GUARDIANS OF SAFETY

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources are working to keep the state's wildlife and its many residents and visitors safe.

BY TERRANCE GEESE

LLake of Egypt is a private lake where the owners grant you access to the water for an enjoyable lake life. Although the lake is private, the owners, Southern Illinois Power Cooperative, have always enjoyed a close working relationship with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the protectors of the state’s wildlife and guardians of the safety of outdoorsmen.

When you are boating on the waters of Lake of Egypt, especially on a weekend, you will encounter both the lake’s private Lake Patrol and officers of the DNR. Most likely one of those Conservation

SAFETY

Police officers will be Chris Johnson.

Johnson is dedicated to the outdoors and is a past winner of the DNR Officer of the Year award. Along with his performance on the job, he was honored as a basketball coach and for conducting a hunt program for underprivileged youth.

The DNR officers patrol the lake and its surroundings for boating violations, hunting enforcement and fishing enforcement, Johnson says. “But we don’t have a relationship on limiting the number of fish, or being able to enforce any of the limits that Lake of Egypt sets for themselves,” he says.

Johnson has one strong desire involving Lake of Egypt.

“I just wish we could let the DNR start to regulate that lake so we could enforce the stock limits. It is worrisome that people take too much.”

In order for that to happen on a private lake, an agreement is needed between DNR and the power company.

What the officers are watching for often depends on the time of year, Johnson says. In the summer, as an example, he finds people without lifejackets in the boat and people who are operating a boat under the influence.

Along with being on the water almost every summer weekend, Johnson says he likes to be on hand at all of the lake’s tournament events to meet the sportsmen. “We try to talk with them and find out if there is anything they need or anything we can do,” he says. “And we try to see if there are any questions we can answer. That is a big thing that we like to do, being proactive.

“That’s one of the cool things about our job; just being able to help people,” he says.

Enforcement is made pleasant at Lake of Egypt because the officers find strong support from the residents.

“They are very welcoming to us out there, and we appreciate that,” he says.

Conservation officers and the private Lake Patrol work together to make the lake safe, Johnson says.

He says DNR officers often relieve other agencies of handling minor jobs that are important to the people involved. Many local law enforcement agencies are understaffed, and DNR officers are happy to give them a break. The county and

I just wish we could let the DNR start to regulate that lake so we could enforce the stock limits.’ ’

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state officers can handle the major crime while the DNR officers are able to assist the property owner with lesser problems, such as trespassing, he says.

Often the aid given by DNR officers to lake residents is routine, but sometimes it takes on a more serious tone, such as the day of the goose incident.

A goose was crapping on the dock and was killed by an irate property owner, Johnson says. “People witnessed it, they knew it was wrong, and called us. We went out there and took action on it,” he says.

The casual observer may not realize part of an officer’s job is traffic control on the water.

“There is so much traffic out there in these no wake areas, and everybody has nice docks and nobody wants people just blowing through Clifty Creek and creating those huge waves that are going to hurt their docks. They like it when we come out and slow people down. A lot of times, just our visual presence will slow people down.”

This past summer, Johnson says, people couldn’t go to baseball tournaments, concerts or anything else, so there was a lot larger presence of families on the lake. That increased the need for enforcement and the need for officers to simply be there to answer questions.

Officers often spend time with the resorts, marinas and other businesses around the lake, he says. And the businesses help in getting out the word the officers are not at the lake just to write tickets. They want to keep the lake safe.

The desire to see the outdoors, and the state’s waters, safe

traces back to when Johnson made the decision to become a game warden

“I grew up hunting and I had family members who did It right and family members who didn’t. I got to a point in life when I had kids and I wanted to do things right and make sure my kids had the opportunity to hunt, just like I did. I had already been in the military and had already gotten my degree and I just thought, ‘You know, maybe being a game warden is the right thing for me because I love to be outdoors; I care about the outdoors, and it’s something I think I could be really good at.’”

He says there is nothing more frustrating than to be a hunter who has done everything right, at considerable expense, and on opening day being in the tree stand waiting for Bullwinkle and seeing a trespasser.

“Those are the things I want to stop,” he says. Johnson says his least favorite part of his job is knowing people have poached and he is unable to catch them.

“That’s probably among the most important things, that I protect the resources.”

Seasonal changes also cause changes in enforcement actions. During deer season, DNR will be working with the Shawnee National Forest as the forest property at the lake has a lot of hunters heading that way.

“We also work with the power company. We had several cases this past season of guys who were sneaking onto power company and hunting without permission,” he says.

He says he at times encounters such varied problems as people shooting turtles. “But, for the most part, the people who live at the lakes are the people who

are good to us.”

Good interaction with people is a key to gaining trust for a DNR officer, and that starts with positive interaction with youngsters. Johnson, when off duty, likes to fish, and on one of those fishing days he was having pretty good luck catching crappies. Nearby was a youngster who was fishing, but without the luck of Johnson.

The youngster finally asked what was the secret. ”Sir, how are you catching all of those crappies?”

“Well, I am using this jig I think they really like,” was the response. And Johnson offered to place one on the youngster’s line. The youngster soon was able to exhibit a fish caught on his line.

Johnson later met the parents and gave the youngster a handful of jigs.

“What is so neat about that is when I go back out there and fish and meet up with those same people, we now have a friendship.

“I enjoy catching fish, but I enjoy just meeting people, too. Especially young kids who are interested in the same things as I am. I just enjoy talking with them.”

Johnson says his job depends on public support. “If anyone is having an issue, I encourage them to call me and we can see if we can help them. If they know of some poaching going on, we definitely would like to help them out.”

Johnson can be contacted at 618-2188211.

Johnson is very dedicated to preserving the wildlife of Southern Illinois, and that dedication recently took him and his partner to Mississippi after they learned about the poaching of a large deer in Illinois. The Mississippi trip resulted in the seizure of four deer.

“Those people down there didn’t think they would get caught, thinking if they made it back to Mississippi all would be fine,” he says.

Johnson says he worries about an upcoming loss of officers. Within the next four years, about 50 veteran officers plan retirement.

“That is kind of worrisome for us. If the budget is bad, we can’t hire more officers,” he says.

So far, officers don’t know what the budget will be with the fight against COVID having strained the state’s finances.

In addition to the normal patrolling for safety and violations, Johnson recalls one incident when he became a part of an evening’s entertainment.

This past summer he had to arrest a person for operating under the influence.

“As we were trying to get him back to the dock, we observed two jet skis that were coming in way after dark. We tried to get them to stop, and they kept refusing to stop and it became such a spectacle, the band quit playing at Pyramid Acres.”

Johnson and the pursuit of the jet skis suddenly became the evening’s highlight.

“It was amusing and encouraging as the public really supported us. After we got them arrested, everybody clapped for us. We should have charged admission.

“After that incident, I told a lot of my co-workers I am really glad I work the area I work because we have people who really support us and treat us good.” n