News

Pipe To Be Diverted from Apathy Canyon

If all goes as planned, Apathy Canyon will be history. The 1,000-foot-long, 20-foot-deep erosion gully at Theodore Stone Forest Preserve in Hodgkins, Illinois (CW, Fall 2005), may stop advancing and actually disappear. In February, the Village of Hodgkins announced that it would seal off the pipe that for decades has funneled runoff from a shopping mall parking lot into the forest preserve. The massive erosion ditch carved the deep scar into the preserve, toppled and engulfed ancient oaks on the bluffs, and dumped loads of sediment and polluted water on a rare dolomite prairie below.

The village says it will seal off the pipe at the edge of the preserve and connect it to the main storm sewer line, which runs outside the eastern border of the preserve. Three new sections of connective piping will handle the main spillover, as well as another overflow on the east side of the preserve. Village officials hope to finish work this spring. The Forest Preserve District itself committed to filling and repairing Apathy Canyon to its former state — a forested bluff.

The motivation for the village’s decision may have been twofold. It received an ultimatum from the hardware chain Menards, which said it would not move a new store nearby until the situation was resolved. But according to Hodgkins village president Noel Cummings, citizens also enjoy this forest preserve and don’t like to see it ruined. Cummings has suggested that he would like to see schoolkids visiting the preserve on a regular basis.

— Don Parker