Pollution

              Complete River Study

A 42 page study of Fox River, from its source in Wisconsin to its outlet into the Illinois River near Ottawa has been prepared and will be presented to the United States Environmental Agency in an effort to have the river designated as a Model River Project under a program recommended by President Richard Nixon.
The report was prepared by the National Resource Service Center of Lisle of which Kenneth V. Fiske is executive director. The study was rom ited by the efforts of the Kane P 
County Board of Supervisors to advance the Fox River as a "Model a 
River Project".
The study was financed by a grant from Lester Norris of St. Charles, a longtime conservationist whose interest in the improvement of Fox River dates back to the early 1930's when a Fox Valley Federation of which lie was president endeavored to clean up the river andpromote its scenic value. The depression curtailed the activities of the group.
Efforts to bring the Fox River to the attention of the Environmental Agency were started by the Kane County Board of Supervisors under then chairman, Kenneth Ochsenschlager and Phillip Elfstrom, chairman of a special board committee. Elfstrom, now board chairman, made several trips to Washington on behalf of the project and was favorably received. Thedonation by Norris made possible the formal study which was necessary under the application filed with the Environmental Agency.
The study which extended to the river included 2500 miles of the basin of the Fox River and 17 tributary streams, the area extended through Cook, McHenry, Kane, Kendall, and LaSalle Counties. A study of the river basin in Wisconsin had been made in that state where the river has its source southwest of Milwaukee.
Under the "Model River Project" the Fox River would become a model for experimental clean water techniques under study by the Research and Monitoring of the U.S. Environmental Agency for the Midwest.
In a preface statement of the completed study, Mr. Norris has written:
"Our dream of cleaning up the Fox River which we had back in the early Thirties, when I was president of the Fox Valley Federation, lost its momentum when we were hit by the Depression.
"My main concern now was how we could consolidate all the work that had been done by various groups, and have a clearing house to gather all the pertinent material for presentation to the Council on Environmental Quality.
"I hope that my contribution will play a part in accomplishing what we of the Fox Valley Federation tried so desperately to do."

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