
				Pat Quinn, Governor

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To report
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Environmental Progress - Spring 1998

Paris to Egypt -- Without Leaving Illinois

The Agency’s lake programs may sound international but offer local help.

With an event at Olney East Fork lake on Oct. 25, the Illinois EPA’s lakes unit wrapped up its 1997 season. Since the first festival, at Sunset Lake in Macoupin County on Sept. 10, 1994, the unit has hosted 11 Lake Festivals and provided information and lake-focused entertainment to 873 attendees. In the process, says Steve Kolsto, the unit’s education coordinator, the staff went "from Paris (Edgar County) to ‘Egypt’ (Lake of Egypt, Johnson County) and back Homer (Champaign County) again, and never left Illinois." (Note for the uninitiated: Illinoisans refer to the southern section of the state, around Cairo, as "Egypt.")

Though lake management is a serious business, the festivals put the emphasis on informality and enjoyment. Professionals from the Department of Natural Resources and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts join the Illinois EPA lakes unit staff, lake managers, lake association members and even professional fishermen to provide information on shore line erosion control, watersheds, septic tanks, boating safety, fisheries, the Volunteer Lake Management Program, Illinois Clean Lakes Program and other topics. Special areas and activities are set aside for youngsters to learn about lakes while having fun.

Anyone managing, or just living on, an Illinois lake can get information on having a lake festival by contacting Kolsto or the lakes unit at 217-782-3362, or by e-mail at Steve.Kolsto@illinois.gov.