The win-loss record for Midwest paddlers

"Life's like that," he said. "As one bucket goes up, filled with water, the other goes down, empty. In the end, it all balances out. Remember that, Mikey."

During the last couple of months, as we experienced a series of gifts and take-aways in the Midwest paddling scene, I was reminded of my uncle's advice. From some quarters, the news has been negative, while other stories have occasioned celebration. Fortunately, when we weigh the overall impact of recent events, the good appears to outweigh the bad.

During the 30-plus years that I lived and worked in Illinois, the Lowell Bridge was scarcely an hour away from my home, so I got to know intimately every rock, ripple and eddy in the marvelous Vermilion. (See my column on the river in last year's October issue.)

Over the years, however, a few paddlers on this section have been trapped in the hydraulic backwash of a cement company dam, despite the fact that large signs upstream warn of the danger. The signs instruct paddlers to stay to the right, where a tongue swiftly and easily carries boats and rafts away from the lowhead dam. Moreover, the rafting company that annually outfits multitudes of people on the Vermilion, emphatically tells rafters that they must run both the Wildcat Rapid and the dam from the right side. But on rare occasions, inattentiveness, carelessness, and other factors (such as alcohol) have led to tragedy.

Two incidents in June led the Buzzi Unicem Corporation - current owners of the cement plant and much of the land on both sides of the river - to declare most of the section off-limits. On June 14 a family visiting from India failed to paddle their raft to the right and got caught in the keeper at the base of the dam. Everyone survived, but several members of the family were treated for injuries.

Eleven days later, another raft went over the center of the dam, resulting in the drowning of one of its occupants. The other rafters survived but were charged with operating a watercraft while under the influence of alcohol.

Shortly thereafter, the company announced that it would enforce no-trespassing provisions on its riparian property, which includes the best whitewater parts of the river, including the famous Wildcat Rapid.

Of course, the closure has occasioned expressions of dismay from paddlers, local residents and others. Obviously, liability is a primary concern for Buzzi Unicem. A local group has communicated with the company, which has indicated its willingness to consider any reasonable idea that would improve safety at the dam site, such as the possible installation of a stepped structure immediately downstream from the dam that would eliminate the deadly hydraulic. What's more, the DNR has expressed its intention to crack down on the use of alcohol on the river. There has also been talk of providing a better take-out, with parking, on the river-left side of the Oglesby Road bridge.

All things considered, the prospects appear to be good that something can be worked out by the beginning of the 2010 paddling season so that this outstanding natural resource can be available once again to the many appreciative recreationists who safely paddle its waters.

Items worth reading: In the July 23 edition of The Chicago Tribune, Barbara Brotman wrote about the river closure and her rafting trip on the Vermilion River. Also, check out the range of reader comments in the July 7, 2009, online issue of Prairie State Outdoors at www.prairiestateoutdoors.com.

While I wasn't as incensed as some of my paddling friends by the basic thrust of the legislation, I recognized the knee-jerk, one-size-fits-all character of the administrative rules drawn up by the DNR. But the likes of Tom Lindblade, Sigrid Pilgrim, Gary Mechanic, Eric Sprenne and many others worked hard to head off worst of it by lobbying the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. I welcomed the JCAR's July 15 decision to send Rule 3703 back to the DNR for a rewrite.

According to The Illinois Paddler, the newsletter of the Illinois Paddling Council, "The 350-foot exclusion zones are not likely to see the light of day, and the portages are likely to remain open. This is a clear reprieve for paddlers on the Fox, Rock, Kankakee, Des Plaines and Sangamon Rivers. We must continue to remain vigilant because the rule will be rewritten. The Paddling Council will be formally offering to work with the DNR as they rewrite 3703. We are hopeful that a new rule that might actually make dams more safe can be written."

For 44 years, however, there were no additions to the state's list of Wild Rivers, partly because of ongoing resistance to the idea of river frontage becoming publically owned and protected from private development. All of a sudden, however - thanks again to the efforts of some far-sighted people - the total number of Wild Rivers in Wisconsin has increased to five.

One of the additions is no surprise. Efforts to add the Totogatic River to the list goes back to 2004, when Washburn County, the DNR and various individuals and citizens' groups advanced the proposal. From the beginning, state senator Bob Jauch was an active advocate; and Kathy Bartilson, the DNR watershed supervisor for the St. Croix Basin, has coordinated the initiative. Years of work finally bore fruit in July when the Totogatic Wild River Bill was signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle.

The new designation includes most of the 70 miles of this remote, northwest Wisconsin river, starting at Totogatic Lake in Bayfield County and extending to the river's mouth on the Namekagon, but excluding the four dams and flowages along the way.

(For more information on the Wisconsin Wild Rivers process, see my column in the March 2006. The April 2006 issue features a description of the whitewater section of the river from Totogatic Flowage to Colton Flowage. Also see the excellent summary of the Totogatic Wild River designation at http://basineducation.uwex.edu/stcroix/Links/WildRiver/Index2.htm. For a treat, see the unusual and charming website by Herb Wagner at www.atthecreation.com/TOGATIG.TOGA.html.)

The other Wild River designation, which caught me off guard, went into effect this past April. Co-sponsored by Jauch and Gary Sherman, the act made a 10-mile segment of the Brunsweiler River in Ashland County a Wisconsin Wild River. This stretch, within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, was also named after the avid environmental leader Martin Hanson, a colleague of the legendary Gaylord Nelson. Trout Unlimited and the town of Marengo were among the agencies and organizations that campaigned for Wild River status for the Brunsweiler.

Once on a trip to paddle the Bad and Marengo rivers in northwest Wisconsin, a friend from Langlade introduced me to a very challenging whitewater stretch of the "Lower Brunsweiler" - Spring Brook Road to Highway 13. It was a bit too challenging for this cautious paddler, who portages anything exceeding Class III. When my misfiled notes from that trip turn up, I'll write a column about this little-known stream. In the meantime, you can read what American Whitewater has to say about a portion of the Brunsweiler at www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2753.