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Emiquon: Lab for the Future
By Scott Shelby
Dr. Michael Lemke,
UIS associate professor of biology, is leading the effort to
restore the Emiquon floodplain along the Illinois River as part of
a remediation effort beginning this summer in partnership with the
Nature Conservancy and other regional scientists. The once-vast
Thompson Lake, which served as a food bank for the area, was
drained starting in 1917, and since then the wetland complex has
been pummeled by a constant barrage of urban runoff, industrial
waste, and agricultural effluent dumped into the Illinois River.
Emiquon will offer
an unprecedented opportunity for researchers to study “one of the
largest restoration projects on one of the largest rivers of the
United States”, Lemke said. The Emiquon Center for Floodplain
Studies will provide laboratory, lecture, and meeting space for
participating institutions. The cost of relocating and renovating
the Wilder Farms building (a relic of the Wilder Corporation, from
whom Emiquon was purchased by The Nature Conservancy in 2000) is
not yet known, but Lemke offered his first Emiquon class online
this spring.
“Emiquon is a place
of firsts,” Lemke said. “Pivotal work in the late 1800’s by
biologist Stephen Forbes on the Illinois River in this same area
earned this region the distinction of being the birthplace of
American Ecology. In addition, on the bluffs overlooking the
Emiquon floodplain, University of Chicago archaeologists
excavating artifacts in the 1930s established many of the methods
and field techniques of modern archaeology.”
The restoration of
the floodplain will seek a broad understanding of the area, based
on the work of these pioneers in their fields.
“In recognition of
the scientific, historical, and cultural importance of the Emiquon
Restoration Project, the University of Illinois at Springfield is
working in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy and The
Illinois State Museum to design an education and research effort
that will include experts in ecology, biology, anthropology,
history, public policy, and archeology,” Lemke said.
Bradley University,
Spoon River College, and Western Illinois University will all
benefit from the expanded research opportunities offered by
Emiquon, although UIS will coordinate their work. The Illinois
State Museum and the Illinois Natural History Survey will help UIS
“to design an education and research effort that will include
experts in ecology, biology, anthropology, history, public policy,
and archeology” to include “scholars from many institutions [who]
will be an integral part of the teaching and research at Emiquon,”
Lemke said.
In 1998, The Nature Conservancy
finished developing a site conservation plan, and purchased more
than 7000 acres in the Emiquon area, including the bed of the
former Thompson Lake.
Lemke credits the work of The Nature
Conservancy for making the research center possible.
“By
embarking on the restoration of Emiquon, the Nature Conservancy
has created an historic opportunity for research and education.
UIS is taking the lead in meeting that challenge. Establishing a
research and teaching center in this unique place at
this crucial time is an exciting
chance to better understand the world and our place in it,” Lemke
said.
Through understanding areas such as the Emiquon, there is hope
that humankind can have a positive impact on the world around us.
Documentary shows gangster’s true colors
By Tom Cronin
Charlie Birger has
left quite a legacy in southern Illinois. The Prohibition-era
gangster was so prominent during the 1920s that a lot of people
living in southern Illinois today have a Charlie Birger story to
tell. Like other gangsters and mobsters, Birger is often
glorified, and he’s sometimes even portrayed as a Prohibition-era
Robin Hood. The makers of a new PBS documentary, however, are
seeking to change this perception by focusing on the crimes Birger
committed.
David Kidd,
producer of “The Legend of Charlie Birger,” discussed the
documentary with Springfield residents on Feb. 11 at the Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Library during a public viewing of the
documentary. Kidd said that when he created the documentary for
WSIU Public Television in Carbondale, he wanted to depict Birger
as “vicious and evil” and refute the idea that he was “someone of
a noble character.”
“He was a
murderer,” Kidd said. “He extorted people. He … stole cars. … He
basically preyed upon people. The bootlegging was not harmless in
its own right. It was taking money away from family members. The
breadwinner would drink all the money, come home and have nothing
for the family. This was not neutral good-time harmless fun.
Charlie Birger was not a decent person.”
By day, Birger was
regarded as a pillar of the community in his hometown of
Harrisburg. He provided his neighbors with food and liked to toss
coins to excited schoolchildren. But by night, he was involved in
bootlegging, and he operated a rural roadhouse called “Shady
Rest,” which was a haven of drinking, gambling and prostitution.
He is believed to be either directly or indirectly responsible for
at least a dozen murders. And he was hanged in Benton on April 19,
1928 – the last public hanging in Illinois – for the murder of
West City Mayor Joe Adams.
“My point of view
is if we turn our back on people just because they give us
something, we as a society will fall apart,” Kidd said. “… And so,
consequently, the reason things got so out of hand and that the
gangsters could have running gun battles in the streets … was
because people were willing to turn their back and not take a
stand and not stand up for what is right. And I think it is a
moral claim. I want the people of southern Illinois to understand
that this is what happens when you turn your back on crime.”
Kidd said he’s been
told that two-hour documentaries such as “The Legend of Charlie
Birger” are too long. However, two hours is actually pretty
limiting when it comes to depicting events that unfolded over
several years, he said.
“We only scratched
the surface, and that’s where books are so much better than
television,” Kidd said. “People think the television is a lot more
complete than it is, and it’s very illusionary. Books are a lot
more complete in what they can do than television.”
“The Legend of
Charlie Birger” is not currently scheduled to air on WSEC,
Springfield’s PBS affiliate. Information about ordering the
documentary on DVD or VHS is available at
www.wsiu.org/highlights03/030319birger/. |
