119 “‘Right now, the Fox in terms of cleanliness and wildlife, is in pretty good shape,’ Stein said. However, “if sewage treatment plants aren’t updated to handle the population increase, bad things can happen.’”2 With the help of Friends of the Fox River and the Sierra Club, American Rivers identified that Fox River was quickly heading towards being polluted, and interfered. Friends of the Fox River is a nonprofit local organization of both citizens and organizations who want to protect the Fox River. Currently, Friends of the Fox has over 4,500 citizens participating in their programs which range from water quality monitoring to education events. This number has grown significantly over the years, with Friends of the Fox having only 500 citizens in the early 2000s.3 Undoubtedly, some of this growth can be attributed to American River’s designation. Friends of the Fox was founded in 1990, running cleanup efforts, community outreach, and commenting on debates and EPA designations about the Fox River. While their efforts were significant before 1999, the endangerment designation was crucial to securing the Fox River for decades to come. Friends of the Fox is still active as of 2022 and continues to protect the Fox River. A holistic approach was necessary to save the Fox River. Previous to the endangerment designation, attention on and efforts to protect the Fox River were separated by jurisdiction, leading to many decisions to not be considerate of the entire river. Dams are an example of these decisions. Friends of the Fox specifically highlights dams as something that is harmful to the Fox River in their 2003 report, “free-flowing portions of the river have more species and individuals of fish, and greater numbers of harvestable-sized sport fish. There are higher quality macroinvertebrate communities (i.e., aquatic insect larvae and freshwater mussels) in free-flowing portions of the river compared to impounded areas.” For the Fox River to continue to have a diverse biosphere of algae 2Brett Koppen, “Fox River,” Fox River - St. Charles History - Then and Now - Illinois Digital Archives (Illinois Digital Archives, December 20, 2002), http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/stc/id/1139/. 3 “Organization History,” Friends of the Fox River (Friends of the Fox River, February 18, 2003), https://web.archive.org/web/20030218055946/http://www.friendsofthefoxriver.org/history.htm.
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