On this planet of conservation, Dr. Bruce Hannon was an enormous. A legend. An activist. A instructor. A mentor. And knowledgeable clocksmith. He leaves an enduring legacy – within the lands and waters he helped defend (most notably Allerton Park and the Center Fork River), the conservation organizations he launched, the oak seedlings he gave to others to plant and the various college students he impressed and nurtured who proceed to have a constructive influence.
Hannon unfold his ardour to others and instilled the accountability of environmental stewardship within the subsequent generations. Patricia, his spouse of over 65 years who died in 2022, contributed to his many achievements. Hannon was proud that his great-grandchildren are the eighth era raised in Champaign County.
Hannon was professor emeritus of geography at College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the college the place he obtained his levels, together with a doctorate in engineering mechanics. He performed groundbreaking analysis and taught within the division of geography and geographic info science for greater than 40 years.
Hannon’s first main trigger was forming the Committee to Save Allerton Park in 1967, together with Patricia, to forestall the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers from constructing the Oakley dam that might have flooded Allerton Park and its virgin woodlands. Collectively they rallied widespread help and stopped the challenge. Hannon led the group for eight years, coping with governors, senators and high federal officers, testifying earlier than the Illinois legislature and Congress and amassing 200,000 signatures opposing the dam.
“His collegial and respectful method introduced collectively professionals from such numerous disciplines as biology, economics and regulation to establish and advocate for extra economical water provide alternate options,” mentioned his buddy and protégé Clark Bullard. Congress ultimately deauthorized the dam challenge, saving Allerton Park. John Marlin was one other colleague and mentee of Hannon who was concerned. He says the results of their collective efforts was to vary federal water coverage.
“Bruce was a ‘pressure for nature’ over a few years,” mentioned Fletcher Farrar, editor of Illinois Occasions. “I bear in mind once I was a starting reporter in Carbondale, he would spend quite a lot of time with me on the cellphone, patiently explaining Corps of Engineers tasks and the harm they’d do. He by no means misplaced hope and by no means would give up.”
Hannon was a mentor to Mike Witte, former director of the Illinois Division of Conservation. They canoed the Center Fork River along with then-gubernatorial candidate Jim Thompson.
“Bruce taught me about environmental activism,” mentioned Witte. “Bruce was each a superb strategist and brutal tactician, and he modeled these abilities for me.”
The Committee to Save Allerton Park later turned Prairie Rivers Community, now a statewide river conservation group. Hannon was president for 38 years. He was additionally founding president of Central States Useful resource Middle, which advocated for state laws to tighten landfill requirements and require native approval of landfill siting within the Nineteen Eighties. In 2002, Hannon based the Land Conservation Basis to preserve and restore pure areas and open areas and defend land by way of everlasting conservation easements or donations.
“Bruce modified folks’s lives and he bettered our life proper right here in central Illinois – defending numerous pure locations for future generations to get pleasure from, preventing for the best to develop tall prairie crops in his entrance garden and taking town to activity on the topic, and even planting and nurturing oak timber everywhere in the area,” mentioned Maggie Bruns, PRN govt director. “There was no problem too large or alternative too small to seize his consideration.”
Bullard mentioned Hannon modified his life. Bullard, as a grad pupil, was with Hannon at UIUC on the primary Earth Day in 1970. They went on to work collectively.
“As educational engineers we fashioned an interdisciplinary crew of laptop scientists, psychologists and labor economists,” mentioned Bullard. “Collectively we developed the methodology for calculating the ‘power footprint’ and ‘carbon footprint’ of a whole lot of products and providers.”
Bullard realized from Hannon “easy methods to arrange numerous coalitions of residents, talk with voters, communicate reality to energy and endure the threats and private assaults that got here with the territory.”
Oaks are additionally an everlasting legacy of Hannon. Over a long time he collected acorns, tended them within the college greenhouse and gave hundreds of seedlings to landowners all through Champaign-Urbana. This is without doubt one of the some ways Hannon sought to make environmentalists out of unsuspecting residents.
Hannon’s influence prolonged far past Champaign County. “Within the early days of the Illinois Environmental Council, Hannon was elected president of this younger coalition nonetheless discovering its position in state politics,” mentioned Virginia Scott, former IEC govt director. “The IEC gained from having a talented chief with expertise in organizing grassroots energy, shaping coverage and cultivating bipartisan help.”
Hannon had a outstanding method of convincing others to get engaged together with his causes. He lived with a profound sense of place that fueled a life devoted to tasks and concepts of nice native influence.
Karen Ackerman Witter was a pure assets coverage adviser to Gov. Jim Thomspon. She had the pleasure of figuring out Bruce Hannon and noticed firsthand how he impacted public coverage and satisfied many others to take up his causes.
