Protecting the Franklin Creek Natural Area, Illinois

In the 1970s, locals began working to protect the Franklin Creek State Natural Area to preserve woodlands and wetlands surrounded by the region's greatest economic driver, agriculture. Ashton-Franklin Center High School students, in collaboration with the Future Farmers of America, interview Park Superintendent Elmer Stauffer about balancing agriculture with natural areas in Illinois. The student creators for this short film include Stephen Brooke, editor; Joe Uphoff, interviewer; Joel Reiter, photographer; Walker Knight, photographer; Dylan Jeanblanc, video recorder and Dakota Hurd, video recorder.

Elmer Stauffer (00:09): Elmer Stauffer, I'm the Park Superintendent. I've been with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for 41 and a half years. I was the first state employee here back in 1986, and then I've been the Park Superintendent here since that time.

Speaker 2 (00:28): All right. Why is it important to protect the areas surrounding Franklin Creek?

Elmer Stauffer (00:32): Well, the Franklin Creek is surrounded by what we call a natural area, and outside of the natural area is farm ground. If we look at the park map here, the park, the State Natural Area is pretty much the wooded area, and surrounding the wooded area is farm ground. Because we live in an agricultural community, economics of the area dictates people's livelihood depends on the agricultural ground. And because of that, our woodland areas, our natural areas over time take a backseat because they're not part of people's livelihood. Their income is not dependent on the woodlands, on the natural areas, and so it becomes a matter of priority. Farm ground income production takes the front seat, and over time, historically speaking, our natural areas take a backseat.

Elmer Stauffer (01:37): Natural areas cannot speak for themselves. Over time, there has always existed a small community of people that recognize the importance of natural areas, and beginning in about 1979, this community minded group of natural area people formed a committee, and since that time have worked to protect and improve this area as a State Natural Area. So the importance is State Natural Areas don't have a voice. They exist, they're vulnerable, and because they don't have a voice, it's like maybe your classroom situation where you have outspoken students, then you have some students that are rather quiet, and that doesn't necessarily mean the quiet students are less important, they just aren't as outspoken. And so that kind of relates to this question of what's the importance of natural areas? In the big picture, agricultural grounds are important, but the natural areas are important too. What has happened here at Franklin Grove, at the Franklin Creek State Natural Area, is that over the last 35 years or so, a community minded group of people have become the voice for the State Natural Area and have worked to preserve it.

Elmer Stauffer (03:22): Well, woodlands and wetlands make up the State Natural Area, but there's quite a bit more to it besides woodlands and wetlands. There's streams, there's savannas, there's prairie. If you look at the map here, this map makes up one large community, and yeah, there's a lot of farm ground on this map, but yes, there's all these other components that make up a community. Every one of those members in the community are important.

Elmer Stauffer (04:00): I'd have to answer that yes, and history tends to repeat itself. In the late 1970s, there was a really good example of an entrepreneur wanting to open a quarry, open a black top mixing plant. You can't blame the person, that's what they did for a living, that was just a standard operation for that individual to look at resources that were available. And yes, here at Franklin Creek, there was bedrock close to the surface, transportation was fairly readily available with our road system that we have. And so from that individual's perspective of that's what he did for a living, that's what his business was. That thought still exists today, maybe not just for a quarry or a black topping operation, but maybe you're a realtor and you're looking for a place to put in a subdivision, a place to build homes, some of the acreage along the Franklin Creek is unquestionably beautiful, very attractive for home sites.

Elmer Stauffer (05:26): We have had occasions over the years where we have had realtors present petitions to the zoning board of appeals to put in subdivisions. We've had some success in resisting those petitions. In some cases, we've lost those battles, because here again, money talks. Money can be made by selling land for a subdivision. Home builders make money from building homes. And so all this gets weighed against the value of keeping an area natural, and so it's all a matter of perspective. It's all a matter of your personal value system, of how you feel.

Asset ID: 2022.19.01
Themes: Agriculture, farming, wetlands, conservation, woodlands, streams, prairies, natural resources, activists, environmental protection, quarries, industry, economy, development, influence, home builders
Date recorded: 2017
Length of recording: 06:30 m
File Type: Video
Related traveling exhibition: Water/Ways
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Ashton-Franklin Center High School students, in collaboration with the Future Farmers of America
More information: https://issuu.com/shawmedia/docs/svw_2016-05-28_4f2ed7cf532cdb