Changes to the Centennial Trail

Our "almost perfect" bike trail is about to change! The Centennial Trail runs between the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the DesPlaines River and connects at Rte. 83 with the North leg of the Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail. Both trails are paved, offering 38 miles of scenic trail with very few grade crossings where we are exposed to vehicular traffic - like three or four exposures total in 38 miles. Amazing! Flat and fast! And loaded with wildlife. In the summer, we regularly see blue heron (and greats, too), egrets, osprey, deer, hawks, other 'boids', and snakes, to name just a few.

The problem is the Sanitary and Ship Canal. It connects to the Illinois River, which connects to the Mississippi River, and both are infested with Asian Carp, an invasive species. The S&S Canal also connects to the Great Lakes, which are Asian Carp free. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed an electric barrier which, so far, has stopped the relentless Northward march of the carp, but, since the S&S C. is next to the DesPlaines River, which like all rivers, tends to overflow it's banks from time to time, a flood which would link the DesPlaines and the S&S C. would provide an unobstructed path for the carp to reach the Great Lakes. Supposedly, this would be catastrophic to the 'native' fish population. Once upon a time, 'our lake', Michigan, was infested with Alewives, a small, non-native fish that, after spawning, would die and wash up on Chicago's (and other Lake Michigan bordering beaches) and stink up things to high heaven. In their infinite wisdom, the DNR's decided to 'control' the aldwife population by introducing several species of non-native fish - salmon. So, we have great salmon fishing, or at least we did, until alewife population dropped. Genius!

Back to carp - they were introduced into the U.S. to control algae, and they do a great job of it, at the risk of everything else that depends on algae being somewhere in the food chain.

Back to the Centennial Trail - the Corps of Engineers has a brilliant plan to put up a 'fence' of sorts along the DesPlaines River to keep the carp from swimming from the S&S Canal to the DesPlaines in flood conditions. Brillaint! Have you ever seen a river clean, pristine river? Thought not! They are few and far between. Most drainages are filled with organic matter such as leaves, branches, trees. Most drainages are also filled with human trash - won't list that, you know what it is. The problem is when a river tops it's banks, it will flow nicely through the fence with little resistance, but then, the trash will begin to build up on the fence and block the free flow of water. Soon, the irresistable pressure of the water will push over the fence, and along with the water, will come the carp. So, $10,000,000 to put up a fence that will keep the carp out as long as there isn't a flood, and the trash that comes along with the flood.

Brilliant!

The more we think we know, the dumber we prove ourselves to be! Such is mankind!