31 Jul 2024

Smokey Bear’s Ranger Hat

80 years is a tremendous milestone—for anyone. To make it to 80 means you have overcome life’s greatest challenges and you truly become the elder, the sage, the one who knows a thing or two and should be listened to. Being the spokes-bear, if you will, of the longest running and most successful advertising campaign in American history, at 80 years old, I think Smokey Bear would agree, so does Lake Shelbyville.

3 Jul 2024

Corps urges caution to rec boaters on newly created islands near Grafton

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District’s Dredge Potter is currently working near Grafton, Illinois, between river miles 218 and 222, using a 300-foot-long flexible floating pipeline to removed material from the navigation channel. The flexible pipeline allows for the creation of ephemeral islands that will be used for habitat restoration and mimics natural sand bar formation. Due to rising water levels and since the dredge placement is unconfined using the energy of the river to distribute the sediment and shape the bar, these newly created ephemeral islands or sandbars may be underwater or unstable and it is recommended that boaters avoid these temporary islands.