2024 Annual Salt Creek Cleanup

Many thanks to the many volunteers and scouts on land and water who came together to pick up trash along the Salt Creek and adjacent roadways of the Cook County Forest Preserve between the 294 tollway and the Brookfield Zoo on April 27th.  You once again set the example for how to make a difference in keeping our local nature greener and cleaner.   A special thank you to GZA GeoEnvironmental for feeding the hungry volunteers with a great bbq lunch after. We needed it after a busy and productive morning cleaning up!

The Salt Creek Watershed Network is a nonprofit group consisting of neighbors who support causes that are aimed at improving the local environment and waterways.  We organize cleanups every year during late April and support local groups that are interested in doing the same.

2022 Spring Cleanups

Many thanks to the 140+ friends, neighbors, Troop/Pack 14 Scouts, leaders and parents who came together to pick up trash along the Salt Creek and adjacent roadways of the Cook County Forest Preserve between the 294 tollway and the Brookfield Zoo over the last 3 weekends of April.  Littering in the forest preserve watershed and surrounding area continues to be an ongoing problem, but you helped made a significant dent in the trash and a big step toward keeping our local nature greener and cleaner.   We’d love to see you again next year.

The Salt Creek Watershed Network is a nonprofit group of people supporting causes that are aimed at improving the local environment and waterways.  We organize cleanups every year during the last Saturday in April and support local groups that are interested in doing the same.

Busse Dam Modification Project: Homeowner Observations

Observations by SCWN Board Members

Two members of Salt Creek Watershed Network (SCWN) live near Salt Creek from Busse Woods to Brookfield Zoo. For over 20 years we have enjoyed monitoring the creek and sharing related experiences. To this end and in line with the missions of the organization we decided to share some membership observations, particularly with respect to the Busse Dam Modification Project. The following are some transitions noticed by members living near or along Salt Creek that they wanted to share:

Nick Nikola, President SCWN

Living on the Salt Creek has been a privilege for the last 32 years. When I moved to Elk Grove Village the creek was literally trashed with tons of man-made debris and it flooded a lot. But the many community cleanups to remove the trash and several projects along the creek have helped reduced high water flood events. The Busse Dam Modification Project made a significant difference to me up in Elk Grove Village and apparently all the way down the creek.

The problem was that Busse Dam holds back water during storm events causing Busse Lake to rise, thus harming the shoreline. With that in mind, an adjustable dam was designed to not only solve this problem, but to also even out the surge of water along Salt Creek during a large rain event.

The solution works like this: Before the storm event dam gates are lowered to allow water to flow out of Busse Lake into Salt Creek. Water levels in the creek rise slightly, well below flood stage, and lake levels drop giving the lake a greater capacity to hold water from the oncoming rains. As rains begin, the dam gates are raised so that Busse Lake can now hold more rain water, acting like a reservoir and sending less water into the creek. The result is the creek stays somewhat higher for a longer time than in the past, but it does not reach previous flood levels..

Fence under water at low end.

My personal example is the four foot fence I have several feet away from the creek. In past big rainfall events the water level would be close to or over the top of my four foot fence. Now, after the Busse Dam Modification, water from a big rainfall event stays at the bottom of that fence. And my neighbors are happy because they encounter far fewer flooded streets.

I have been told that the various flood control systems along Salt Creek are connected via computers which make regional control of all systems along Salt Creek work at optimal efficiency.

Ron Hursh, Vice President SCWN

The dynamics of the creek level during and after storm events has transitioned in recent years. Controlled reservoirs have been added, to take on water during storms. This includes the most recent Busse Dam Modification program. Now the creek’s water level rises more slowly with lower crests. But after the storm, with a lower crest, it also takes longer for the creek to return to normal as these reservoirs deplete. The good news is there is much less severe flooding since the Busse Dam Modification Project was completed.

Spring Cleanup Challenges

Hi everyone.

Roy and I completed an unplanned second trash cleanup along Addison Creek in Broadview yesterday. We returned to the same location we had been earlier in May to complete what we had not been able to finish — a trucking terminal parking lot on the west side of the creek.

While we were able to gather 7 bags of trash, we were prevented from doing a thorough cleanup by the dense growth of bushes and small trees that had sprung up along the bank. Now, a month later, the fast growing weeds and brush prevented us from getting at some of the trash. This is good and bad. Bad because it prevents accessing trash that has gone farther down the bank, but good in that the dense growth will help prevent trash from blowing down the bank and into the water.

Additionally, that area is now LOADED with poison ivy and that prevented any kind of thorough trash cleanup at this time, forcing us to cut the cleanup short. But, 7 bags of trash is still pretty respectable for less than an hour of work.

Thanks!

Mark Peterson

Scouts Do it Again for 27 Years Running!

Saturday June 5th was the annual cleanup of the Salt Creek from just below the Busse Woods Dam through Elk Grove Village. Boy Scout troop 95 and Pack 190, along with local residents walked the creek, combing out all trash. The water was extremely low so a lot of very old debris was removed from the creek bed. Congratulations to the scouts and to veteran Eagle Scout and Salt Creek Watershed Network President Nick Nikola, who have kept this event alive for 27 years and running. Well done!

Group Cleanups Make an impact in 2021

With the pandemic winding down, the SCWN again needed to cancel the ‘big’ yearly cleanup, and replaced that with an offer to all of our contacts of support for smaller groups. 3 have stepped up to participate in their own cleanups this year. The first was the Leadershop of La Grange in March (see previous post below).

The next cleanup happened on April 25 with 40 residents of Harding Woods, along the south side of the Salt Creek along Brainard and Harding Avenues, and up to the south side of the Salt Creek on the opposite side of the bike path on April 25.

Thanks to Michael and Janna McCartney for hosting, caffeinating and feeding the cleanup crew! It was a beautiful morning and a fun time.

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Most recently on May 11, Cub Scouts from Pack 14, members of the all-girls den led by Jennifer Robison did a great job cleaning up the Brezina Woods area just off La Grange Road near Cermak. Besides the work, everyone had a great time time hiking to a secret beach full of fresh water muscle shells and learning some interesting facts about the history of the Salt Creek, the impact of human development, flooding and global warming.

Many thanks to all groups and participants for clearing out the plastics and the trash and making the local environment, and everything downstream from it, cleaner. Well done!

The LeaderShop takes on the Salt Creek

On March 27th, The LeaderShop, a La Grange youth organization that promotes community service, spent a morning doing just that by picking up trash and debris along the Salt Creek between the 17th Avenue bridge in North Riverside and the Twenty Sixth Street Woods in La Grange Park. Many thanks to the youth and adults who took part.

The Salt Creek Watershed Network has suspended this year's larger April cleanup due to the pandemic, but mark your calendars for the last week of April 2022 - there will be plenty to do!

Salt Creek Restoration at the Graue Mill and Fullersburg Woods

A presentation overview of the proposal for the Salt Creek Restoration at Fullersburg Woods, including the removal of the dam adjacent to the Graue Mill was provided to the League of Women Voters of the La Grange Area, the First United Methodist Church Environmental Justice Committee and the Green Team of First Congregational Church of La Grange, hosted by the Salt Creek Watershed Network and the Dupage River Salt Creek Workgroup on October 24, 2020.

Kayak Cleanup with a Dose of Nature

A big, plastic, inflatable whale, a soccer ball, pieces of Styrofoam coolers, liquor bottles, and many plastic bottles and plastic bags: all items that have been found in and then removed from Salt Creek. Put there by people or the wind, a lot of garbage ends up in the creek.

Gary and Lynn Lesher, of LaGrange, often kayak the waters from Graue Mill to the Rainbow Bridge. From April to October, they take a monthly paddle. As members of the Illinois Audubon Society, they birdwatch, too. They enjoy seeing herons and egrets standing so still waiting for a fish to swim by.

But, at least once a year, their kayak ride involves a clean-up. “Our adult children bought us each a pair of “grabbers”, a tool to reach those items that are juuusstt of reach. They really help”, the Leshers say. They wear gloves and place five-gallon buckets in each kayak. They are quickly filled. Strangers always thank them for helping to keep the creek clean for people and wildlife.

Fishing in Salt Creek

Caden McCartney of LaGrange Park shows off the largemouth bass and carp caught and released in Salt Creek. Caden is one of the growing numbers of children in the area that is discovering that the creek can produce quality fish and fun right here in their neighborhood.