IDNR Announces Outstanding Volunteer Award Recipients
Annual awards honor individuals and organizations for exceptional service during National Volunteer Week
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. – To commemorate National Volunteer Week (April 27-May 3), the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is recognizing five individuals and four organizations as “IDNR Outstanding Volunteer of the Year” award recipients.
“This is a special week to thank some of our most valuable assets and passionate people – our volunteers,” said IDNR Acting Director Sam Flood.  “These award recipients have exhibited dedication to the IDNR and to the people of Illinois, whether by devoting time to help our staff manage the land, provide visitor services, or assist with educational outreach.  I also want to commend all of the other volunteers who devote their time and effort to protecting and enhancing the natural wonders of Illinois.”
The IDNR Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Awards are presented each year to individuals and organizations for exceptional volunteer service to the department and the people of the State of Illinois. 

The 2008 IDNR Outstanding Volunteer of the Year award recipients are listed below.
Friends of the Hennepin Canal, Rock Island
The Friends of the Hennepin Canal, a group of passionate advocates for the canal who joined forces 10 years ago, took a leadership role in last year’s observances surrounding the canal’s 100th anniversary.  The Friends organization has long been dedicated to the preservation, recreation, history, and education surrounding the Hennepin Canal.  They have promoted awareness by coordinating monthly hikes along the 96-mile corridor and sponsoring an annual trails activity appreciation day known as “Hikemabica” each October.  The special centennial year-long celebration was intended to involve as many communities, groups, and activities as possible.  Among those who participated were the communities of Colona and Wyanet – making the Hennepin Canal the main theme for their annual festivities; the City of Rock Falls; an equestrian group that promoted a horse competition that attracted contestants from three states; a series of registered hikes; a kids fishing tournament; and, a centennial photo contest hosted by the Quad City Camera Club.  The annual Friends of the Hennepin Canal festival in October included a play on a floating stage anchored in the marina of the canal’s main complex; a 100K bicycle ride along the canal; a book signing; canoe rides; a youth fishing tournament; self-guided interpretive trail hikes; live music; art and photo displays and canal artifacts.
More than 3,000 people took part in the canal’s birthday party.  The Friends of Hennepin Canal continue to actively promote the site with monthly hikes, special events, and donations of funds and equipment, including a reprint of trail brochures.
Rock Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau, Rock Falls
While the Hennepin Canal never provided the economic boost that historians say many had hoped it would as a commercial waterway, the canal has always been an ideal place for recreation.  The feeder canal through Rock Falls and its dam provided a backwater pool for all types of recreation.  The local park district leases sections of canal property as extensions of their local parks.  The first hard-surfaced trail along the canal was built in Rock Falls by local volunteers approximately 20 years ago.  The City of Rock Falls partnered in construction of a boat ramp to the Rock River on canal property, as well as constructed a hydro-electric plant on the canal dam.  The Hennepin has always been a part of Rock Falls history and with the canal’s 100th anniversary last year, the Rock Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau teamed up with the Rock Falls Chamber of Commerce to host a community celebration last September.   They coordinated support from 28 local businesses and organizations for the event that included a 5K run/walk, a youth fishing derby, a trivia contest, Montreal canoe rides, canal re-enactors, historical displays, Civil War historians, a band concert, an ice cream social, canoe races, and other activities.  The Convention and Visitors Bureau also produced a set of Hennepin Canal centennial postcards and the chamber promoted a Canal Collectors Centennial insert for the local newspaper.  The centennial celebration was so successful that organizers are planning to host an annual Canal Heritage Day.