The Illinois River: A Visual Record

By Kim Baker

The Illinois River is one of the most beloved and utilized rivers in the state. The natural benefits derived from the river support ecosystems and economies, while providing rich context for the region’s cultural heritage and nourishment for the soul. Unfortunately, the river is at risk. This book aims to shine a bright light on the Illinois River and all the river provides with the goal of inspiring the public to make better-informed decisions about their precious natural resource for the benefit of future generations.
While photography is the cornerstone of the book, collaboration was the foundation. A collaboration of Oklahoma photographers and authors committed to this important conservation book designed to use art and important stories to empower environmental conservation.
The Illinois River Survey photography book will serve as an important public outreach tool for Save the Illinois River (STIR) and will help bridge the gap between the river and the public. The book is a powerful force for conservation through its ability to influence, inform and inspire.
The book begins with a special foreword by Oklahoma river advocate, Drew Edmondson and introduction by Oklahoma author, John Gifford. The book tells the story of the Illinois River and the region through which it flows, beginning with an essay by NSU History Professor, Brad Agnew, who writes about the rich history of the Illinois River. The next essay covers conservation photography, explaining photography’s pivotal role in the history of wilderness conservation and the future of the Illinois River. An essay by Oklahoma author Sheilah Bright narrates the Illinois River Survey event in May of 2011, and delves into the cultural heritage of the Illinois River and the importance of the river to people, local communities and all Oklahomans. The next essay by Priscilla Crawford of the Oklahoma Biological Survey and Natural Areas Registry describes the ecological diversity of the Illinois River watershed; and Mike Fuhr, director of the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy, explains the importance of environmental flows for the biodiversity of the Illinois River ecosystem.
May 20 – 22, 2011, a team of Oklahoma photographers together with scientists, land and river managers, water officials, conservationists, and river advocates explored and documented important components of the Illinois River Watershed in a three-day photographic survey. The Survey group focused on the Illinois River’s unique ecological communities, the rivers ecosystems, with an emphasis on the natural services the rivers provides, and the history and unique cultural heritage of the Illinois River to the region, local river communities, and Tahlequah.
Compelling photography can make a difference. The goal for the Illinois River Survey: A Visual Record is for the conservation photography book to be a timely and relevant piece of literature that will help the river today, and be a lasting record of the Illinois River for the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781984542441

Kim Baker

Kim Baker is working on a dissertation in Library and Information Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Interlending and Document Supply. She was formerly Programme Executive of Document Supply and Information Services at the National Library of South Africa, and a member of the IFLA Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Standing Committee. Kim was Project Manager in a partnership between the National Library of South Africa and the Publishers Association of South Africa, which in 2007 produced the first catalogue of titles available in indigenous languages, entitled Writings in Nine Tongues.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Kim Baker. 100717-BAKE

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011916014

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4653-6326-8

             Hardcover 978-1-4653-6327-5

     EBook 978-1-9845-4244-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechaniacal, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval

system, without permission

in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 07/24/2018

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

5915.png

Contents

Preface

Foreword

Preamble

Introduction

Chapter 1 Illinois River Watershed: A History by Brad Agnew

Chapter 2 Illinois River Survey by Sheilah Bright

Chapter 3 Conservation Photography by Kim Baker

Chapter 4 The Flow of Energy through the Illinois River Ecosystem by Priscilla Crawford

Chapter 5 Environmental Flows – The Key to Our Rivers’ Future by Mike Fuhr

Conclusion by Kim Baker

Photo Gallery

5948.png5966.png

PREFACE

The idea for the Illinois River Survey came from the knowledge that when people work together toward a common goal extraordinary things can happen. The Illinois River Survey in May of 2011 was a collaborative project in the truest sense. Illinois River Survey photographers, authors, and project collaborators made up of individuals, groups, state agencies, universities, and non-profits all came together to make a difference for Oklahoma’s unique Illinois River to make sure it’s cool clear waters continue to flow forever.

The Illinois River is an exceptionally valuable resource that benefits everybody who lives near it or enjoys its calming magic while they live, fish, swim, float, and work. We have a great imperative to do everything we can to conserve and protect the Illinois River and the ecosystems the river supports – because without them and other rivers like the Illinois, we could not survive. Without nature, we cannot survive.

— Kim Baker

12048.png12049.png6019.png

FOREWORD

It would be a very rare person who would look upon the Illinois River and not be touched by its beauty. Edged on both sides by trees and cliffs and fields, fed by frigid springs and creeks, a home to wildlife, beaver and bass, bald eagle and otter – at points it flows slowly and quietly over deep pools and then it speeds up over shallow areas where its rock lined bottom is visible. No wonder it attracts visitors, campers, summer cabins, canoeists, anglers, and photographers. No wonder there are those who are dedicated to protecting it from harm.

Many Oklahomans have spent decades on the river. They speak of its crystal clarity, now threatened, and its timeless appeal. My first trips to the river began in the 1950s. We had a great-uncle who lived alone in a cabin on Highway 10, north of Tahlequah. It was a two room wooden structure with a cook stove in the kitchen and pot-bellied wood burner in the living/sleeping room. The water well was right out the back door and the privy was about 30 yards from the house - a single seater. There was no electricity, no phone, no running water, but it was in the Illinois River valley, and I thought it was beautiful and very, very peaceful.

My first float trip was in a flat-bottomed wooden boat with heavy oars. The trip was organized by my father and uncle and included all the cousins who could swim. We had spent the night in fairly rustic cabins where I saw my first daddy-longlegs and soon learned that they were pretty harmless. Mosquitoes were more of a problem. After an early breakfast, we headed upriver for the float trip back down to the cabins. We fished some, with no great results, and managed to spend more time in the water than in the boat. I fell in love with the river, and that love remained constant over the next half century.

Years later, when my wife and I were finishing school at Northeastern State College (now University), we took our weeks-old daughter to picnic on the river. Linda carried lunch and I carried Mary as we looked for a place on the gravel bank to have a picnic. Our daughter and son, Robert, have been back to the river many times since then and share our love for the Illinois.

I was not yet a lawyer when my father, Ed Edmondson, joined the litigation team in the first Illinois River lawsuit. This one challenged municipal discharges as a threat to the purity and clarity of the water, and went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dad represented, without charge, Save the Illinois River (S.T.I.R.) and joined Attorney General Robert Henry and Assistant Attorney General Robert Butkin in that effort. Oklahoma lost on the facts, we could not prove that the defendants were causing the damage, but the case established that the water quality standards of a downstream state could be enforced against an upstream state. That remains the law today.

The efforts to protect the river continue. With the threat of additional litigation, an agreement was reached with municipalities in 2003 to upgrade their facilities to limit discharges of phosphorous into the river. This was a major achievement, but it did not ensure the safety of the waterway. Additional damage continued