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ILLINOIS CONSERVATION AND PLANNING LEAGUE 
. They have set up several committees: A Policy 
, A Public Relations and Education Committee. 
Illinois Dues will likely be the same as in California — $10.00 annually for the individual, much higher for the 
Organization. 

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Other members are: biologist Jack Calhoun; Dr. Dale Birkenholz, biology professor at IIlinois State University; John Worth, 
president of the Illinois Wildlife Federation; Dr. George Burger, manager of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation; and Dr. 
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ALLERTON PARK ENDANGERED BY ILLINOIS 
DEPARTMENT PUBLIC WORKS AND US. ARMY CORPS 
OF ENGINEERS AGREEMENT 
Very briefly, the situation is this. Last spring the Corps of Engineers proposed 14 alternative variations of their Oakley 
project at Decatur. These alternatives followed a 1% year blistering attack on the Corps. Conservationists flatly rejected all of 
the Corps alternatives because all would have flooded the park to varying degrees. The Corps was packing their bags to leave 
when John Guillou, head of Illinois Division of Waterways, proposed an acceptable ‘waterways alternative;” a very specific 
proposal containing two dams, one at the Oakley site on the Sangamon River, the other on a nearby tributary, Friend’s 
Creek. The Oakley Dam had a normal pool level of 621 feet elevation and a flood water release rate of 7,000 cubic feet per 
second. This was acceptable to the University of Illinois, which owns Allerton Park, to Decatur, which stands to benefit from 
the dam, and the State of IIlinois. 
But, no sooner had conservationists and governmental agencies agreed and testified at Washington hearings, than the State 
proposed a series of changes which would have been detrimental to Allerton Park. They also halved a proposed “greenbelt’’ 
on the 100 mile lower Sangamon. In other words, the plum which had calmed the dissenters was being withdrawn. The pact 
to which “‘reasonable men could agree’’ was being unreasonably broken. 
Reports are current that outraged conservationists are writing to Senator Charles Percy, Senator Allen Ellender in 
Washington, D.C. and Governor Richard Ogilvie in Springfield urging May 29th agreement be upheld. 
The Committee on Allerton Park, Piatt County (in which the Park is located), and the county seat of Monticello, now 
insist that the flood pool be lowered to 627 feet. This is the approximate elevation of the lower edge of Allerton Park and the 
Macon-Piatt County line. This would prevent damage from Corps mismanagement of the reservoir. The Corps botched Carlyle 
project in southern Illinois offers muddy testimony to their technical prowess. Five persons have already drowned in Carlyle, 
where 10-foot waves have gnawed 45 feet off recreation beaches in just 3 years. These same Organizations also demand that 
the normal pool of the Oakley Dam be kept at the Original elevation of 621 feet. They sympathize with Argenta, a small 
community along Friends Creek, whose drainage and woodland setting will be lost to a fluctuating reservoir level. 
— Bruce Hannon — 

