Environmental Progress - Spring 2003

SCALE Grants Cover Multitude of Efforts

Sunken treasures, shoreline trash slated for removal

Between May and October of this year, 37 environmental groups around Illinois will use grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 for diverse stream and river bank cleanups in the pilot Streambank Cleanup and Lakeshore Enhancement (SCALE) project.

The initial grant recipients were announced at the start of “Earth Month” in April by Illinois EPA Director Renee Cipriano on behalf of Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Recipients are required to provide follow up information about their projects to the Agency, and this feedback will be evaluated before similar awards are made next year. The funding comes entirely from federal funding through U.S. EPA, allocated to Illinois to support efforts by local groups that have already demonstrated ability to carry out this kind of cleanup event.

Director Cipriano described SCALE as an innovative way of getting positive environmental results statewide for limited monetary outlays.

The first SCALE cleanup was held April 1 on Chouteau Island in the Mississippi River. Recovered items included a three foot high religious statue.

“These groups working to improve our stream and lake shores have already demonstrated their willingness to get out and work for their environment. These grants will make it a little easier for them to do that, by helping with expenses like safety attire, litter bags, dumpster rentals or landfill fees—costs they’ve previously had to meet on their own,” she said.

Groups can use the money in ways they consider most effective. In addition to buying or leasing needed supplies like litter bags or dumpsters, one group plans to use hired heavy equipment to remove debris left in a local stream after a bridge dismantling effort, and another will use scuba divers to do underwater work as part of their cleanup.

The results are expected to be equally as diverse. While the 15 cleanups that had been conducted by mid-May had generated the expected old tires, aluminum cans and household garbage, participants at the first cleanup retrieved a three foot high religious statue from the Mississippi River. That April 1 cleanup was held by the Southwestern Illinois Resource Conservation and Development, Inc. and the Chouteau Island Coordination Team, on Chouteau Island in the Mississippi River.

Organizers have found that participation in the cleanups makes volunteers more aware and appreciative of their local water bodies. “We believe that once people experience the Chicago River through River Rescue Day, or the Flatwater Classic, our canoe and kayak race, and our other outreach events, they begin to see the river in a new way. Suddenly it becomes a living river that is a home for plants and animals and they become advocates for cleaner water, improved habitat, and better public access. Those people then turn around and call for action and it is their voices that can effect change in the way we treat the river,” said Margaret Frisbie, deputy director of the Friends of the Chicago River. Her group applied its SCALE grant to the 2003 staging of its annual River Rescue Day, held May 10 along the Chicago River.

Application for SCALE was limited to groups that had conducted cleanups in 2001 or 2002. U.S. EPA approved a total of $50,000 for the pilot effort, and grants in the first year total $33,500. Remaining funds will carry over to support the event next year. Cleanups receiving funding at this time must carry out their projects in 2003.