax the rapid growth in state he notes, the overall budget has grown is needed to pay outstanding FY 2000 relief and pay for $27 million in capital about 10 percent annually, roughly bills within the two-month budget projects, filling holes in the spending spending the last two years, twice the annual average from FY lapse period that ends August 31. plan from an off-budget, non-GRF during which time, he notes, 1992 through FY 1999. Moreover, in mid-July, some $260 source. “Basically, I think there’s a mental- million will be shifted into a special Hynes questions such creative the overall budget has grown ity that the economy is so great that we fund intended to pay for a host of budgeting. “I think that’s bad enough about 10 percent annually. can accomplish everything and spend Illinois First projects that don’t qualify when you’re in a kind of crisis mode, all we can and not worry about for bonding, further draining the when your revenues are short and tomorrow,” he says. “I don’t think that Despite a flush bank balance, balance. you’re trying to make things work,” he and expenditures are counted against is wise. I don’t think it’s good fiscal Finally, while the overall general says. “But when revenues are booming the period in which the liability was policy.” now is the time for fiscal caution funds balance has been the traditional and the economy is growing, why do obligated. By this count, the state’s Let’s hope the governor and barometer of the state’s fiscal health, we need to do that?” fiscal position declined last year after lawmakers pay closer heed to the Another worrisome indicator is five years of improvement. The down- comptroller than did the citizens of by Charles N. Wheeler III what’s really critical is how much is available in one component fund, the more subtle. While Illinois tradition- turn was largely due to an increase in Troy to Cassandra’s misgivings about n classical legend, Cassandra was a general revenue fund (GRF), which ally has operated on a cash basis — the amount of deferred Medicaid and that huge wooden horse. ❏ money in, money out — the state also group health insurance payments and daughter of the last king of Troy, a pays for most day-to-day operations. Charles N. Wheeler III is director of the I keeps a set of books according to a cash outflow to help jump-start woman gifted with the ability to State bill paying is always On three occasions last year, the Public Affairs Reporting program at the GAAP, generally accepted accounting Illinois First. Growing health care foretell the future but cursed by the GRF daily balance dipped below $200 University of Illinois at Springfield. fact that no one would believe her. more dicey in the first half million, causing Hynes’ office to practices, under which revenues accrue costs are particularly troubling, given to the period in which they are earned the role runaway Medicaid spending As Illinois embarks upon a new of the fiscal year because consult with the Department of fiscal year with its economy purring Revenue to make sure each day’s bills and bank balances at near-record of seasonal deviations in the could be paid. levels, state Comptroller Daniel W. state’s revenue collections. Now, as FY 2001 gets underway, the Hynes shouldn’t be faulted if he feels general revenue fund is likely to be a certain kinship with the mythical Largely due to income tax some $300 million below its level of a Trojan princess. year ago, and that, Hynes says, could Hynes is trying to preach a deadlines, most tax receipts present a problem. “If you apply this message of fiscal caution, alerting arrive in the second half same pattern and overlay it for next other public officials and taxpayers year [FY 2001] and if you start $300 Thanks alike to what he believes may be the of the fiscal year. million below where we were last early warning signs of potential year, then we could hit a zero point from our staff trouble. At first blush, his theme seems sometime in those same months, if quite at odds with the boom-time spirit Bill paying is always more dicey in not sooner,” he says. for your support of the FY 2001 budget Gov. George the first half of a fiscal year because At that point, the state would have Ryan signed into law a few weeks ago. of seasonal deviations in the state’s to either delay payments or borrow during our After all, aren’t the economic revenue collections. Largely due to funds to cover its checks. indicators continuing to suggest that income tax deadlines, most tax receipts “I’ve talked to a lot of average 25th anniversary the good times will keep on rolling? arrive in the second half of the fiscal citizens who were impacted by the cash Didn’t the rating agencies give Illinois year — 53 percent on average over the crunch in the early 1990s,” Hynes says. celebration! good marks in preparation for last last five years. Spending, on the other “I’ve talked to pharmacy owners who month’s $300 million bond offering? hand, is more uniformly spread had to wait months and months to be And isn’t the state beginning the new throughout the fiscal year. Thus, the paid. ... If they have direct dealings fiscal year with close to $1.4 billion in general funds balance can be expected with government, then they know all the bank? So what’s to worry about? to decline from July to December, as it too well what happens when revenues Well, all that is true, but there are has for 16 consecutive years before don’t come in as we expect them to — several elements Hynes believes merit rebounding in the second half of the they wait for their money.” Even folks close watching. Perhaps the most fiscal year. So the state needs a who don’t do business with the state serious is the potential for a cash cushion going into each fiscal year to can appreciate the problem, he adds. Front row: Peggy Boyer Long, Maureen F. McKinney. crunch this fall, when the state’s avoid cash flow problems. “It’s just common sense.” Second row: Charlene Lambert, Rodd Whelpley, Laura Hogan. current hefty balances might not be Hynes’ concern is that the FY 2001 As Hynes notes, Illinois is no Third row: Jill Barfield, Beverley Scobell, Chris Ryan, Heather Nickel. Fourth row: Josh Bluhm, Ed Wojcicki. enough to cover all of the checks that cushion is not deep enough. Even stranger to delayed payments. In fact, Not pictured: Diana Nelson, Burney Simpson. will need to be written. though the state is starting with a the FY 2001 budget plan lawmakers

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he new Founders Circle honors the Gifts of $1500 a year, or more, for 10 years, are eligible for magazine’s three founders: Samuel K. Presidents Council membership, the highest donor recogni- T tion organization of the University of Illinois. Gove, Paul Simon and the late Samuel Witwer Sr. Those three men put together Please send membership and benefits information about the initial package that led to the launching the Presidents Council and its activities. of Illinois Issues in January 1975. Published continuously since then, by Name ______Sangamon State University and since 1995 Firm ______by the University of Illinois at Springfield, Address ______the magazine has gained a reputation as ______the state’s leading public affairs magazine. ______It has a small staff and uses free-lance writ- City______State_____Zip ______ers extensively every month. Money raised through the Founders Cir- My check is enclosed payable to Illinois Issues cle will be used for the magazine’s Writers Mail to: Illinois Issues, K-10 Fund — 100% of which is used University of Illinois at Springfield P.O. Box 19243 to pay writers and artists for the editorial Springfield, IL 62794-9243 content of the magazine. The minimum con- tribution for joining the Founders Circle is I wish to pay by credit card VISA Master Card $500. Contributions are tax-deductible as a Card Number______Expiration Date charitable contribution to the extent allowed by individuals’ situations. Signature ______This is a way for the magazine to perma- nently honor and recognize the three men For more information call 217/206-6084 who are responsible for getting the maga- or see our Web site www.uis.edu/~ilissues. zine going a quarter century ago. THANK YOU for supporting Illinois Issues.

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