(Above) Looking out from the walkway bridge at Heron County Park.
If you’ve been anywhere along Vermilion County Conservation District lands lately, such as from the Heron County Park up north to Forest Glen down south, you have probably noticed how dry it is. East-Central Illinois is definitely showing the effects of a lack of rain, and the Conservation District’s Laura Danzl says, this happens every so often.
AUDIO: It seems like every three to five years we have this late summer, early fall drought; where our ponds; our marshes, our water systems; do dry up more than normal. And we’re definitely in our of those drought conditions right now.
Symptoms of very limited recent rains at Heron County Park.
Danzl says what’s needed now is some solid steady rain each week for several weeks in a row, similar to what we had Tuesday morning. And, the fact is, a wet winter, similar to last year’s, will help as well
AUDIO: That was one of the things that was so great about all that snowfall that we got last winter. Because it absolutely recharged all of our water supply levels. Not just only in our parks for the ponds and the marshes and the rivers, but also our water supplies that we use for our personnel use, you know Lake Vermilion and our well systems. We are definitely going to need, I would say, an inch of rain at least every week, for a period of time.
Danzl says the Conservation Area’s wildlife will adjust as it usually does. More important is how the population reacts to drought happening all over the country, shown by the extremely low levels on the Mississippi River. She says this is a good time to go over our checklist for conserving water; such as with shorter showers and turning off the water while brushing our teeth.
