KWQC-TV6 News and Weather For The Quad Cities -

Good news!

Early this afternoon the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly were in session and each passed unanimously its companion bill (SB 41 or AB 55) to designate the Rock River Trail Scenic and Historic Route in Wisconsin.

The bill now goes to Governor Walker for his signature, at which time the bill will become law.

In Wisconsin, we chose to create a bill to establish the road route rather than via resolution, as is being done in Illinois. As you may know, a bill is a more formalized legislative product that creates a new section of the statutes, in our case Section 84.10225. So, after the bill is signed by the governor, the Rock River Trail Scenic and Historic Route will actually be codified in the Wisconsin Statutes!

The recommended legislative method in Illinois is a resolution, which while not legally binding does provide a sound basis for action and collaboration by RRTI with state agencies and local communities to establish and maintain the road route.

So, we are well covered in both states and can look forward to final action once the Wisconsin governor signs this bill and the Illinois House passes House Joint Resolution 0008 with concurrence by the Illinois Senate.

Below is a photograph of the Wisconsin Senate Chamber taken just before the session was called to order - a very lovely and impressive structure - and a photograph with Wisconsin Representative John Jagler (Watertown - 37th District) outside the Assembly Chamber following the successful floor vote on AB 55. Rep. Jagler is the lead Assembly sponsor of the bill.

Fun and interesting to experience representative democracy in action (on a non-controversial bill)!!!

Greg Farnham

Wisconsin Senate Chamber
 

Wisconsin Representative John Jagler (Watertown - 37th District) and Greg Farnam

The Rock River Water Trail has been designated into the National Water Trails System by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, according to an announcement by the National Park Service in Washington, DC.

Back row from left: William McNary, WisDOT State Traffic Engineer; Kyle Armstrong IDOT Engineering & Standards Unit Chief; and Matt Rauch, WisDOT State Signing Engineer. Front row from left: Kyle Lorenz, IDOT Traffic Operations Engineer-Region 2; Stan Milam, district director of Wisconsin State Senator Tim Cullen; and Frank Schier of Rock River Trail Initiative

Tom Lindblade is an experienced paddler and also an amateur videographer.  He has just completed a short video of the Rock River Water Trail.  If you'd like to take a look, please click on the link below or visit the photo gallery.  Tom has done a great job to capture the essence of the water trail in eight minutes and I believe you'll enjoy the video. 

The Rock River Trail Initiave was featured in an article at saukvalley.com

Illinois House Joint Resolution No. 27 was passed May 31, 2011, and will have final amendments this November by sponsor Rep. Patrick J. Vershoore (D-Milan, 72nd Dist.). The amended bill is available here or by clicking the image below.

A list of the Rock River Trail Initiative council members has been added to the website under the "Contact" menu and is also available here.

The Rock River Water Trail Plan has been added to rockrivertrail.com and is available for download here.

The opening of the Beloit Section of the Rock River Water Trail will occur Wednesday, Sept. 12, in Wisconsin; and Thursday, Sept. 13, the Rock Falls section of the trail will be opened in Illinois.

MOLINE, Ill. — River Action, a nonprofit organization that strives to foster the environmental, economic and cultural vitality of the environmental, economic and cultural vitality of the Mississippi River and its riverfront in the Quad City region, with the support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, sponsors the Fifth Annual Upper Mississippi River Conference and Youth Summit Sept. 26-28. Location is the Stoney Creek Inn and Western Illinois University Riverfront Campus in Moline, Ill.

Rock County Parks, Rockton volunteers, Rock River Enterprises and Homeowners Association, WTVO-17/WQRF-FOX 39, and The Rock River Times are coordinating sections of a greater Rock River clean-up Saturday, Sept. 8.

Paddle and Trail is celebrating its second anniversary by hosting a free open house at the Regional Activity Center in Loves Park 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1. The public will have the opportunity to try out kayaks and stand-up paddleboards and fish for free.

The course of the Rock River as it flows through the Wisconsin cities of Horicon, Hustisford, Mayville, Theresa, Watertown and Janesville now has signs denoting those sections of the river as part of the Rock River Trail. Representatives from the National Park Service and the Wisconsin and Illinois Departments of Natural Resources have given their permission to erect the sign denoting the trail.

Native Americans are preparing once again for the 17th Annual “Honor the Mounds” gathering, to be held Saturday, Aug. 11, at Beattie Park, downtown Rockford. As always, the community is invited to this free, family-friendly day-long event.

April 25, 2012

Media Contact: Frank Schier, Rock River Trail Initiative founder and chairman, (815) 670-6440

Editors: See attached press releases for more about tree distribution in respective counties.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rock River Trail Initiative distributes free oak trees April 25-27

ROCKFORD, Ill. -- April 25-27, the Rock River Trail Initiative (RRTI) will be distributing free oak trees to the 11 counties along the Rock River.

Note from Rock River Trail Coordinator Greg Farnham:

Rock River Trail Initiative Council Members:

Attached is an article in last Thursday’s (March 8) Sauk Valley News about the Rock River Trail Initiative, a proposed River Action Group in the cities of Dixon, Rock Falls and Sterling, and mention of the new national water trails system established by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Note from Rock River Trail Coordinator Greg Farnham: This appears to be very relevant and welcome news for our efforts to establish a recreation water trail on the Rock River.  Please read the release carefully as it describes a modification that has been made, presumably by the department secretary and not Congress, to the National Trails System Act to establish national water trails as a class of national recreation trails.

By Greg Farnham
RRTI Coordinator

By Greg Farnham
RRTI Coordinator

Progress continued at the end of 2011 to establish a recreation Rock River Water Trail and a scenic and historic Rock River Route.

By Greg Farnham
RRTI Coordinator

We are pleased to report good progress during November toward the objectives of establishing a recreational Rock River Water Trail and a scenic and historic Rock River Route.

Rockford City Council passed a resolution of support for the Rock River Trail Initiative (RRTI) at its Nov. 21 meeting at the request of the trail’s founder, The Rock River Times’ Editor & Publisher Frank Schier.

A trail initiative council has been established by the Rock River Trail Initiative, a public-private partnership in Illinois and Wisconsin whose mission is to develop along the river a multi-use trail of recreational, scenic and historic interest. Frank Schier, editor and publisher of The Rock River Times, Rockford, Ill., and founder of the trail initiative, and Greg Farnham, commissioner of Lake Sinissippi Improvement District, Hustisford, Wis., serve as coordinators of the Rock River Trail Initiative.

ROCK RIVER TRAIL INITIATIVE

MISSION STATEMENT