Close to home Canoeing
Everyone likes to travel to far away destinations in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana or Missouri and visit a river or stream to float down with their favorite canoe or kayak. But you can’t do that every time you have the urge and why should you. Salt creek is just one of the many alternatives that you have if you live in the Chicago land area, especially the western suburbs, north and south.
Every year, access to the creek gets easier with landings being installed along its banks. I paddle the southern section, from below the dam at Graue mill in Hinsdale to the confluence with the Des Plaines river in Lyons. After it passes under highway 294 the creek flows through a good deal of Cook county forest preserve. It is void of houses with just the occasional bridge. The only people you see are either other boaters or bicyclists that ride along the creek on the designated bike trail. With a little scouting, you can find the egress points and plan your trip.
Besides Graue mill below the dam, you can enter the creek at the Dean property in Oak Brook or Bemis woods north. Travel down stream and exit at the 26th Street West forest preserve, Forest Avenue in Brookfield or the end of the road at First Ave. and the Des Plaines river.
Plan on taking a few items with you on your trip. There are no places to stop along the way for necessities like water or snacks. Take them with you, water and a few items like dried fruit, granola bars, light sandwiches can really enhance your time on the water. But don’t forget a garbage bag for your trash and any refuse that you may find along the way. There is always something to pick up and it will make you feel better when the trip is over and you have collected a full bag of refuse from garbage that washed into the creek and got caught up in the downed log jams along the shore.
The creek can be beautiful, full of wildlife and sometimes some tricky, narrow log jams to navigate. Just below the access below the dam at Graue mill there is a rock riffle neck down that you need to pay attention to. It is easy to navigate, just pay attention and stay river left. Aside from sweepers and dead falls that try to grab your craft the only other man made problem for boaters is a spill way across the entire creek below the bridge at 31st street. The spillway is breeched and you can float through, just stay river right at this spot. Neither of these areas are in deep water but who wants to dump and spoil a nice day. Along the rest of the creek you should pay attention when going under bridges, some get clogged with woody debris. They can also be shallow and rocky, slow down, and check out the fastest, deepest water to drift through. With children in the boat, and anyone else that doesn’t feel comfortable, make sure life preservers are being worn. It’s a state law to have them in the boat and a good idea to wear them. There is no shame in wearing the best piece of safety equipment that you can carry with you.
Speaking of safety, there are plenty of places to check flow rates on the stream, right from your home, a link can be found for the USGS stream monitors on this page in the right side column. Before you go, check flow rates. The creek can get fast and muddy quickly, it starts above Busse lake woods and flows through many suburbs gathering runoff from all of the roads and parking lots along the way. If you don’t feel comfortable floating on that day, don’t. There are plenty of things to do and your day should not be ruined because mother nature doesn’t cooperate. Brookfield zoo is right down the road. Remember the creek has a bike trail along its entire route. Keep your options open but don’t stay home. Get out and enjoy.
Written by Stan Zarnowiecki, SCWN director and avid canoeist
Spring is coming, are we ready?
Melting snow and spring rain usually means high water levels in the Salt Creek, and possibly some flooding. But there are other problems - pollutants washing into the creek. We don't think about it when we're driving and walking and otherwise dealing with the spring storms, but that rain water is going down the storm drains, and it's taking everything with it. Everything. Road salt. Dead leaves. Lawn chemicals. Spilled gasoline. Leaked oil. Tossed garbage.
At the beginning of every storm all the pollutants that have been accumulating since the last rain are washed down the storm sewers and into the creek. And that first flush of storm water can be deadly to the fish that live in the creek. Fish die offs are not uncommon in our urban streams following a storm event.
Photos by Christine Oszak of SCWN
Land Donation and purchase along Salt Creek
At a Call Commission meeting for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County on Jan. 25, 2011, two parcels of land totaling 3.593 acres were DONATED to the FPDDC by DUPAGE COUNTY LAND HOLDING, LLC. We are grateful to DUPAGE COUNTY LAND HOLDING, LLC for this land donation and hope they will develop their remaining property using environmentally sound practices.
At the same meeting the FPDDC purchased a 0.3 acre lot in Wood Dale from a willing seller. We also thank this property owner for their sale to the FPDDC.
An undeveloped shoreline is the best and least expensive method to improve water quality in the Salt Creek. Undeveloped land in a natural condition filters water before it enters the creek and provides habitat for animal life. If you or someone you know is selling land along Salt Creek, please consider a sale to the Forest Preserve District, of Cook or DuPage counties.
Winter's Snow and Ice bring Salt to the Creek
Snow season is salt season in Illinois, from December to March public works crews will spend an enormous amount of effort keeping local roads and parking lots open for use.
Plow trucks are par of the winter urban landscape in Illinois (photo by Nick Nikola, SCWN)
A large part of those efforts involves the application of sodium chloride (salt) to transport surfaces. Salt has a number of properties that make it ideal for this purpose; under controlled conditions it can lower the freezing temperature of water to –6F and it is relevantly abundant. Without salt, delivering the winter driving conditions that we are used to would, for all practical purposes, be impossible. Currently public agencies spread over 53,000 tons of it a year in the Salt Creek watershed alone.
Salt use has costs beyond those incurred in purchasing and spreading it on thousands of miles of roadway. All that salt ends up in Salt Creek where it has major negative effects on the river. Surveys and analysis of the Salt Creek suggest that fish and macro invertebrate populations are negatively impacted when summer salt concentrations are greater than approximately 112 mg/l and 141 mg/l respectively. These effects are most likely indirect with salt impacting aquatic plant life rather than direct toxicity to fish or insects.
A truck applies salt brine to a road prior to a storm, a practice that can reduce the amount of salt used to keep roads open. (photo courtesy of the Village of Hanover Park)
High summer concentrations are not unusual in Salt Creek’s tributaries where lower water flow means less dilution. Winter monitoring has shown that chloride levels in Salt Creek peak during winter storms with concentrations of 1200 mg/l being recorded. Furthermore chlorides do not degrade as many other pollutants do, so how do we reduce water pollution from chlorides. The present strategy is to use less salt to get the job done. Techniques such as wetting salt before it’s applied to the streets have shown that the product works faster and reduces the amount of salt used. More advanced is the application of liquids (usually salt brine with a carbohydrate such as sugar beet added) to the roads prior to the storm, hence the dark lines some may have noticed on roads this winter. Both these techniques are becoming more common with public works departments throughout the region but private citizens should do their part also; be safe and prudent but be aware of where all that salt is ending up. Additional information on the impacts of salt on waterways and what can be done to reduce it can be found in the sensible salting for homeowners fact sheet. See also Effective Snow and Ice Removal for Homeowners.
You can do more to clean up the Salt Creek by printing and sending a copy of Chloride Fact Sheet for Public Works Staff to your town's Public Works Dept. and printing and sending a copy of Chloride Fact Sheet for Mayors and Managers to your town's Mayor or Manager.
Please ask them to check out the DuPage River Salt Creek Workgroup website for more information about ongoing efforts to clean up the Salt Creek.
This article was contributed by Stephen McCracken of DRSCW and edited by Christine Oszak of SCWN.
Salt Creek Fall Color
Photo by James Watkins
This Salt Creek photo was taken at Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve.
Salt Creek Greenway Trail
Saturday, the 25th was the official DuPage County Forest Preserve District (FPDDC) ribbon cutting ceremony for the Salt Creek Greenway Trail. The FPDDC was the official coordinator for this project that runs from the south end of Busse Woods FP in Cook County and through DuPage County to where it connects to the trail system in Bemis Woods in Cook County. The trail continues all the way to Brookfield Zoo.
SCWN President Nick Nikola and I attended the ceremony. Here Nick is shaking hands with FPDDC President Dewey Pierotti.
There was a big turnout for the ribbon cutting:
Brookfield Oak Savanna Tour
More than a dozen people turned out for the 90-minute tour led by members and friends of the Brookfield Conservation Commission.
2010 Elk Grove Cleanup
The weather was horrible for the June 5th clean up in Elk Grove Village. One dedicated volunteer showed up, so we have designated Rob as *Clean Up Volunteer of the Year 2010*. Too bad we didn't budget any pennies for an award :-(
2010 Cleanup
We wish to extend our deepest thanks to all who participated in Salt Creek clean ups, to the Elk Grove Village and Park District, the Cook County Forest Preserve District, and Huff and Huff for their continuous support. All our combined effort is quite obvious to anyone who enjoys the Salt Creek and adjacent Greenway. Additionally we know the wild life that abound the creek thank us all for maintaining their environment in its most pure and natural state. Once again THANK YOU!!!
Dedicated volunteer Susan Schuengel took many beautiful pictures of volunteers cleaning up along the Salt Creek in LaGrange Park, at the event following the clean up, ending with the grills cooking the lunch provide by Huff and Huff. See the 2010 clean up pictures.
At the May clean up we also did some work along Addison Creek in Broadview. The slopes are steep where we worked and it's in an industrial area, so we had our work cut out for us.
