Can Facebook save Kickapoo?

Call me a cynic, but I avoided Facebook like the plague until just a few months ago. What got me excited was that suddenly I had long-lost acquaintances that I made across the country looking me up and "friending" me. But aside from the occasional game of Scrabble, I really didn't have much of a use for it.

Until now.

Last week, Governor Rod Blagojevich made the announcement that he was closing 24 state parks and historic sites. Among them was our beloved Kickapoo State Park, located just east of here between Oakwood and Danville. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the park, it features 22 lakes, hiking, camping, mountain biking, winter sports, trout fishing, canoeing and boating, and even scuba diving. The landing lets you rent equipment, the campsites are maintained, the trails are absolutely scenic, and there are several events that draw crowds on a regular basis. In short, the park is a resource that should not be shut down.

A few years ago I was introduced to Kickapoo when I started working for the Boy Scouts of America out at Camp Drake in Oakwood. I returned frequently to camp with friends, or even to camp and hike alone. From my years of outdoors training and as a survivalist instructor, I've measured the beauty of a place by whether or not I would enjoy it in solitude.

When I heard Blagojevich's news, I was actually stunned. Breathless. I'm not an Illinois native, and I won't use this editorial to rant and rave on Rod's financial antics, but I never have, and never will understand politicians who manage to strip the state of funding for parks, arts, rehabilitation programs, education, and care for elderly; yet they always seem to find money for businesses, reelections, and self-interests. 

Enter Facebook: I commonly write letters to the editor at the News-Gazette, but somehow that didn't seem enough. I saw that the Buzz featured Kickapoo on their latest weekly, but was dismayed to see a small article that was barely feature-length surrounded by pretty graphics. I commend the attempt to help Kickapoo, but I felt like there was something else that could be done. So I plopped down and made a group—"Save Kickapoo State Park!"

Three days later, there were 650 members, and Pam Dempsey from the News-Gazette interviewed me about the group as part of a cover story after she became a group member. I started to merge ideas, petitions, and contact information with others who had similar (and in many cases, better) ideas. I teamed up with Cory Vandenberg, the son of Kickapoo Park Ranger Bob Vandenberg. Cory now lives in Austin, Texas, and he started up another Facebook group of the same name (but without the exclamation mark). :)

"Yeah, I didn't really think too much of Facebook until now. I noticed [last night] that Senator Frerichs was a member of my group," said Vandenberg. Cory's voice is especially important, partly because his father cannot comment on policy.

We decided to grant one another administrative permissions on the groups to share even more information. The general public has been giving us links to online petitions, localized events, and even connections to Flickr that feature photos from Kickapoo. 

There are thousands of people mobilizing on behalf of the park. 

Hilary Valentine, Director of Marketing and Creative Services at Parkland College, has been leading the charge in Parkland to protest the closure of Kickapoo.

A little girl by the name of Ryce Tuggle, 11, started a group called K.I.C.K., Kids Interested in Conserving Kickapoo. Originally her class was involved in writing letters to legistlators, but Tuggle plunged on ahead with her own initiative. 

Tod Satterthwaite, the Kickapoo Landing operator, is a member of the Facebook groups, and has kept us informed of the amount of signed petitions at the park which now numbers several thousand. 

How much help has Facebook really provided?

"You know, I couldn't imagine this happening ten years ago. Could you imagine all of the footwork? You wouldn't have a fraction of the people involved, I'd guess," said Sarah Williams, an online petition coordinator. "I think Facebook and other networking sites have more power than people think; just ask the politicians running for office right now."

As I write, Vandenberg's group has around 2,000 members, and my group has over 1,500. We've spotted some of the community's elite, as well as high school kids that are banding together in groups rarely seen in high schools—or let's be truthful—community colleges and universities. 

I'm all about hard work, but I can't sit here and claim to say I did anything more than research, make a few phone calls, churn out a few hundred emails, and make events and groups on Facebook. I'm absolutely floored by the number of other people working so dilligently to face this problem, and for a park, nonetheless, which should tell something of the allure of Kickapoo.

The real question is, will Facebook help save Kickapoo? Thousands of people have virtually typed, "Yes."