Illinois Governor Proclaims Support for Conference on Illinois River System
| Contact: | Marilyn Leyland - (217) 333-0729, leylandmj@yahoo.com |
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Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn has proclaimed his support for the twelfth biennial Governor’s Conference on the Management of the Illinois River System. The conference will take place at Peoria’s Hotel Père Marquette on Oct. 20-22, 2009.
"By providing a Governor’s designation, Governor Quinn continues a strong tradition and demonstrates the high priority being placed upon our natural resources," said Bill White of the Illinois State Water Survey’s Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability. He’s co-chairing the conference along with Kim St John of the Prairie Rivers Resource Conservation and Development office and Bob Frazee of the University of Illinois Extension.
As part of the same proclamation, Governor Quinn has designated October 2009 as Illinois River Management Month and encouraged citizens to recognize the economic, recreational, social and environmental benefits of conserving to properly utilize the resources of the Illinois River basin.
Over the past 24 years, the conferences have served as an important forum to bring together local, state and federal leaders to create awareness of the issues of soil erosion and sedimentation, identify important river research initiatives, develop working coalitions, apply conservation practices to the watershed, prepare new river and watershed legislation, and provide for state and federal funding to address the issues of the Illinois River System.
Information is available online at http://www.conferences.uiuc.edu/ilriver or by calling 877-455-2687.
Proceedings of the past 11 conferences are online at
http://ilrdss.sws.uiuc.edu/links/all_results.asp?strSearch=Governors+Conference